Shirley Murray has already seen one of the impacts that the University’s first-ever integrated academic planning process, and especially the academic maps that came along with it, can have.
Murray is the student relations coordinator for the College of Allied Health and Nursing. For the past seven years, she has advised students in the College about what courses they should take when in order to earn the degree they want. But this year, for the first time, she has a document that shows them how to plan each semester in order to graduate in four years.
“Now, we have something concrete we can show them,” Murray says. “We can say, ‘Yes, indeed you can get done in four years, and here’s how.’ It doesn’t work for everyone, but it shows that it’s possible.”
The maps Murray is using with students are just one element of the sound and thorough academic planning endeavors led by Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Marilyn Wells. Another big outcome is the Academic Master Plan 2015–2018, which was launched in August. The goal was to empower the University to prepare for and shape the future by developing an intentional path forward.
“One of the primary goals at the forefront of this process was to intentionally define the kind of institution that we want to be,” Wells explains. “We can’t be all things to all people, so we need to prepare for and shape the future rather than let the future happen to us.”
Minnesota State Mankato is a large and comprehensive university with both undergraduate and graduate programs. We are now well positioned to define our areas of distinction within academics, research and industry by 2018 in order to have the most impact. We aim to advance a set of shared values and principles that are clearly a part of our character as an institution and are most important to the whole University community. We are ready to put big ideas in place, and to have a real-world impact now and for the next 150 years.
The Planning Process
By the time Provost Wells arrived on campus in the summer of 2013, conversations about an integrated academic planning initiative were already underway at Minnesota State Mankato. By the following spring, however, the new Provost introduced the topic to the University as a whole and started formalizing a way forward with the process.
One of the key components was to include the entire University community not only in discussions about the plan but also in the creation of the final document. Faculty, staff, administrators and students were given the opportunity to attend open forums and to accept roles on one of the four Extraordinary Education Task Forces that were established to address specific elements of the plan.
“It was critical to work closely with each of the bargaining units and divisions of the University from day one and to be sure that everyone felt included,” Wells says. “We had to have buy-in from everyone, including the Greater Mankato community, to make this work.”
Anne Dahlman, the director of the Honors Program and a faculty member in the Department of Educational Studies, said the Provost worked hard to make sure everyone had an opportunity to comment and be involved in the process. “Everyone was invited to the table, and there were multiple points at which input was taken into consideration,” she says. “ It was a very open, transparent process.”
Dahlman says that the inclusion of students was likewise critical. The Academic Engagement Programs and Opportunities task force, which she co-chaired, included two student representatives. “The student voice has to be there,” she says. “We really needed to include them in this process, to ask them what they want and what is important to them. They were very receptive to being involved as well—to be honest, I think they were hungry to do more.”
The process required a fairly significant time commitment from those involved. “It was a time strain,” admits Murray, who served on the Academic Advising task force. “The amount of meetings and deadlines was challenging, but a lot was accomplished.”
Putting the Plan in Place
Now the meetings are over and the deadlines have been met. And now, the University’s Academic Master Plan 2015–2018 is in place. In August, the Provost officially introduced the plan and released a document detailing the task forces’ recommendations and outlining each of the six college’s plans for new and growing academic degree programs, research and other signature programs.
One of the highlights that emerged from the planning process are 12 overarching areas of distinction—academic, research and industry—for the University by 2018, and as we look to the next 150 years. These will help us to further define where “we can hang our reputational hat,” Provost Wells says. “These areas will provide a framework for carefully selecting where our growth should occur and for identifying opportunities for even
greater success.”
The plan is not, however, a final product. Those involved in the planning process recognize that there will be changes and updates to the plan throughout its three-year span. “It’s a positive first step,” Murray says. “It’s not perfect, but we have to start with something and then continue to improve it.”
“We have direction,” Dahlman adds. “We have an idea of where we are going. We have a vision. This was the right first step. I think our Provost is leading us into the future.”
Indeed, the Provost is thinking well beyond the plan’s three-year period—which leads up to Minnesota State Mankato’s sesquicentennial year in 2018. “As we cross into our next 150 years, this positions us for who we will be in the future,” Wells says. “This plan is for 2015 through 2018, but it’s a vision for how we plan for the next 10 and 15 years as well.”
More information about the process, as well as the formal Academic Master Plan document, can be found at http://www.mnsu.edu/academicplan/.
—Sara Gilbert Frederick
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