Strategic Planning Update – Review of Task Force Reports and Next Steps

Dear NC State community —

It’s been a busier spring and summer than any of us could have imagined. Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and preparing for a safe return to campus this semester has required us all to work together to Protect the Pack.

In March, the nine strategic planning task forces moved from in-person to virtual meetings. We are grateful to the 166 faculty, staff and student task force members who continued to make progress on the development of reports covering the topics critical to the growth and development of NC State. We also appreciate the campus community’s feedback and support throughout the first stage of the strategic planning process.

Recent months have also led NC State to implement actions to address and correct racial inequities. Mindful of this, we added Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity Sheri Schwab to the Strategic Planning Executive Steering Committee in addition to her role as co-chair of the Advancing Inclusion and Well-Being to Enhance Excellence task force. As Chancellor Woodson also noted in a recent update, all members of the Steering Committee will take part in racial equity awareness training as they begin their work on NC State’s next strategic plan.

We have adjusted the strategic planning timeline to ensure that task forces had sufficient time to meet and work as their members also navigated the reopening of campus, extending the task force report deadline from early June to mid-August. We are now happy to announce that all nine task force reports will be posted online Monday, August 31 for three weeks of campus review and comment. The documents will be available on their respective task force websites along with forms for submitting feedback on each report to the Steering Committee. We will send another all-campus email once the papers have been posted.

Following the campus review and comment period, the Steering Committee will work this fall to bring content from the reports together to create the new strategic plan. When available, a draft of the new plan will be shared with the campus for review and comment before being finalized and later presented to the Board of Trustees in February 2021 for approval and adoption.

Thank you for your ongoing support of and participation in the creation of NC State’s next strategic plan.

Sincerely,

Warwick Arden
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost
Co-Chair University Strategic Planning

Margery Overton
Senior Vice Provost for Institutional Strategy and Analysis
Co-Chair University Strategic Planning