Strategic Planning Committee (SPC)

Charge

Serve as the representative institutional stewardship body for UCA 2035 and future university strategic plans.
Review priorities and progress across the four strategic imperatives for alignment, gaps, overlap, emerging opportunities, and cross-imperative dependencies.
Review university-wide measures, milestones, and qualitative evidence of progress and provide perspective on whether implementation is producing meaningful movement toward the outcomes established in the strategic plan.
Provide representative campus perspective on implementation, including areas where additional engagement, communication, coordination, or institutional attention may be warranted.
Advise the president on material changes to goals, objectives, tactics, measures, sequencing, or priorities when evidence, changing conditions, or emerging opportunities warrant reconsideration.
Undertake updates and revisions to the UCA Strategic Plan as directed by the president and conduct other studies and inquiries as the SPC, in consultation with the president, deems appropriate.
Report annually to the campus, based on reporting from the Imperative Working Groups and responsible units, on implementation of and progress toward the university strategic plan, including recommendations for near-term implementation changes when appropriate.
Present concerns and recommendations to the president.

The SPC provides institution-wide stewardship, alignment, progress review, and representative perspective. It does not manage individual strategic initiatives or supervise the Imperative Working Groups.
The four Imperative Working Groups translate UCA 2035 into focused annual action, coordinate execution, track progress, and identify resource or decision needs.
Routine implementation and sequencing decisions remain with the appropriate Working Group lead and responsible university units. Cross-divisional resource, policy, or operational matters requiring institutional action move through Cabinet. Major new institutional commitments or material changes to the Board-approved strategic plan are elevated to the president through established university processes.

The Strategic Planning Committee will be constituted by October 1 of each year. All members are voting members unless otherwise noted:

The provost, who serves as chair (ex officio, voting; no fixed term)
The presidents and vice-presidents of the Faculty Senate, the Staff Senate, and the Student Government Association
Three tenured faculty members, including one academic department chair or equivalent, appointed by the Faculty Senate to two-year, staggered terms
Two staff members (one classified and one non-classified) appointed by the Staff Senate to two-year, staggered terms
Two students appointed by the Student Government Association to one-year terms
One dean, elected by the Council of Deans to a two-year term
One member of the UCA Board of Trustees appointed by the Board to a one-year term
One community member appointed by the president to a two-year term
The Cabinet lead for each of the four UCA 2035 Imperative Working Groups (ex officio, voting; no fixed term). The Provost, when also serving as an Imperative lead, occupies a single seat on the committee.
The director of the Office of Institutional Research (non-voting ex-officio)

Vice Chair. The committee will elect a vice chair annually from among the voting members who are not members of the President’s Cabinet

The SPC will meet at least twice per academic semester.
The meeting schedule for the following year will be established before the end of each spring semester, and the schedule will be announced to the university community using whatever communication means are considered most likely to reach the broadest possible university audience.
Additional Meetings may be called by the chair as needed.

Michael Hargis, Chair
Provost, President Appointment
Permanent

Suzanne Massey
Appointed by Committee Staff
Permanent

Amber Hall
Director of the Office of Institutional Research
Permanent

Rodney Lippard
Faculty Senate Appointment
2028

Rodney Lippard
Faculty Senate Vice-President
2027

Joe Thomas
Faculty Senate President
2027

John Toth
Faculty Senate Appointment
2027

Jessica Riedmueller
Faculty Senate Appointment
2027

Veneta Fricks
Staff Senate President
2027

Dylan Richardson
Satt Senate Vice President
2027

Sherita Kern
Staff Senate Appointment
2027

Trisha Clark
Staff Senate Appointment
2027

Lori Ross
President Appointment
2027

Robin Williamson
Election by President’s Cabinet
2027

Curtis Barnett
UCA BOT Member
2027

Nancy Reese
Council of Deans Appointment
2028

Talia Burton
SGA President
2027

VACANT
SGA Appointment
2027

President

Page last updated on September 30, 2026