Date: May 21, 2017
To: MMC Faculty and Staff
From: President Kerry Walk
Re: Approval of the Strategic Plan for 2016 – 2021*
I write to announce that at the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, on Tuesday, May 9, 2017, a resolution approving the 2017 – 2021 Strategic Plan was unanimously adopted. As a result, on July 1, 2017, a new Strategic Plan will take effect. The Board’s full endorsement capped the approval phase of the planning process, which involved, in turn, unanimous approval by the Faculty Council, the President’s Cabinet, and the Board’s Executive Committee.
The 2017 – 2021 Strategic Plan, Contemporary and Compelling: Envisioning MMC’s Future, provides a flexible blueprint for differentiating the MMC educational experience; developing more effective internal systems; meeting facilities and space needs; taking a data-informed approach to enrollment management; developing new mission-centric revenue streams; promoting a diverse and inclusive college culture; communicating the College’s visibility and unique value proposition; and enhancing fundraising, among other objectives.
I would like to express my deep appreciation to the Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SPSC), co-chaired by Katie LeBesco, Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty, and Jill Stevenson, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts and President of the Faculty Council, for their year-long service to the College. The SPSC membership may be found at the end of this message. Thanks to the skilled facilitative leadership of the SPSC, the entire MMC community was involved in the strategic planning process, which has resulted in a plan that reflects the highest aspirations of our community while providing specifics for implementation.
To all who gave of their time and talent to develop the new plan, please accept my gratitude, as well as that of the Board of Trustees.
With appreciation,
Kerry Walk, Ph.D.
President
Strategic Planning Steering Committee
*Adapted from the May 21, 2017, Presidential Communication to MMC Faculty and Staff
MMC Community:
The Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SPSC) is pleased to circulate the final 2017-2021 Strategic Plan—Contemporary and Compelling: Envisioning MMC’s Future. We believe this plan reflects the key insights and priorities that have emerged from our research and community conversations over the last eight months. It reflects our response to feedback on the drafts circulated in February and March, and represents the culmination of our committee’s work.
In accordance with MMC’s commitment to shared governance, the Faculty Council will vote on a resolution to approve this document at its next meeting on Monday, April 17th. If approved, the President, in consultation with the Cabinet, will review this final draft. If approved by the Cabinet, the President forwards the plan to the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees. The Executive Committee then presents the final plan to Board at its Annual Meeting on Tuesday, May 9th and the Board votes on a resolution to approve this document. If approved, the plan will go into effect on July 1st. This timeline, along with a description of our entire process, can be found at: https://www.mmm.edu/strategic-planning/
Thank you again for your engagement throughout this eight-month process. We are enthusiastic about the vision and priorities of this Plan, and confident that it supports the academic enterprise that is the heart of MMC.
Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SPSC)
Katie LeBesco, Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs/Dean of the Faculty (Co-Chair)
Jill Stevenson, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts and President of the Faculty Council (Co-Chair)
Ann Aguanno, Professor of Biology
Jennifer Brown, Associate Professor of English and World Literatures and Chair of the English and World Literatures Department
Maria DeInnocentiis, Assistant Vice President of Financial & Registration Services, and Executive Director of Center for Student Services
Alexis Garcia, MMC class of 2018
Christine Gregory, Assistant Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, Diversity, and Title IX
Taylor Harris-Butler, MMC class of 2018
Andreas Hernandez, Assistant Professor and Chair, Department of International Studies
Ann Jablon, Professor and Chair, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Carol Jackson, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students
Angela Lanaris, MMC class of 2018
Nancy Lushington, Assistant Professor of Dance
Jim Rogers, Dean of Admission
Michael G. Salmon, Dean of Academic Advisement & Student Retention
Richard Sheldon, Assistant Vice President for Academic Administration
Erica Stein, Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Arts
Diana Zambrotta, Director of Auxiliary and Real Estate Services
MMC Community:
The Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SPSC) is currently revising the first draft of the 2017-2021 Strategic Plan and will circulate a second draft to the entire community no later than this Saturday. This is a more complete draft that includes a timeline for implementation and criteria for assessment. It is also the last draft before the final plan is circulated in April and submitted to the Faculty, Cabinet, and Board of Trustees for a vote. We therefore invite your input during this final round of feedback. To facilitate that, we are holding two community conversations next week. These conversations are scheduled for Monday, March 13th from 10:00-11:00am (Regina Peruggi Room) and Thursday, March 16th from 5:00-6:00pm (Commons West). Full-time faculty members will also have the chance to discuss the draft and offer feedback at the Faculty Council meeting scheduled for Monday, March 13th. As in the past, we will provide anonymous ways to offer feedback at each of these meetings. You should also feel free to email your comments to any member of the SPSC. The full committee membership is listed below.
