Strategic Planning > Minutes > Sept 19

Strategic Planning Committee
Wednesday, September 19
Teague Library

Present: Doug Bennett, Sara Penhale, Margaret Hampton, Paul Ogren, Monteze Snyder, Rick Foreman, Nancy Sinex

The meeting was spent reviewing the task before us and the following handouts provided by Doug:

• Bennett Memo on the Charge for a Strategic Planning Committee
• Possible Working Routines of the Committee
• Fruits of the Strategic Planning Process
• Sources of Information
  • NSSE (National Survey of Student Engagement) Data
  • Earlham College Key Indicators·
• Franklin & Marshall College Long-Range Strategic Plan
• Suggested Outline for Strategic Plan

Notes from discussion:

One challenge for the committee will be deciding on priorities - especially since everyone has different ideas about what college priorities should be.

The question was raised about whether, within our charge, we should establish or at least suggest timetables or designate/suggest who or what group might make that decision.

Doug mentioned that Deb McNish has asked the Nominating Committee to establish an ad hoc committee to work on issues of Residence Life. The SPC will benefit greatly from the work they will undertake.

In addition to the categories included on Doug's "EC Key Indicators" sheet and in response to what other source of information the SPC may choose to review, the following were added:

• breakdown of statistical information under the general category of "minority" to include information on African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American students
• national demographic data on college-bound/age students
• income information of families with college-bound students
• broader study of EC SATs and national trends in standardized testing (at least 10 years)
• more "history" regarding EC admission numbers (again 10+ years of statistics)
• yearly (comparative) information on staffing (including hourly)
• information on facilities
• curriculum-related statistics (i.e., comparison of % of students who major in each department/program, # of students participating in every off-campus study program, etc.)
• trends in enrollment in liberal arts colleges vs. state institutions
• consideration of a new comparative college group that might be different from those colleges included in current groupings like our applicant overlap schools, HEDS, GLCA, Colleges That change Lives, etc.)
• Nelson's review and study of the CIRP data
• Kane/Krukowski survey of EC alumni

Proposed Calendar: Committee members received a draft calendar suggesting dates/times of meetings, open sessions with other campus community members, and report deadlines. Members were asked to review these dates and to contact Nancy regarding possible conflicts. It was decided that we would plan to meet each Wednesday from 4-6:00.

• Next Meeting - Wednesday, September 26 (4-6:00 - Teague Library)
• proposed calendar review
• "Engagement" with other EC community members: who, when, where, how?
• Review suggested outline for the 35-page Strategic Plan