Strategic Planning: Northern Kentucky University, Greater Cincinnati Region

Quick Links

Blackboard

Calendars

Strategic Planning Home

Strategic Planning 2013

This is an opportune time for Northern Kentucky University to embark upon a strategic planning process as we near the end of our current plan, the Points of Focus. NKU will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2018, and our process this year will result in a five-year plan that will serve as our roadmap toward that defining milestone.

During the Fall semester, I sought advice from the campus community on the timeline, format, and committee composition for a strategic planning process. I had conversations at the Fall planning collaboration retreat, with the college Deans; the department Chairs; the executive committees of Staff Congress, Faculty Senate, and the Student Government Association, as well as our directors and administrators. Based on that feedback, we have put together a strong and nimble strategic planning committee that will be assisted by several work groups this spring. To produce the best plan possible, we will also seek the collective thinking of our entire campus and the community through face-to-face forums, electronic forums, surveys, social media, and written suggestions.

The world as we know it is changing rapidly, including the world of higher education. It is becoming an increasingly competitive environment, and substantial challenges confront us. To continue to provide our students with the best education possible, we must seek effective solutions and opportunities that address these challenges.

This new plan will be our roadmap for developing and implementing strategies, programs, and initiatives. The plan will articulate a clear, succinct mission and vision of the university, and it will set strategic priorities that will guide our work and our investments.

I invite you to learn more about the strategic planning committee, the work groups, the guiding principles for our planning process, our anticipated timeline, and other documents and announcements that explain our work. I encourage you to check back often as the content will be regularly updated.

I encourage those in our university community to contribute to the planning process through participation in forums and surveys. As you consider issues we are facing, send your general comments and ideas to strategicplanning@nku.edu. If you have comments that are relevant to the issues being explored by one of the work groups, you can use the email links on each Work Group page to contact each group’s members. We are eager to hear from our colleagues and our community.

At the Spring Convocation in January, I introduced the members of the Strategic Planning Committee, and I spoke about how in studying the history of this university I have been inspired by the remarkable progress we have made in such a short span of time. I hope you are inspired as well. But now, it is our time. It is our time to write the next chapter in our history. It is our time to create a legacy that our future colleagues will remember fondly – and with great pride. It is our time to do that which will inspire those women and men who will follow us. Let us embrace this special responsibility with courage – the courage to believe that we have the capacity to thrive in these challenging times. Let us also embrace this special responsibility with humility – the humility to listen to the ideas of others with an open mind and an open heart.

As we embark on this journey together, let all of us model those attributes we seek to nurture in our students. We must strive to be excellent. And as we plan toward our 50th anniversary, let us aspire to create an ambitious vision for our future – let us envision and pursue a bold institutional dream.

Geoffrey S. Mearns
President