As always, we look forward to hearing your feedback as we work toward the final version of the plan. You can always look at the SPSC webpage to review our process and timeline, and to review other information related to our work (including pictures): https://www.mmm.edu/strategic-planning/
We hope to hear from many of you at next week’s meetings. All our best.
Katie and Jill
Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SPSC)
Katie LeBesco, Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs/Dean of the Faculty (Co-Chair)
Jill Stevenson, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts and President of the Faculty Council (Co-Chair)
Ann Aguanno, Professor of Biology
Jennifer Brown, Associate Professor of English and World Literatures and Chair of the English and World Literatures Department
Maria DeInnocentiis, Assistant Vice President of Financial & Registration Services, and Executive Director of Center for Student Services
Alexis Garcia, MMC class of 2018
Christine Gregory, Assistant Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, Diversity, and Title IX
Taylor Harris-Butler, MMC class of 2018 (served Fall 2016)
Andreas Hernandez, Assistant Professor and Chair, Department of International Studies
Ann Jablon, Professor and Chair, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Carol Jackson, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students
Angela Lanaris, MMC class of 2018
Nancy Lushington, Assistant Professor of Dance
Jim Rogers, Dean of Admission
Michael G. Salmon, Dean of Academic Advisement & Student Retention
Richard Sheldon, Assistant Vice President for Academic Administration
Erica Stein, Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Arts
Diana Zambrotta, Director of Auxiliary and Real Estate Services
Members of the MMC Community:
As the spring semester begins, we want to update you on the progress of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SPSC). First, we have a number of new committee members who joined the group this January. Given the critical relationship between Institutional Strategic Planning and Enrollment Planning, it seemed wise to invite key members of the College involved in enrollment planning to join the committee. We were very happy that Maria DeInnocentiis (Assistant Vice President of Financial & Registration Services, and Executive Director of Center for Student Services), Jim Rogers (Dean of Admission), and Michael Salmon (Dean of Academic Advisement & Student Retention) accepted our invitation. They jumped right into the work this January and we are very happy to have their expertise at the table.
In addition, we have one new student member: Angela Lanaris (MMC class of 2018). Unfortunately, due to spring class conflicts Taylor Harris-Butler had to step off the committee. We thank her for all the work she did this fall and January, and welcome Angela to the committee.
This January the SPSC worked rigorously to review and synthesize all of your feedback on the emerging priorities list we circulated in December. We had two half-day retreats in early January, after which members were tasked with developing action plans around key items in order to assess their impact on budget, campus climate, student satisfaction, and enrollment. This week we reconvened to review those action plans, prioritize initiatives, and determine our next steps in drafting the plan. We made a great deal of progress this month and we want to thank every member of the committee for their tireless dedication and effort.
We are currently writing the first draft of the 2017-2021 Strategic Plan and will circulate that document to the entire community no later than Monday, February 6th. This will be a preliminary draft and we invite your feedback at this critical stage. To facilitate that, we are holding two community conversations to give you opportunities to share your feedback and hear from others. These community conversations are scheduled for Tuesday, February 7th from 1:00-2:20pm and Thursday, February 9th from 5:00-6:00pm. Both will be held in the Regina Peruggi Room. Full-time faculty members will also have the chance to discuss the draft and offer the committee feedback at the Faculty Council meeting scheduled for Monday, February 13th. We will provide anonymous ways to offer feedback at each of these meetings. You should also feel free to email your comments to any member of the SPSC. The full committee membership is listed below.
As always, we look forward to hearing your feedback and integrating it into the next draft of the plan, which we will circulate in early March. We will then circulate the final plan in early April. You can always look at the SPSC webpage to review this timeline and see other information related to our work (including pictures): https://www.mmm.edu/strategic-planning/
We hope you each have a good start to the spring semester. All our best.
Katie and Jill
Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SPSC)
Katie LeBesco, Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs/Dean of the Faculty (Co-Chair)
Jill Stevenson, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts and President of the Faculty Council (Co-Chair)
Ann Aguanno, Professor of Biology
Jennifer Brown, Associate Professor of English and World Literatures and Chair of the English and World Literatures Department
Maria DeInnocentiis, Assistant Vice President of Financial & Registration Services, and Executive Director of Center for Student Services
Alexis Garcia, MMC class of 2018
Christine Gregory, Assistant Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, Diversity, and Title IX
Taylor Harris-Butler, MMC class of 2018
Andreas Hernandez, Assistant Professor and Chair, Department of International Studies
Ann Jablon, Professor and Chair, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Carol Jackson, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students
Angela Lanaris, MMC class of 2018
Nancy Lushington, Assistant Professor of Dance
Jim Rogers, Dean of Admission
Michael G. Salmon, Dean of Academic Advisement & Student Retention
Richard Sheldon, Assistant Vice President for Academic Administration
Erica Stein, Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Arts
Diana Zambrotta, Director of Auxiliary and Real Estate Services
Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SPSC)
Community Memo: 3 October 2016
Although we will post minutes from our weekly SPSC meetings, we will also update you periodically on our work and progress through community memos like this one. First, please visit the newly launched Strategic Planning page on MMC’s website (https://www.mmm.edu/strategic-planning/). The page contains information about the President’s charge to our committee and our 2016-2017 timeline, as well as information on previous strategic plans. It will also have a button where you can access these community memos and minutes from our meetings. Thanks to Karl Hinze for creating this page.
