Above all, a strategic plan improves our university’s capacity to serve students. It does this by engaging the talents of faculty, staff, and administrators by focusing on common goals with systems to check our progress, optimizing resources, recognizing the excellent work we do, and considering the very best ways to innovate and adapt. By creating opportunities to refine our goals towards a collective purpose, a good strategic plan makes us a better university.

The plan was developed in multiple phases. In Tier 1, four Insight Teams (each composed of administrators, faculty, staff, students, and trustees) reviewed the previous Strategic Plan as well as the 2018 Visioning Team report. Viewing these materials from the lens of our current context , they produced a Mission and Vision statement, along with University Values and, importantly, the Strategic Goals.

The initial draft of this document was widely shared across campus and beyond, with feedback and input incorporated.

Tier 2 began with Vanguard Teams (similarly composed of individuals from multiple stakeholder groups) who discerned Objectives to support the Goals.

As a final stage before full implementation, Facilitated Sessions are being conducted to identify actions and Key Performance Indicators to assess our ongoing progress.

Unifying the efforts of the university under a strategic plan will help make the university even better at supporting student success. The plan should help create a truly welcoming atmosphere for all learners, organize and deliver resources that make a difference to students, and promote educational experiences designed to be transformational.

All coaches and faculty work within units and divisions following focused plans aligned with the overall strategic plan. The key performance indicators that influence these focused plans should be developed in a way that allows for thoughtful innovation but also, importantly, recognizes successful current endeavors. The new plan presents an opportunity for reviewing best practices and updating approaches, enhancing ongoing efforts.

A well-executed strategic plan will lead to clearer priorities, fewer inefficiencies, more effective processes, and more productive communication throughout the campus.

Shippensburg University is proud to welcome students, faculty, staff, and members to our campus community. Our motto is “One Campus, Many Cultures”. We maintain a university culture that encourages participation and inclusion, thus allowing all to grow and learn from one another. To that end, we have made a concerted effort to incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion into our new strategic plan. You will find it woven throughout our goals and objectives.”

The Foundational Projects are critical and intentional endeavors with discrete end results that will facilitate the Strategic Plan’s smooth operation. The development of each will involve collaborative efforts and incorporate broad feedback:

Implement a comprehensive student information system (SIS); Re-envision the 2004 Distance Education Plan drawing upon input from students, faculty, and other stakeholders; ensure the Program Planning and Budget Process aligns resources with university values and strategic goals; align campus-wide plans to the University Strategic Plan to create an assessment architecture.

Implementation involves performance dashboards and reporting tools to track our progress and highlight the lessons we will learn over time to improve our actions to better achieve our goals.