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By Sharron Hannon
shannon@uga.edu
The Institutional Strategic Planning Advisory Group spent their last meeting of the academic  year reviewing revised drafts of some unit plans and discussing what happens next with the institutional planning document they have produced. That document, still in draft stage and as thick as a phone book, outlines and makes the case for a series of strategic initiatives that could push the University of Georgia into the top echelon of public research universities over the next decade. The price tag to implement the plan? In the neighborhood of $2 billion.
“We have the document ready for review,” says Don Eastman, vice president for strategic planning, whose job now is putting it before the president and other senior administrators, then working to have a revised draft ready to go to the University Council and share with the university community and other constituencies beginning next fall.
Eastman convened the institutional planning group in March 1999 and led them through weekly breakfast meetings over the past 14 months. The group heard presentations on topics ranging from Georgia demographics to technology infrastructure needs, pored over statistics and resource materials, and held animated discussions.
“This has been a long process, but definitely worthwhile,” says Felton Jenkins, an emeritus trustee of the University of Georgia Foundation and alumnus of the School of Law who faithfully attended meetings. “We have a fine university now, but it can be one of the few truly great public universities in America. The strategic plan by itself isn’t going to accomplish that, but it’s a big step in the right direction.”
Scott Shamp, a past chair of the Executive Committee of University Council and another committee member, is equally optimistic. “Hearing plans from all the different units makes me feel great about UGA’s future,” he says. “There’s been a lot of thought about where we want to go and how to get there.”
As of their last May meeting, the planning group had reviewed drafts and revised drafts of plans submitted by all UGA schools and colleges as well as other major campus units, from the Athletic Association to the State Botanical Garden. Most had been given a stamp of approval, though a few plans are still being worked on, based on feedback from the group. Current versions can be viewed on the strategic planning Web site.
“In evaluating the unit plans, we considered how well they built on existing or potential strengths and how well they focused on strategic opportunities to give the unit--and, by extension, the university--a special distinctiveness,” says Eastman. “We also wanted plans to be sensitive to the needs of students and the citizens of Georgia. Most importantly, we wanted to know the cost of proposed initiatives and whether the units could identify funding sources.”
After thoroughly examining the unit plans, the institutional planning group derived overarching institutional themes and then worked to categorize and prioritize proposed initiatives that advanced those themes. Areas of focus in the current draft include reinvesting in research, building a new learning environment, competing in the global economy and partnering with Athens-Clarke County to create a model for “smart growth.”
The resulting strategic-planning document includes several sections. The central piece, which runs nearly 30 pages, describes UGA today, noting strengths and weaknesses, then examines the needs of the state and UGA’s proposed responses to the identified challenges. The report then describes viable sources for funding the initiatives identified by the plan, including redeployment of current internal resources and a campaign to raise funds from private gifts.
The next major step, Eastman says, is to rework and revise the plan based on the responses from the university’s senior administrative leadership, the foundation trustees and other key supporters. The following draft will be the basis for building broad support for the plan--by sharing it with faculty, staff, students, alumni, retirees, donors and other audiences that need to be involved in shaping UGA’s future.
Tricia Page, former president of the Student Government Association who served on the committee, says she was glad that students had an opportunity to be part of the planning process. “Dr. Eastman and the group were very accepting of student input,” she says. “They didn’t take it lightly.”
Claire Swann, president of the UGA retirees association, says she considered serving on the committee as a representative of the National Alumni Association “a real privilege.
“Alumni are going to be even prouder as future developments unfold at their university,” she says, “and retirees in Athens will be lucky enough to literally watch the plan become a reality.”
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