Strategic Planning

To the Drew Community,

As you are aware, in keeping with common practice for new institutional leaders and with the encouragement and support of the University’s Trustees, early in my first year as president I launched a “Strategic Visioning” process, with wide participation from our community including input from faculty, staff, administration, students and Trustees. This process was ably led by Dr. John Mills and the Strategic Working Group composed of:

Brianne Barker – Associate Professor, Biology
Stacy Fischer – Executive Director, Launch
Louise Hood – Assistant Vice President, Advancement
Dong Sung Kim – Assistant Professor, Hebrew Bible
Monica Madera – Coordinator, Diversity Program
Tami Navarro – Assistant Professor and Chair, Africana Studies Program
Christa Racine – Director, Athletics
Raúl Rosales – Professor, Spanish
Shawn Spaventa – Director, Instructional Technology

I want to personally and publicly thank these individuals for their incredible dedication and hard work in creating a process and product that was thoughtful, comprehensive and forward-thinking, while providing an honest and constructive framework of who we are as a community and institution. In addition to this group, my thanks go out to the many “stakeholders” engaged throughout the visioning process, whose input has been invaluable.

Today I share with you our draft Strategic Framework, based on the work of and the document produced by the working group. The document does not include specific tactics for the items in the Strategic Framework, though many of the tactics suggested by the working group have been incorporated into the document and will be more fully fleshed out this fall.

You are invited to provide feedback on the Strategic Framework via this link. Your input will inform the finalization of the Strategic Framework and the development of the tactics and day-to-day operational plans.

Please save the date for my State of the University Address on Wednesday, September 18 at 4:15 p.m. in the Concert Hall which will be followed by a reception.

Thank you for all you continue to do for Drew. With gratitude for our community and optimism for the future, I send my best wishes for the end of the summer and the launch of the academic year.

Hilary L. Link, Ph.D.
President

I am very pleased to share the names of the nine faculty and staff who were selected by the Cabinet and myself to comprise Drew’s Strategic Planning Working Group. They will engage closely with John Mills and me on Drew’s strategic planning work:

Brianne Barker – Associate Professor, Biology
Stacy Fischer – Executive Director, Launch
Louise Hood – Assistant Vice President, Advancement
Dong Sung Kim – Assistant Professor, Hebrew Bible
Monica Madera – Coordinator, Diversity Program
Tami Navarro – Assistant Professor and Chair, Pan-African Studies Program
Christa Racine – Director, Athletics
Raúl Rosales – Professor, Spanish
Shawn Spaventa – Director, Instructional Technology

Thank you to these colleagues for committing to this important work for Drew’s future. John Mills has already met with this group via Zoom and shared, “I was impressed with the diversity in the group and its commitment to the project. The stakeholders at Drew should feel confident they have the team to accomplish the tasks ahead and openly communicate our progress.”

John will be on campus for his first round of in-person meetings this week. He will make several trips to Drew and there will be a number of opportunities announced soon for all campus stakeholders to share their ideas, give feedback, and weigh in on the plan as it is developed.

Stay tuned!

Sincerely,

Hilary L. Link

I am excited to update you all on upcoming efforts to develop an exciting new Strategic Vision and Direction for Drew University.

As I have been meeting with many colleagues across campus and beyond, I have been struck again and again by hearing a shared interest in framing and communicating what a bold future for Drew will look like and how to get there. A strategic visioning/planning process is a way of framing this effort as an inclusive and actionable set of goals, while also addressing the funding structures needed to get us there. As you may know, universities typically undergo such a process every five to ten years. Drew has not had a true strategic planning process (nor strategic plan to follow) since 2011. What I have heard, as well, from many of you is that there has perhaps been a lot of planning initiatives over these past years but not a lot of “taking action” or deciding on a long-term vision and then sticking with it to reap the benefits down the road. I have taken all of this under consideration as I have framed out this process.

It is of course important to note that this effort will accomplish the Middle States Commission on Higher Education’s recent request to provide further evidence of comprehensive long-range planning processes in our Supplemental Information Report due in September 2024.

