Shaping Institutional Change

Universities face the challenge of developing and implementing strategic plans in a manner that holds steady their mission. This presentation takes an institutional perspective on methods that can be employed to bring about change.

The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) recently updated its strategic plan through a broadly consultative process involving faculty, students, staff, alumni, stakeholders, and curriculum sponsors. Results were a refocused NPS mission, a boldly defined future of expanded reach and relevance, a peer analysis study, and plan metrics reviewed quarterly to assess plan implementation.

In December 2008, the University of the Pacific unveiled the PacificPlan Web as a solution to house Pacific Rising, the University’s strategic plan, as well as the learning assessment and program plans for academic units. Users are able to define and report on the progress being made toward meeting unit mission, objectives, and outcomes while linking the specific actions of the strategic plan to the assessment of student learning.