Strategic Planning Insights and Holiday Greetings

1. The College of Communication is engaging in an asynchronous phase of strategic planning using Padlet for interactive brainstorming. This includes pages for each college strategic priority, where individuals can add initiatives, ideas, or activities and discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with these ideas, linking them to relevant Designing DePaul focus areas. The plan is to hold a college wide meeting in the Winter quarter to discuss the ideas and begin longer-term visioning. After that, a steering committee will be appointed to synthesize the data and prioritize the initiatives.
2. The College of Education is implementing a strategic planning timeline that began with relationship-building activities by the Dean, including individual meetings with faculty and staff and departmental meetings. In addition, an all-college strategic planning kick-off meeting took place in early November. Surveys, program meetings, and a retreat are planned to develop the strategic plan. The College is also exploring ways to ensure student, advisory board members and partner participation in the process.
3. The College of Law is building upon its 2016 Strategic Plan, which encompassed five areas of excellence and eight strategic priorities. The College of Law continues to focus on key outcomes, especially in admissions, bar passage, career placement, academic excellence, and fundraising. The college of law strategic plan also will integrate curriculum committee recommendations, self-assessment priorities from its recent ABA accreditation process, and alignment with the Designing DePaul pillars. Meetings were held in October and November and future meetings are planned to provide faculty and staff an opportunity to discuss, provide input, and prioritize the outcomes.
   
4. The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences has already conducted two visioning meetings in November with chairs and directors to focus on strengths, distinctiveness, and contributions to the Designing DePaul framework. On December 7 and 14 similar meetings will take place with staff and the external advisory board. On December 2, faculty and staff will be invited to contribute to an online interactive repository of strategic and tactical initiatives inspired by the Designing DePaul framework. In January, meetings will be held in each unit of the college, and the unit perspectives will be discussed in a workshop with the participation of chairs, directors, faculty senate, staff, alumni, and students on February 6, to be followed by a college-wide conversation, to which the President has been invited, on February 9.
5. The College of Science and Health is actively reimagining its 2019 strategic plan to align with the Designing DePaul vision. The college-wide process includes evolving its six strategic priorities through ongoing conversations with faculty, staff, and students. This collaborative approach is grounded in advancing the college's mission and vision and establishing a core set of shared values. To ensure diverse perspectives are integrated, the College will continue to conduct multiple listening sessions, surveys, and forums that include faculty, staff, students, and strategic plan advisory committee members.
6. The Driehaus College of Business held three college wide Designing Driehaus open forums with active participation from its community. Departments are currently holding discussion sessions focusing on specific areas such as academic program viability, high learning experience, eliminating the achievement gap and research.
7. The Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media’s leadership team met in October to identify a set of preliminary strategic goals that align with the Designing DePaul pillars to share with staff and faculty for input and revision. In November, faculty and staff provided input, via an online survey, on the preliminary goals. The survey also provided an opportunity for members of the community to provide additional goals. The plan is to prioritize the goals over the Winter quarter and to engage the relevant constituencies in developing initiatives and metrics to evaluate progress toward the goals.
8. The Theatre School is engaging with a committee representing the areas within the school. The bi-weekly meetings that have taken place since the last academic year have focused on evaluating the school and consulting past strategic plans for effective metrics and accountability. A half day retreat is planned at the end of November to produce a plan draft. This draft will be shared with faculty and staff for input and feedback.
9. The School of Continuing and Professional Studies is in the process of developing a strategic plan rooted in Vincentian pragmatism, which prioritizes practical and real-world solutions. The plan encompasses a multi-step approach, including phases such as ideation, development and design. Collaborating with the Dean, the unit's Academic Council will facilitate meetings for various stages of the plan, engaging the School community.
10. In the School of Music faculty and staff have had an opportunity to ideate on the Design DePaul initiatives since October through Teams, and the Advisory Board has been involved in discussion. The second phase of planning will take place in four all college meetings in January and February as well as in small groups dedicated to specific focus areas. Student input and feedback will be solicited in January. As part of the process, the School of Music is revising its mission and vision statements.

Each plan is in a dynamic state of development, continually evolving to reflect the changing needs and aspirations of our academic disciplines.

As you are aware, there is much data that are available on the Institutional Research & Market Analytics website that can provide you with insights as you contribute to the unit’s strategic plan. For specific information regarding your program or department, you might want to take a look at the Department and Program Resource Room​​ which provides you with specific program information including but not limited to new and continuing enrollment by program, DFW rates, average class sizes, and a newly added retention resource room.

Your input and engagement are invaluable in this ongoing process. Should you have insights or questions, I encourage you to reach out to your respective deans. They are instrumental in shaping these living documents and can offer insights into how your contributions can further refine and enhance our collective vision. Thank you for your dedication to our shared mission and for your contributions towards shaping a future that reflects our collective aspirations and values.

Wishing you and yours the very best for the holiday season and beyond.