The Senate recommends that Michigan Tech incorporate a more explicit strategic planning effort within the existing Five Year Budget Development process. At a minimum, this process should involve a Strategic Planning Committee composed of the Senate officers, chairs of the Senate Finance Committee and Curricular Policy Committee, the Provost, Chief Financial Officer, and Academic Deans. This committee shall be charged with the preparation of an annual strategic planning summary that identifies all new and existing initiatives for programs, buildings, and other new enterprises on the five-year time line. This report should be prepared before the initiation of the annual budget process.
Rationale
In recent discussions concerning new academic
programs, buildings, and various other new initiatives, several senators have
become concerned about the manner in which each degree proposal, proposed
program addition, or facilities' expansion has been discussed and considered
largely in isolation. In fact, some initiatives are never discussed by
representatives of the larger campus, or formally considered by the Senate. This
proposal should address this difficulty by developing a planning process that
functions in a genuinely strategic fashion. The Senate seeks to create a forum
that will adopt a broader view of the commitments already made by the University
even as it considers new initiatives. One immediate result will be to make these
commitments more explicitly visible in the five-year budgeting progress. A
long-term result should be to provide clear input from the academic community as
the University moves toward and adjusts its strategic vision.
Proposal Development
As required by the Senate
Constitution, the Senate Executive Committee approved bringing this proposal
directly to the floor for debate.
Draft of 12 May 1999