With the help of Carol Jackson and with student input, we have appointed two student members to the committee: Alexis Garcia (’18) and Taylor Harris-Butler (’18). Alexis is a Political Science major with minors in Psychology and International Studies. She is also a member of the Student Government Association. Taylor is pursuing a BFA in Acting and has also been involved in the Black and Latino Student Association (BLSA). We are very excited to welcome these two students as members of the SPSC. They will not only represent student perspectives, but also help us develop ways to gather feedback from students across the college.
As our timeline indicates, our committee will spend October undertaking research in order to inform our planning work. We will gather relevant data about MMC from internal sources, as well as research external institutions and models. We have divided ourselves into the following eight SPSC Working Groups:
We know there will be overlap among these groups, but also recognize that it is valuable for people to look at the same sets of data from different perspectives. Members of SPSC in these different groups will be reaching out to members of the community who can partner with them in these research efforts.
Curriculum differentiation and pedagogical innovation are key elements of our charge. To support that work, we have invited interested faculty to form or join short-term “Innovation Teams,” which will brainstorm programmatic innovation that builds on our strengths at MMC and differentiates us as an institution. This is both a general call, as well as a chance to rethink existing programs that struggle with enrollment. There will be an Innovation Team workshop this coming Wednesday, Oct 5th 1-2:20 in Main 610.
Of course, not every proposal that emerges from these Innovation Teams will be included in the final Strategic Plan. However, we believe short-term brainstorming in faculty groups will help us identify what initiatives have the most promise as far as innovating and differentiating an aspect of our curriculum in ways that draw upon our mission as an institution, use our existing resources, and maximize our location in NYC.
Finally, we will hold our first community-wide forum on the Strategic Planning process on Wednesday, October 26th from 1:00-2:20pm in Main 610. We will begin by discussing our research phase and sharing our findings. Then the majority of the time will be devoted to a workshop where you can offer us further input and feedback as we move to the next phase of our work in November. All members of the MMC community are invited to this open forum.
As we have said before, please feel free to ask any member of the SPSC for updates on our work or contact us with constructive feedback. We appreciate all input that will help us fulfill our charge.
Katie LeBesco and Jill Stevenson
Co-Chairs of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee
Dear Community:
This year President Kerry Walk established a Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SPSC) to lead the college in a planning process and develop an Institutional Strategic Plan.
This committee includes the following faculty and staff members:
Two students will also be invited to join the committee.
The SPSC’s goal is to develop a plan that fulfills a charge set by President Walk. We have attached the complete charge here and will soon post it to an online platform where community members will also be able to access SPSC updates, reports, and minutes from our weekly meetings throughout the year. You will receive information about that platform in the coming week.
We have also attached a timeline of our work over the next nine months. Our goal is to develop a plan with input from all members of the MMC community. This means sharing our research findings with you in various public forums, gathering input from you in community workshops and through other means, and synthesizing this information into a set of clear recommendations that can serve as the foundation of the plan. Our goal is to circulate a full draft of the plan in early March so that there is time for feedback and revision before submitting the final draft to President Walk and the Board of Trustees for approval in early May.
This is an ambitious timeline and therefore we will rely on your participation to help us develop a plan that truly reflects our mission while also guiding the college into the future. In addition to holding community workshops and forums, over the next five weeks we will also be reaching out to existing committees and groups at the college for their help in gathering data and research.
Since a key element of our charge relates to curricular differentiation and pedagogical innovation, members of the SPSC are already reaching out to faculty who might be interested in researching and developing curricular proposals that address that goal. We hope that faculty will be excited to spend a short amount of time brainstorming and roughly outlining how they would innovate and differentiate an aspect of our curriculum in ways that draw upon our mission as an institution, use our existing resources, and maximize our location in NYC. You will receive more specific information from SPSC members soon.
The SPSC is committed to developing a plan that values all members of MMC’s community. Therefore, as we move ahead, our work will be guided by a commitment to transparent communication. Over the coming months, please feel free to talk to any member of the committee about our work or to offer feedback. And thank you in advance for your contributions to this important institutional process.
Katie LeBesco and Jill Stevenson
Co-Chairs of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee