THE MANSFIELD PLAN
Strategic Goals and Actions

J a n u a r y  1 9 9 9

Mansfield University:

An uncommon place . . .

To learn,

To achieve,

To shape the future.

Imagine . . .

"Points of Pride"

Strategic Goals

Commit to a University culture that values teaching and learning.

× Initiate a first-year course and an integrated, University-wide cultural activities program for students, faculty, staff, and the community.

× Develop a rigorous and integrated program of general education and implement the program in the Fall of 2000.

× Promote pedagogical approaches that challenge and engage students in every course through the use of information technology, the Center for Effective Teaching, professional development activities, scholarly research, and assessment of student learning outcomes.

× Develop a program to provide community service learning opportunities for all students. Make efforts to integrate such learning into courses and majors.

× Provide opportunities for adult learners to earn credit for college-level learning in order to promote access to postsecondary education.

× Identify the "value-added" for Mansfield University graduates through a diverse range of quantitative and qualitative data.

× Promote the professional and scholarly development of faculty and staff. Evaluate budgets and programs to increase opportunities for professional and scholarly growth of faculty and staff.

× Identify budgets and programs (including the seeking of external grant funding) to support faculty scholarship and define this scholarship broadly so it represents a richness and diversity consistent with our academic disciplines and our public mission as a teaching institution.

Assure that student experiences contribute to academic success, defined life skills, and student well-being.

× Design and implement more student activities that result from the collaboration between the divisions of academic affairs and student affairs, such as the "MU Weekend" program, and that create new learning opportunities for students, faculty and staff.

× Develop more activities which engage students in learning outside of their courses: alone, with fellow students, within the community, with alumni, and with professional associations.

× Design an integrated cultural program for the University community that provides a focus for the film and lecture series, invited speakers (including alumni) and performing arts groups, and the first-year course theme.

× Provide opportunities for students to develop social competencies and leadership skills that contribute to their development and to the University and the regional community.

× Develop more activities that will provide students opportunities to understand behavioral expectations and practice appropriate citizenship as members of the University community.

× Assess current residential life-style options and initiate changes, including adding options, as necessary, to ensure that our residence hall facilities meet the living and learning aspirations of contemporary students and support our mission as a learning community.

× Use various assessment tools, as part of the institution’s continuous improvement, to evaluate all student activities, including athletics, recreation and cultural programs.

Address the educational, economic and cultural needs of the region and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by offering relevant and appropriate programs and services.

× Develop appropriate certificate, associate degree, bachelor degree and graduate programs that respond to the educational and employment needs of residents and employers in our region.

× Use technology to extend access for residents of the region to University programs, information, and services.

× Collaborate with K-12 educational colleagues to offer educational opportunities for qualified high school students and to design and deliver a progressive University teacher education program, professional development courses for K-12 faculty, and innovative graduate-level courses and programs.

× Facilitate the smooth transfer to Mansfield University for community college graduates through articulation agreements and transfer-friendly University policies.

× Continue to recognize University facilities as a resource for residents, employers and organizations throughout the region, not only during the fall and spring semesters but summer as well.

× Disseminate broadly information about educational, cultural and athletic events at the University to invite residents’ attendance and participation. Investigate ways to communicate calendar, event, and ticket information for all University events throughout the Twin Tiers.

× Promote productive relationships between members of the immediate University community and area residents through an active community service learning program that provides educational opportunities for MU students and meets the needs of area residents, organizations, and communities.

× Design courses, programs and services that respond to the needs of non-traditional students and lifelong learners, so that the University can serve well the adult learner population of our region — for their personal and professional development as well as earning a degree.

× Continue to support both students and employees in activities that serve residents of the region, especially literacy programs.

× Collaborate with other System institutions to contribute to an integrated sequence of programs and services that meet the needs of traditionally underserved regions and populations of the Commonwealth.

× Collaborate with regional businesses and industries and not-for-profit organizations to develop the human resources of our region.

Achieve optimal enrollment goals, continue to assure access, and support the improved academic background of new students.

× Establish and disseminate to employees and alumni the University enrollment targets for new students, for retention of enrolled students, and for overall University enrollment. Make clear each individual’s role and contribution toward the achievement of those goals.

× Develop a comprehensive enrollment management plan with a goal to enroll a total headcount of 3,500 students within five years.

× Design and disseminate enrollment objectives for Admissions and the University community that grow new student enrollment from 900 to 950 students over five years, but that increase the proportion of academically strong students while maintaining our dual access programs, Act 101 and the Academic Opportunity Program (AOP).

× Design and disseminate a student retention plan, based upon clear academic standards, that contains specific retention objectives and identifies each individual’s role in attaining those objectives.

× Constrain student costs, and use all sources of student aid and state appropriation to promote access and enrollment. Enhance student access and retention through effective financial aid publications and advising.

× Offer an array of programs and experiential learning opportunities that prepares students for a range of present and future employment, and provides students the experience, knowledge and skills to be effective lifelong learners.

× Review and revise as necessary those services that support students’ career explorations, further education, and job search efforts.

× Consider and propose alternative tuition charges that promote enrollment and provide fiscal stability to the University. Review non-resident undergraduate and graduate tuition charges, summer program charges, and non-resident tuition for enrollment in distance education courses and programs.

Advance diversity, illustrate its benefits, discuss and celebrate differences, and foster understanding of the human condition.

× Review, revise as necessary, and implement both gender equity and social equity employee goals for both faculty and staff.

× Establish enrollment goals for minority and international students. Identify and fund strategies to realize those goals.

