INVITATION TO ATTEND
“The Future of the Comprehensive Regional University”

To kick off University-wide conversations about our future, we have asked President Richard Pattenaude to meet with the Planning and Budget Committee and the University Community on November 11. You are all invited for his presentation and conversation titled “The Future of the Comprehensive Regional University” from 10:00-11:30 in Founders Hall.

Update on Strategic Planning Process

We would like to update you on how the process is unfolding. There is no preconceived plan or particular direction into which the University is being shaped. The planning is a wide-open and creative venture. Now is the time for brainstorming and creative activity. Maximal input is essential from the entire University community. We solicit and welcome input and suggestions in hopes of reaching a consensus. To accomplish these goals, the following processes are in place:

1. School Level Planning

   Each of the four schools is using existing strategic planning structures, or creating new ones, to support the strategic planning process and to make sure that school-based priorities and goals are represented in the University’s Strategic Plan. It is expected that by using some combination of priorities, gap, and emergent issues approach, we will re-visit previous strategic and reorganization plans and addresses the following issues:
    

   • Re-examine CCSU's existing mission statement and major goals

   • Prioritize existing activities

   • Imagining the future of CCSU in 5-10 years from now

   These meetings have begun and deans have been asked to provide the UPBC with a progress report on November 19 and a full report by the end of fall semester.

    

2. Academic Support Planning

   Provost Arends has asked each of the Academic Support Units (Admissions, CIE, Continuing Education, Registrar, Graduate School, and Library) to engage in a similar long-range planning process.
    

3. University-wide Planning.

The University Strategic Plan will be developed under the auspices of the provost and the UPBC committee. The plan will incorporate goals and initiatives emanating from the schools and academic support units, but may also include initiatives based on the committee’s own work and analysis. It is intended that a draft of the University’s Strategic Plan will be ready for consideration by March 15, 2004.

More on the Pattenaude Visit
To assist in school and university-wide planning, the UPBC and the provost voted to seek the wisdom of a futurist who could come and speak with all involved in strategic planning and to act as a catalyst in the planning process. The UPBC selected Dr. Richard Pattenaude to play this role. He will meet with President Judd, Provost Arends, the UPBC, the Council of Deans, Chief Officers of Academic Support Units, Senate Leadership, and any interested faculty and members of the University community. President Pattenaude is currently the president of the University of Southern Maine, an institution similar to CCSU. He also is a former CCSU vice president of Academic Affairs. He will bring unique insight and experience to our campus.

The UPBC has presented a number of questions to President Pattenaude that pertains to our future that will be discussed throughout the day:

What is going to be very different for public institutions of higher education in the next five years?

1. Over several decades, the lines between traditional student and “non-traditional” student have blurred.   Are we entering a period in which the numbers of “traditional students” will be on the rise, just as non-traditional learners are forced by the global economy to retool their careers?  What are the demographics of future demand?

2. As state subsidies continue to shrink, we are like most public universities – we raise tuition and fees.  How do we sustain access to qualified students, given this upward spiraling of the cost for our degrees?

3. We have a new classroom building stuck in the bonding pipeline--in cue behind the renovation of DiLoreto and Willard halls.  Our dilemma is that we can grow revenue by admitting larger classes of students; yet, our classroom capacity allows mainly for classes of 35 or less.  Shall we plan for a steady state or is there a viable way to grow?

4. Being a publicly supported institution, we are faced with carrying into our future mandates that may have once been funded, but now must be institutionalized.  How do we manage to reduce and prevent the burden of unfunded state and federal mandates?

5. We know that a plan will not be strategic if we do not reduce or eliminate those programs and activities which are no longer living up to their original promises.  How do we identify that which must be left behind and prove that this must be done?

6. The University of Southern Maine is a member of the larger University of Maine System.  As you know, we are a member of the Connecticut State University System.  Initiatives from outside sources to combine our system with the community colleges and/or the University of Connecticut come and go over the years.  We cannot assume that some time in the future, we could become part of an even larger system.  How shall we plan to maintain sufficient autonomy to enact a plan unique to our mission and needs of our region?

7. A core curriculum or general education is essential for all majors. We have experienced changes in our core over the past decade linked to differing philosophies of education. We are revisiting this core. Every college and university has to have one, or so is the convention.  What must we anticipate in the process of renewing the general core of our curriculum?

8. We have developed a first-year experience (FYE) for our students. However, we have been unable to offer enough sections for all freshmen in a timely fashion.  Does FYE require a special organizational structure to support its activities?  How have other universities addressed issues of providing quality learning experiences for first-year students?

9. Permanent faculty are at the heart of every program of study and research.  Again, so has been the convention for decades.  However, we note the national trend to employing more temporary faculty (adjuncts) and the loss of tenure track positions.  We note also the trend of future new doctorally qualified persons corresponding with the ill-timed loss of thousands of Baby Boomer faculty to early and regular retirement cycles.  How do we assure our future students a permanent, well-qualified faculty?

10. We hear about the “New Workplace” and the growing reliance of business, as well as the non-profits, upon “Knowledge Workers.”  Connecticut has lost a disproportionate number of manufacturing jobs and even knowledge-intensive jobs to global outsourcing.  How do we identify the emerging jobs that will be available five to ten years from now awaiting our next waves of graduates?

11. Finally, the shape of our organization, as with all our public higher education organizations.  Can we rest assured that we can make minor adjustments in our structures and continue doing business pretty much as usual; or must we make a radical change in how we are organized?

All faculty and members of the University community are invited to attend and to participate in this important conversation and to contribute other issues and concerns that are related to our planning process.

Notes from Pattenaude Visit

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