Update on CAHNRS Strategic Planning Activities

For nearly a year, the CAHNRS Administration (deans, associate deans, chairs, and directors) have been involved in an exercise to “refresh” the college’s strategic plan. CAHNRS’s current strategic plan was developed in 2001-02 and officially launched in May 2002. Numerous fiscal and organizational changes have occurred since that time, not the least of which include the separation of WSU Extension from CAHNRS and a college name change. In addition, a substantial turnover of administrators has occurred, with few college- or department-level administrators remaining who were involved in the 2002 plan’s development. These changes have significantly altered both the context and organizational elements of the strategic plan.

Since adoption of the strategic plan in 2002, many of the goals and strategies proposed in the plan were accomplished and CAHNRS has made significant contributions in the areas of teaching, research, extension, and public service. The current planning environment provides us a chance to inventory these accomplishments, identify remaining goals that continue to be relevant, and identify new goals and directions for our college.

The CAHNRS strategic plan was developed in concert with the current university strategic plan which was developed in 2002 and remains operative and highly relevant today. It appears that following President Floyd’s arrival, the university will engage in an exercise to “revisit” the strategic plan, but a comprehensive planning exercise will not be conducted. Hence, our efforts to “refresh” the college plan appear consistent with the university’s direction.

This strategic planning exercise is fundamentally linked to several ongoing planning activities within the college, most notably, benchmarking and the identification of college-level areas of preeminence (see previous blog entry). The college benchmarks provide a critical link to many elements of this strategic plan, and serve as a means of quantifying progress toward the goals within the plan. WSU-Extension also recently completed their strategic planning activity, allowing CAHNRS to tie its plan to the future directions of Extension.

A revised plan will soon be released for faculty and stakeholder comment. Opportunities for input via a web survey and in-person forums will be provided. Further detail will be provided at the CAHNRS Update scheduled for March 30.