To lead this community-wide process, I have decided to engage my close colleague and mentor Dr. John Mills, who has served as president of Northern Vermont University, Paul Smith’s College (NY), and Mount Aloysius College (PA) and has led a variety of institutions through five strategic planning processes. John and I will lead this process together, and I am so thrilled he has agreed to work with us. Given John’s experiences with many different types of institutions, I am confident that he will provide to us all both expert guidance and important outside perspective. The Cabinet has already had the pleasure of meeting John, and I am confident that you will all enjoy working with him. John will be on campus to kick off this process later in October. His bio is attached.

There will be many different ways for members of the Drew community to get involved in developing the new strategic plan over the coming months, and we will communicate those opportunities to you as the project unfolds. Keep an eye out for a website to document progress, access documents, review past meetings, and announce upcoming meetings for our community. I am simultaneously continuing my meetings with various stakeholders in our community throughout the coming year, and I continue to be excited about all the future holds for Drew.

I look forward to working with you as we set out on this important journey.

Sincerely,

Hilary L. Link

Strategic Planning Working Group Committee Members:

• • Brianne Barker – Associate Professor, Biology
  • Stacy Fischer – Executive Director, Launch
  • Louise Hood – Associate Vice President, Advancement
  • Dong Sung Kim – Assistant Professor, Hebrew Bible
  • Monica Madera – Coordinator, Diversity Program
  • Tami Navarro – Assistant Professor and Chair, Africana Studies Program
  • Christa Racine – Director, Athletics
  • Raúl Rosales – Professor, Spanish
  • Shawn Spaventa – Director, Instructional Technology

Introductory Meetings

• • October 24: Cabinet, Working Group, Theological School Dean’s Office
  • October 25: Arts & Sciences Dean’s Council, Representative Stakeholders Group 1, Drew Staff Association, CampusWorks
  • October 26: Arts & Sciences Dean’s Office, Representative Stakeholders Group 2, Representative Stakeholders Group 3, Representative Stakeholders Group 4
  • October 27: Theological School Dean’s Council, President Link, INTO Drew University

SWOT Matrix Review Meetings

• • November 3: Working Group

SWOT Summary and Conversation on Strategic Issues

• • November 10: Working Group
  • November 29: Arts & Sciences Dean’s Council, Stakeholders Group 1, Drew Staff Association Executive Board, Cabinet
  • November 30: Arts & Sciences Dean’s Office, Stakeholders Group 2, Theological School Dean’s Office, Stakeholders Group 3
  • December 1: CampusWorks, Theological School Dean’s Council, INTO Drew University, Stakeholders Group 4

Strategic Planning Process and SWOT Summary Review

• • November 29: Open Forum for Faculty and Staff
  • November 30: Student Government Leaders

Discussions to Narrow Down Strategic Issues

• • December 1: Working Group

SWOT Summary and Conversation on Strategic Issues

• • December 7: Board of Trustees

Initial discussion of Strategic Issues List

• • December 20: Working Group

Review of external ‘Who We Are’ messaging with Admissions, Advancement and Communications

• • January 12: Working Group

Continued discussion of “Who We Are” and Strategic Issues List

• • January 16: Working Group

Review of Strategic Issues Categories and creation of draft Master List.

• • January 19: Working Group

In-depth discussion of Strategic Issues

• • January 23: Working Group
  • January 25: Working Group
  • January 30: Working Group
  • February 7: Working Group
  • February 9: Working Group
  • February 13: Working Group

Review of Four Tenets with Strategic Questions

• • February 12: Drew Staff Association, Stakeholders, Theological School Dean’s Council
  • February 13: Cabinet, Stakeholders
  • February 14: Arts & Sciences Dean’s Council, Arts & Sciences Dean’s Office, Student Government Leaders
  • February 15: Theological School Dean’s Office, CampusWorks, Stakeholders, INTO Drew University
  • February 16: Board of Trustees

In-depth discussion of Strategic Issues

• • February 22: Working Group
  • March 6: Working Group
  • March 13: Working Group