Top Ohio University administrators presented a revised strategic plan to the Board of Trustees yesterday, consolidating the formerly 70-page document to one page of six specific targets.
Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit told the board's Academics Committee that it is critical to focus on enrollment management, financial strength, curricular strength in moving to semesters, refining graduate programs, improving compensation for faculty and staff, and executing a $350 million capital campaign.
These initiatives have involved many individuals and their feedback has improved the process tremendously
Benoit said.
The refined plan came out of discussions across campus with faculty, deans, staff, students and top administrators, including members of the Vision Ohio Steering Committee. The provost plans to present a final proposal for priorities to the board at its June meeting.
All of the Vision Ohio initiatives are based on a five-year plan for achieving the goals.
National Trustee Frank Krasovec suggested grouping the priorities by student, faculty/staff and resources, to make the document clearer, but said the content was what the board wanted.
The board seemed receptive to the new plan, praising Benoit and her staff for their response to board Chairman Bob Kidder's August request.
The provost also talked to the board about the array of academic programs OU offers, specifically about determining whether there are too many programs and/or major codes.
One of the most important questions for a university is what is the right array of academic array [of programs] for that institution Benoit said, explaining to the board the difference between academic programs - such as English - and program codes - such as English Pre-law.
Responding to a trustee request to clean up the program code system, University Curriculum Council eliminated 135 program codes earlier this school year. The council has not eliminated any programs.
The work enabled us to provide a cleaner list Benoit said, adding that the school has to be careful about not eliminating codes that will draw students to OU.
The provost closed by indicating there is no magic number of programs or program codes and that the number might be constantly changing.
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Emily Grannis
