Strategic Planning

Reprinted from the Trojan Times



Strategic Planning at DSU: The Next Step

In 2002, Dakota State University put together a strategic plan that was intended to guide the university to the year 2007. That plan included the following goals:
DSU will enrich the undergraduate experience and build the graduate experience.
DSU will increase enrollment through more focused recruitment strategies.
DSU will continually enhance its technology and facilities infrastructure
DSU will sustain and enhance the quality of its academic programs.
DSU will manage its resources with optimum efficiency and open communication.
DSU will expand its revenues from grants, contracts and private donations as a mechanism for supplementing institutions overall budget.

Given that 2007 is just around the corner, it is now time for DSU to once again look to the future and formulate plans, dreams, and directions that will take us through the next five years. Over the next few months a special committee that I have appointed will be guiding the development of the new plan. Dr. Tom Hawley, Dean of the College of Education and Ms. Ethelle Bean, Director of the Library and Associate VP for Special Projects have agreed to co-chair the committee. Representatives from faculty, staff, students and alumni will compose a ten member steering committee.

So what is a strategic plan and why is it so important to an organization like DSU? John Bryson, in a 1995 publication defined strategic planning as “a disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does and why it does it”. Others have indicated that strategic planning:
Is a process to establish major directions for the organization, department or group
Maximizes benefits to stakeholders
Defines “why we exist”
Anticipates the future
Is a process to insure budget dollars are driven by the plan and not vice versa

Planning can also incorporate other approaches such as the one cited by McConkey in 1981 – the essence of strategy is differentiation-defining a unique-niche- targeting resources toward a limited set of targets and abandoning those things that could be or should be done by others. For me, one of the keys for a strategic plan to be effective is that the plan is action oriented. This is not something that is put on the shelf and looks good to evaluators or the Board of Regents. It must be a document that gets to the core of the institution and directly impacts decisions made at all levels of the university.

As we proceed with the development of our “Next Step” approach to a strategic plan it is very clear that for the plan to be an effective tool, all DSU stakeholders must be engaged in the dynamic and thoughtful generation of ideas and insights that will impact the plan. Thus students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, legislators, the Board of Regents and members of the Madison and greater Sioux Falls communities need to be incorporated in the process. I would encourage everyone who has an interest in the future of Dakota State University to begin to think about how they might be actively involved. We will be reaching out through public meetings and also electronically to solicit everyone’s ideas.

****A late night thought – Other campuses in the system use a short one word descriptor to identify their campus e.g. State, the U, Northern, Mines. What if we started referring to ourselves as DAKOTA. I would be interested in your reactions. *****