Academic Affairs - Minnesota State University Moorhead

MSUM Strategic Planning Committee minutes
December 8, 1999, 9:00 - 10:30 a.m.
Comstock Memorial Union

Present: Bette Midgarden-Chairperson, David Crockett, Karen Danbom, Nathan Davis, Brittney Goodman, Ted Gracyk, Martin Grindeland, Steven Grineski, Doug Hamilton, Yvonne Johnson, Mark Rice, Mary Shimabukuro, Judy Strong, Wade Swenson, Barbara Vellenga, Warren Wiese

Guest: President Roland Barden

Vice President Midgarden welcomed President Barden to the meeting, and invited Group 3 (Nathan Davis, Ted Gracyk, Barbara Vellenga present) to summarize the results of the fall Focus Group (FG) project. Ted Gracyk initially spoke for the group, emphasizing the consensus among the FGs that communication (internal and external) and collaboration be included in the next set of strategic goals. Midgarden expressed appreciation to the entire SPC for all the work undertaken and the accomplishments this year. She invited President Barden to discuss the proposed second set of Strategic Planning Goals.

President Barden also thanked the group for its fine work. He noted it was welcome that we are back to talking about strengths and internal communication ? a wonderful change in the dynamics of the community which has moved beyond a Save the University theme. He then turned to the proposed set of goals, and discussed each in turn.

President Barden remarked on the interplay between marketing and public relations. In the past, MSU has used marketing to help define a story about MSU that is being used to communicate to the external world. Now, MSU has a good deal of information on why students and parents choose MSU as their college. That is, marketing used as the interplay between research and communicating our message. Public relations means we have programs MSU wants people to know more about, and we create an image about the University and what it is doing. The subtle part of this is advertising, which is very expensive. We need to do public relations by putting out lots of stories about good people and good events, and by creating an image through the sheer number of good stories we can tell about people at MSU. We do fairly well with this in the Forum, but not as well in the smaller regional papers. Internally, he noted that the Student Senate has been discussing communication a lot recently as well. The senators are finding the same problem that MSU administrators find when trying to seek ways to communicate with a very diverse population. We have a different, electronic world and we need to re-think how we do these things.
Collaboration will be the source of our strength in the future, and he is pleased to see that emerge as a priority in the FG discussions. He underlined that the amount of work it takes people to set up collaborative programs in the future is going to increase. MSU has a lot of relationship building ahead of itself in the future.

President Barden next addressed the level of specificity that SPC should define with regard to the new set of goals and objectives. He directed the committee to use its authority and identify examples of desired outcomes, based on the feedback obtained from the FGs. Absent that approach, for better or for worse, it will have to be done administratively. He further directed the SPC to key on the one or two or three outcomes that were stressed predominantly in the Focus Group sessions.

The SPC and President Barden engaged in focused discussion to complete that facet of goal setting. The results of that exercise follow, and it is important to note that the bullets provide concrete examples, but are not intended to be an exclusive set of desired outcomes:

Centralized campus communication center
Campus-wide coordination of scheduling and communication of events.

Shift the focus from numerical information to excellence in people, program, and activities.

</>? Improve Marketing and Public Relations

Shift the focus from numerical information to excellence in people, program, and activities.

Midgarden next asked the SPC members for any suggestions for Vice President Crockett in his role as chairperson of the Strategic Budget Committee.

Put the SPC web site in the announcement from the SBC to the campus community soliciting proposals to address these new goals, objectives and outcomes, since the FG participants provided so many excellent ideas and strategies during those sessions.
The directions to the campus community should be very clear about the types of proposals that will be funded this time to prevent departments/units from doing extra work.
The purpose of strategic planning/budgeting process is to improve the overall University relative to the goals identified through the FG process. Yet, a particular department/unit might develop an idea to improve issues specific to the department/unit and the project might serve as a model for other departments/units, and so still qualify as enhancing the entire University.
It was noted that preparing proposals that are not funded though this process should not be viewed as a waste of time, as those proposals serve to effectively communicate special needs and good ideas to department/unit supervisor(s).
Crockett should invite members of the SPC to the initial SBC meeting where the materials that will go out to the campus community will be developed.

President Barden accepted the work of the SPC with thanks, and will communicate them to the University community, emphasizing that the results he seeks and the proposals he will fund are those that will improve the University by addressing the three major goals. He congratulated the group on the progress achieved in the strategic planning process, commenting that this recommended set of goals, objectives and outcomes reflected genuine strategic planning. President Barden emphasized that the strategic planning/budgeting cycle is not a grant contest where the best ideas or ongoing needs are funded regardless of whether or not those ideas and needs address the defined set of strategic goals. Process participants must keep in mind that this is strategic institutional improvement, specifically focused toward the areas defined by the University through the Focus Group process implemented by the members of the Strategic Planning Committee. These goals will be used for a minimum of two or three years.

Midgarden announced that the Steering Committee of the SPC will meet shortly after the new semester begins. One of the agendas that group might set for the SPC this spring, is to assess the status quo in each of the goal areas, so that the SBC might have concrete levels against which to measure proposal effectiveness.

Strong/Midgarden