UCA faculty and staff members debated the university’s core values and institutional distinctiveness and offered their suggestions on how to improve a proposed strategic plan for the university during a recent town hall meeting.
The Strategic Planning and Resources Council and its task forces held a town hall meeting on April 15 in the McCastlain Ballroom. For two hours, faculty and staff members worked in small groups to discuss statements the task forces developed in the areas of core values and institutional distinctiveness.
The four tasks forces — Core Values (Mission, Vision, and Values), Planning Assumptions, Institutional Distinctiveness, and Driving Forces — began meeting in early February to develop statements that would drive the strategic plan for the university. From those statements, the group will develop a mission statement, goals, and initiatives.
The meeting was moderated by Dr. David McFarland, a consultant with a research and consultations firm serving universities and colleges. McFarland told the group the task forces’ statements should be the vision for UCA over the next three to five years.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” McFarland asked.
He told the group to keep in mind that a strategic plan is a continuous process.
“You may add new things or you may refine things,” McFarland said. “A strategic plan is a living entity.”
Core values, presented by the task force, were collaborative community; diversity; institutional and personal integrity; intellectual excellence and service.
Several attending the town hall meeting felt that the core value of intellectual excellence could be expanded to include teaching and learning. Also, that intellectual excellence should be changed to “academic excellence.”
On the issue of institutional distinctiveness, the task force listed academic distinctiveness and student-centered excellence; best universities-master institution in the state of Arkansas; fine and performing arts, and small town yet cosmopolitan environment.
McFarland advised the group that institutional distinctiveness should be things those outside the university say about UCA.
Suggestions made by the faculty and staff during the town hall meeting will be included as the task forces formulate the final draft.
“I thought it was exactly what we needed–confirming some of the good work the task forces had already done and also adding lots of valuable ideas to strengthen the next drafts of Core Values and Institutional Distinctiveness,” said Mike Schaefer, the SPARC chair.
Schaefer said the task forces have done outstanding work. The feedback from the task forces has been thoughtful, detailed, and timely. The council and task forces will work on final versions of the university’s Planning Assumptions, Driving Forces, and Core Values statements in the coming weeks.
“For the council and task forces to be able to formulate meaningful goals and realistic initiatives for meeting those goals, the community’s input and support are vital,” Schaefer said. “I know there’s some skepticism out there about this whole process, and that’s entirely understandable given our lack of real attention to strategic planning over the last twenty years, but President (Allen) Meadors and Provost (Lance) Grahn have made it clear to me that they really do want to empower the university community to make significant decisions about our future directions, and I’m committed to doing everything I can to make that empowerment real.”
Information about the strategic plan can be viewed on the UCA main web page by clicking on the Strategic Plan 2010 icon. Please submit feedback to Dr. Schaefer at schaefer@uca.edu. The next town hall meetings are scheduled for Sept. 22 and Sept. 23.