The planning structure and processes outlined in Figure 1, illustrates the interdependencies and workflow relationships between key elements. At the center of the process is the Executive Committee for Long Range Planning, Assessment and the Re-accreditation Self-Study; a seven-member group co-chaired by the Provost and the VP Planning & Administration. Reporting to that Executive Committee, is the larger LRP Committee, membership which is designed to reflect a wider range of perspectives and senior administrative portfolios.

Overlapping memberships reinforce the interdependencies of the work within each activity cluster. Organizational units engage in ‘outcomes assessment’, based on findings from key performance indicators, units adjust their activities and proposed changes are reflected in a unit’s LRP, which is based upon linkage to strategic themes, unit goals, objectives and resources.

Figure 1

Development of individual unit plans must be tied to at least one of six strategic themes and related goals “to improve the quality of educational activities and services of the university”. Those themes include: Academic Excellence; Institutional Effectiveness; International Education; Service; Operational Excellence; and, the Student Experience.  As each of the units develops a plan in draft form, they are passed to the next-higher organizational unit for review, ultimately being consolidated into AUC’s Long Range Plan: Building on Strong Foundations.

Feedback is important to reinforce engagement, to clarify where each unit ‘fits’ within the larger institutional picture and also to manage expectations; the latter being an especially important element of an effective and sustainable planning process within academe.  Prudent management of limited resources, based upon established priorities, is a fundamental shared responsibility at all levels of decision-making.

The Long Range Plan will be the culmination of a process spanning from the development of preliminary unit plans submitted to Deans and Area Heads through consideration by the Executive, LRP and budget planning committees, consolidation of draft reports, comments and feedback from various stake holders, town hall meetings and Open Forum presentations by the President in the Fall of 2006.

Following dissemination of the initial plan, the cycle for the annual updates will begin with the objective of ensuring the plan remains sustainable and dynamic. The annual review and updates by individual units and subsequently Area Heads will be much less burdensome and will establish the LRP as a fundamental expectation throughout the university.  A key input into the second and subsequent cycles will be an analysis of progress made on objectives set for the previous cycle (as measured by the ongoing outcomes assessment process using specific performance indicators).

Long Range Plan - Process Summary:

• Spring 2006 - Long Range Plan input submitted by units for the 2007 – 2012 plan period
• Iterative process of soliciting, clarifying information and developing list of resource requirements
• Consolidating unit level input, listing by strategic theme, submitted to Executive Committee for Long Range Planning, Assessment and the Reaccreditation Self-Study, November 2006.
• Sharing initial input with the community at Fall 2006  University Forum
• Initial brief recap of unit level input shared with  AUC’s Board of Trustees in January, 2007
• Submitting a comprehensive document: “Consolidated Unit Level Input” to the Executive committee for Long Range Planning in February,2007
• Incorporating input from the Executive Committee
• Sharing “Consolidated Unit Level Input” with the Long Range planning committee – session held April 11, 2007
• Incorporating input from LRP Committee
• Final call for unit level input regarding initiatives and adherent resource requirements
• Finalizing cost projections for the Budget Committee’s consideration, April 2007.