86 Strategic Leadership
the implementation of an integrated and continuous strategy process for the
university. The SPC will communicate periodically with the campus commu-
nity about its work and will issue reports and studies that define the challenges
and opportunities that the institution faces in the wider environment. The SPC
will propose strategies, programs, goals, and priorities that fulfill the university’s
mission and that define its vision for the future.
The SPC will normally discharge its responsibilities through the periodic cre-
ation of various subcommittees and task forces with joint faculty, staff, student,
and board membership, as appropriate to the issue, to address a broad range of
institutional policies and programs. Based on the analysis of information and
opinion and the use of strategic indicators, surveys, roundtables, open meetings,
and its own deliberations, each task group will communicate its findings and
recommendations to the SPC. Functioning in the role of steering committee, the
SPC will meet with each subgroup to receive its report and discuss its findings.
The SPC will draw specifically from each set of recommendations in preparing
its own report but is not bound by the interpretations, language, or conclusions
of the subgroups.
In addition to developing an institution-wide plan every few years, the SPC will
assist the institution’s executive and academic leaders to ensure that strategy and
planning activities are in place in each of the institution’s major academic and
administrative units. Although these processes should reflect the central priorities
of institution-wide strategies, they will focus on the specific strategic issues that
different units must address. The findings, concerns, and priorities displayed in
the various units and divisions will help to shape and define subsequent rounds of
the institution-wide strategy process.
After the completion of an intensive cycle of strategy development and the
publication of a strategy report, the SPC will help to monitor and review the
goals established during the process. The SPC and/or relevant administrative offi-
cers will issue periodic public reports and make presentations to faculty and staff
bodies on progress in reaching strategic goals, and on the reasons for any new
or revised goals. Meetings of the governing board and of its committees will be
organized around the vision and goals of the university’s strategy.
The SPC will be an institution-wide body that reports to the president; in turn,
the president will recommend strategies, goals, and priorities to the governing
board. Since it deals with issues concerning finance, facilities, educational pro-
grams, and administrative policies that involve both faculty and administrative
authority, it is neither a faculty nor an administrative committee, but a university-
wide council. The reports or recommendations issued by the SPC do not enact
programs or policies that require legislative action by the various faculties, the
faculty senate, or other university governing bodies. Rather, it will define strate-
gic issues and priorities within a broad internal and external context. Through
the endorsement of the governing board, its work will serve as a mechanism for
integrative and collaborative leadership by setting an agenda for the university’s
future.