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June-July 2008
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CAMPUS NEWS |
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The Strategic Planning Committee gave staff, faculty, alumni, and a few of the undergrads still on campus the toughest assignment of the spring: brainstorm their visions and goals for AU’s future. Committee facilitators Acting Director of Development Jenine Rabin, CAS/BA ’96; Psychology department chair and former Faculty Senate chair Anthony Riley; and Executive Director of Budget and Payroll Nana An, SPA/MA ’06, assigned tables of eight at the May 20 lunchtime meeting first the task of brainstorming a list of topics they thought important to making the visions for AU a reality. The visions then chosen for further analysis and discussion included:
“We decided we needed to drill down to a deeper level of commentary,” said Rabin, noting how well the data collection by the committee has gone thus far. “From the very beginning of this process, we’ve seen bottom-up themes.” Amir Tejani, SIS/BA ’03, a current graduate student, and a member of Staff Council and the Strategic Planning Committee presented the steps his table thought might be taken to realize the goal of keeping AU affordable. Suggestions included a four-year lock on tuition, more endowed scholarships, balancing need versus merit, and keeping tuition below the market basket median. President Neil Kerwin, SPA/BA ’71, many alumni, and students have all brought up the issue of tuition, noted Tejani, and this town hall finally allowed the community to further discuss issues that had been presented in the previous two town halls. Sharing his table’s ideas on how AU might capitalize on its location, student body VP Andrew Woods ’10, said “Some of the best experience is first-hand experience.” Woods hopes AU will develop even more of a presence in the D.C. area, especially in politics. Schools such as the University of Iowa do polling exercises, something that could easily fall into AU’s already political culture, he noted. Another theme that came up again: AU’s investment in – and by – its more than 80,000 alumni. Steps toward achieving a stronger alumni vision, presented by Strategic Planning Committee Chair Bill Delone, included better outreach to international alumni; mentoring programs that pair current undergrads with alumni; and networking focused specifically on targeted segments, such as younger alumni. Rabin, an alumna and acting director of the Office of Development, which oversees Alumni Programs, agrees more work needs to be done in this area. “We’ll always face the challenge of collecting the alumni voice. We’re not engaging that community the way I want to.” She hopes the make up of the Strategic Planning committee and the openness of the process will encourage continued involvement from all parts of the community. “This exercise has really been unique to the AU community,” said Rabin, adding that President Kerwin is deeply committed to increasing alumni participation across the university. Overall, this third town hall exercise produced more useful data for the committee to work with, said Tejani. “We’ve got some good ideas on where the community wants to go.” “We’re really opening it up to everybody, to read, to see, to be a part of,” he added of the broad community involvement for which the committee has strived. In addition to the Strategic Planning Web site, the process has been detailed in podcasts, alumni online chats, and at least one blog, “Beyond Ward Circle,” by Chip Griffin, SPA/BA ‘94. The strategic planning committee began working in November of 2007 and is now in its second phase of planning as the committee heads into the summer looking to expand on the ideas and opportunities gathered thus far. A report detailing the entire process will be shared later this fall, at the end of the third phase, which will begin in August and conclude in November. The next Town Hall will be held in September. | |||
