The Plan
In May 1997, over 200 faculty, administrators, and community members met in a campus-wide discussion to identify the major goals which would shape the University's new strategic plan "Vision for the 21st Century: A Plan for Excellence."
Our excellence and our capability to meet the challenges of the next few years will be defined and determined by what we actually decide to do about our future and how we go about doing it. The members of the University community have been working hard together over the past three years to accomplish the major goals identified, which include:
- create an honors program.
- create a stronger, first-class general education program.
- fortify and invigorate our academic core by strengthening the support for faculty research and creative professional activity.
- increase student involvement and work toward integrating a significant service-learning component into the educational experience of each student
- work toward integrating a significant service-learning component into the educational experience of each student.
- forge more cohesive working relationships among faculty, staff, students and administration by a concerted effort to make communication and consultation central to our enterprise.
- establish new orientation and communication programs designed to speed and strengthen the integration of new students into our university.
- focus available technology to support and facilitate learning and instruction in those areas immediately in need of its benefits and ready to maximize its use.
- aggressively pursue expanding both public and private resources available to the University.
- create a strong marketing and communication program with both our internal and external constituencies.
- establish an ongoing process to evaluate the excellence of our performance in four major areas - - academic programs, pre- and post-tenure faculty, student performance, and general systems and operations.
- strengthen our productive working ties with the other educational institutions in our region.
- strengthen our productive working ties with the region, including local government and community-based organizations.
- begin major enhancements to the academic support equipment and physical plant.
- systematically reduce the deferred maintenance of campus facilities.
- assure that the Library meets the challenging needs of both campus and region
- upgrade management and personnel practices to strengthen the enterprise
As the University begins the 2000-2001 academic year, major progress has been achieved on many, if not all, of the Plan's goals. The goals we establish in the Plan for Excellence were ambitious, and yet the faculty, staff and administrators at Fresno State have worked tirelessly and with great commitment over the last four years to make significant progress on all of the Plan's major goals.
In recognition of the rapidly changing environment in higher education, the new information economy, and the changing demographics of the students we serve, this year the University will undertake a review of the Plan for Excellence with the objective of updating our strategic plan's goals. In the fall of 2000, ten task forces will be established to launch a campus-wide review of the current Plan during the spring 2001 semester. All members of the campus community, as well as members of the external community and region, will be encouraged to participate in this effort and to work together to develop a renewed vision for our future.