× Promote within academic majors and the University’s general education program and related cultural activities an increased understanding of world cultures and diversity.

× Promote and support a cultural events calendar, including activities representative of various cultures that will enrich community discussion, understanding, and appreciation of cultural diversity.

× Establish a University-wide task force to review institutional efforts and gender-equity strategies relative to Title IX.

× Assure that the University’s facilities master plan and future building renovations reflect our commitment to, and compliance with, the American with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Integrate information technology throughout the community to enhance learning, productivity, and communication.

× Develop information technology competencies for all students within both general education and the majors so our graduates can function effectively in the 21st Century.

× Develop a strategic plan for technology at the University that includes both a mission statement for the integration of technology into all University operations as well as specific strategic objectives.

× Include in this strategic plan the University goals for its involvement in distance education technologies, including but not limited to on-line courses and use of synchronous audio/video technologies.

× Investigate the advantages of student ownership or leasing of lap-top computers.

× Promote professional development activities for faculty that result in more effective instruction and student learning through the use of information technologies.

× Identify the requisite budgetary and personnel support necessary to support the information technology plan, both short-term and long-term.

× Develop Memorial Hall as a public-service, technology center to serve the region with state-of-the art instructional facilities.

× Support all staff to develop information technology competencies (for example, but not limited to, word processing, spreadsheets, data base management, student information system, web-based applications, ad e-mail). Dedicate resources and space for these learning opportunities.

Implement an integrated, comprehensive, institution-wide marketing plan.

× Target all marketing activities and expenditures to accomplish at least one of three objectives: recruit students, raise funds, make friends.

× Identify institutional strengths and challenges.

× Identify characteristics (operations, statistical ratios, stories, etc.) that will positively influence potential students, illustrate our "points of pride," and provide a positive indication about how Mansfield University is an "uncommon" public university.

× Work with a consultant and the University’s marketing committee to develop a comprehensive marketing plan.

× Develop and maintain a consistent institutional image that is communicated broadly to all University constituents.

× Focus the marketing plan on the enrollment growth of PA undergraduate students, NY undergraduates and all graduate enrollments.

Create indoor and outdoor campus spaces that promote an inviting, interactive, and intellectually stimulating learning community.

× Develop a comprehensive master plan for facilities and the campus environment that promotes learning, optimal enrollment, accessibility, and a sense of community. Review and update this plan annually.

× Emphasize both function and aesthetics (e.g., signage, landscaping, and maintaining the beauty of the campus).

× Improve the quality of all academic space through the Academic Facilities Renovation Plan (AFRP).

× Move parking (except ADA) to peripheral areas of the campus. Develop walks, ramps, steps, benches, and landscaping in a coordinated fashion to promote a pedestrian campus and a sense of coherency.

Expand the University’s base of external support.

× Set fundraising goals to institutional needs.

× Increase the rate of alumni giving participation.

× Increase the participation and level of giving by University leadership groups (e.g., Trustees, Foundation and Alumni Board members).

× Plan and implement special events that enhance the University’s image, make friends, and raise funds.

× Support entrepreneurial ventures that generate friends and/or funds for the University.

× Portray a consistent, fact-based image of the University.

× Engage in political outreach activities to improve local, state, and federal support of higher education in general and Mansfield University in particular.

× Develop close, positive relations with regional employers and identify opportunities for mutual support and development.

× Increase the degree of parental/family involvement in fundraising activities.

× Continue to increase the rate and volume of employee giving.

× Encourage and offer incentives for faculty and staff to seek external grants and contracts hat support research, scholarship, curriculum development, pedagogy, innovative training programs, and public service.

Exercise careful management and be accountable for resources.

× Maintain a steady financial equilibrium, balancing revenue and expenditures, and building and preserving appropriate reserves.

× Monitor carefully and regularly financial, facility, and personnel indicators.

× Increase institutional support for human resource development.

× Engage in creative, responsive management strategies and practices that enable the University to achieve its public mission.

× Assure personnel accountability through the appropriate personnel performance evaluations.

× Develop a new, annual budget-development process.

Institutionalize assessment and data collection so we may better tell our story and discover ways to improve continuously.

× Identify and report annually on key university-wide performance indicators related to the objectives of this University strategic plan (student learning, enrollment, retention, diversity, information technology, fundraising and budgets, among others). Report about how these indicators relate to State System annual goals; the strategic plan, Imperatives for the Future; and national norms.

× Continue to develop learning outcomes at the department level for each academic program and use this data for program improvements, program approval, and accreditation purposes.

× Continue to support the work of the Assessment Committee and maintain our commitment to the use of various assessment instruments, including regular program review, to improve programs and services.

× Participate actively in System student learning outcomes initiatives.

× Prepare and present straightforward reports based upon institutional research which contain assessment results and performance indicators on at least an annual basis to the various University constituencies, including the public.

× Use performance indicators in this strategic plan and in our Annual Institutional Report to identify Continuous Improvement opportunities.

Celebrate community.

× Use Convocation and other special occasions (such as the Presidential Inauguration in spring 1999) to celebrate learning, the University, and our region.

× Continue to develop University Days as our University "teach-in" for all employees.

× Use our campus environment for large community gatherings that promote student/employee interaction, employee interaction across traditional organizational lines, alumni continuing involvement in the University, and opportunities to make new friends for the University.

× Identify and implement various activities that recognize employee and student contributions to the University.

× Foster a climate that values and respects the individual dignity of each community member. Appreciate and acknowledge high quality work, individual effort, and contributions to our common goal.