Fredonia: Blueprint for Excellence

Statement of Value

Fredonia is dedicated to providing a high quality experience for students inside and outside the classroom. Alumni accomplishments throughout their lives and careers, in addition to their service to communities, are the ultimate measures of our university’s success. Building a foundation of academic excellence takes the whole university, and empowers students to achieve their goals and develop interdisciplinary solutions to critical issues in the region and world.

Institutional Goals

To enhance the Student Experience, Fredonia will:

• Engage each student to achieve academic and personal success through a challenging and supportive environment.
• Create academically engaged learning environments (online, classroom or blended) with applied learning opportunities.
• Increase community engagement opportunities for students.
• Increase student engagement in co-curricular programming.
• Strengthen the alignment of our Institutional Learning Goals with campus learning outcomes.
• Invest in and promote student wellness.

Evidence of Engagement

• Align student academic and co-curricular learning outcomes with future workplace skills.
• Increase participation of students in volunteer, community service and civic engagement activities through local and regional partnerships.
• Create, adopt, and incorporate new learning technologies into the campus life experience.
• Implement and assess tools to support students through enrollment, graduation, and professional achievement.
• Strengthen the institutional culture of assessment through use of instruments such as NSSE (National Survey of Student Engagement) and Student Opinion Surveys.
• Develop a campus life facilities plan to address current and future student needs.
• Increase intervention and prevention services intended on helping students develop the capacity to proactively cope with challenges and struggles.

Statement of Value

As a public comprehensive university, Fredonia values the scholarship, creative activities, participation and leadership in academic and professional communities of its students, faculty, and staff.

Institutional Goals

To support Scholarship & Creative Activities, Fredonia will:

• Engage more students in research, scholarship, and creative activity.
• Support faculty engagement in publicly recognized research, scholarship, and creative activity.
• Invest in the betterment of local, regional, and academic communities.

Evidence of Engagement

• Create opportunities for all undergraduate students to complete an approved applied learning activity including an internship, practicum, field experience, service learning, research project, capstone, entrepreneurship, co-op, honors thesis or study abroad experience (in accordance with the Applied Learning Plan).
• Explore ways to promote and encourage scholarly and creative activities involving students.  Percentage of Fredonia students involved in these activities will be increased. 
• Increase support for student scholarly and creative activities including conference presentations, conference attendance, and travel. 
• Explore ways to promote research, scholarship, creative activity, grant activity, and scholarly presentations of faculty and staff.
• Increase support dedicated to faculty and staff scholarly and creative activities which could include increased travel funds and increased grant office support. 
• Explore ways to promote faculty and staff involvement in academic/professional communities.
   

Statement of Value

To thrive, the university will grow. Yet growth alone is not the goal. Our growth is a measure of the relevance of the exciting promise we offer to students, faculty and staff in ways that are ever more varied and valued.

Institutional Goals 

To support Growth, Fredonia will:

• Increase undergraduate and graduate enrollment, as a function of both recruitment and retention (in accordance with the SEM and International Plans).
• Enhance the financial strength and institutional sustainability.
• Enhance alumni participation and involvement with students.  
• Strengthen and enhance regional, national and global partnerships.  

Evidence of Engagement

• Increase total enrollment of students to a financially sustainable level.
• Develop measures to report and evaluate the financial health and viability of the campus.
• Enhance alumni involvement and participation in student engagement activities such as speaker series and mentor programs.
• Increase student, faculty and staff participation in mutually-beneficial partnerships.

Statement of Value

Fredonia takes pride in the diversity of our campus and is committed to cultivating a sense of belonging for every student, faculty and staff member. Embracing and valuing differences leads to an enriched campus and a vibrant learning community. Fredonia’s internationalization efforts are important in the creation of responsible global citizens.  Central to our vision and core values, the university promotes equity for all, while placing a high degree of importance on student, faculty, and staff morale.

Institutional Goals

To promote Equity and Culture, Fredonia will:

• Foster a vibrant climate of inclusiveness and global awareness for all.
• Ensure that the campus and community is a place where differences are welcomed, different perspectives are respectfully heard, and where every individual feels a sense of belonging and inclusion.
• Promote a positive environment for all students, employees, and campus visitors.

Evidence of Engagement

• Implement a communication plan to ensure campus and community understanding of Fredonia’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.
• Increase programs and services related to multicultural engagement of faculty, staff, and students.
• Develop initiatives to support retention of faculty, staff, and students from diverse populations (in accordance with the DEI Plan).
• Increase hiring of faculty and staff from diverse populations.
• Enhance opportunities to educate the campus on multicultural competencies.
• Promote a campus culture that leads to enhancement in faculty and staff morale using COACHE (The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and other surveys to measure that morale.
• Celebrate cultural experiences that promote global and international awareness (in accordance with the International Plan).
• Provide public recognition of student, staff and faculty involved in campus service that enhances equity and the university’s culture.

Statement of Value

Fredonia's mission is to integrate environmental sustainability into all aspects of the campus through education and awareness. Ethical stewardship inspires innovation and creativity impacting environmental solutions.

Institutional Goals

To embrace Environmental Sustainability, Fredonia will:

• Enhance the environmental sustainability of the campus.
• Promote responsibility and expand understanding of environmental sustainability issues.
• Maintain and redesign facilities to create environmentally sustainable buildings.

Evidence of Engagement

• Intently pursue means through which the University will honor the commitment to be Carbon Neutral.
• Review campus operations to develop and enhance strategies for all areas of campus including alternative forms of transportation, food procurement and waste, water consumption, and energy use.
• Provide targeted educational opportunities for all students on campus to learn about environmental sustainability through curriculum, peer-to-peer activities, and campus-wide programming, as well as developing a Sustainability Certificate program open to all Fredonia students.
• Utilize the Facilities Master Plan to develop sustainable guidelines for new buildings, the improvement of existing facilities and infrastructure, and the enhancement and improvement of the campus landscape and pedestrian environment that will provide a clear understanding throughout the campus and provide required design directives.

OVERVIEW

In December 2016, President Virginia Horvath and University Senate formed a campus-wide committee to launch a new strategic planning process for 2018-2022. They appointed campus leaders, Nancy Boynton (Professor, Mathematical Sciences) and Cedric Howard (Vice President, Student Affairs) to guide the strategic planning development process. The new strategic plan builds upon two existing planning efforts at Fredonia: Power of Fredonia Strategic Plan (2011-2017) and a set of current operational planning processes (e.g., Strategic Enrollment Management Plan (SEM); Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan (DEI); International Plan; Facilities Master Plan; and Applied Learning Plan). The planning committee was charged with identifying strategic directions for Fredonia as the campus prepares to serve its campus community and the greater Western New York region.

After review of existing planning documents and current operational plans, the Strategic Planning Committee identified five common themes:  Student Experience, Scholarship & Creative Activities, Growth, Equity & Culture, and Environmental Sustainability.  The five common themes serve as “Strategic Directives” for the 2018-2022 strategic plan.

Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Co-Chairs: Nancy Boynton (Mathematical Sciences) and Cedric Howard (Student Affairs)

Members: Amanda Austin (International Education), Tracy Collingwood (Engagement & Career Development), Jacob Czelusta (International Student Services), Rajeev Indiranagaraju (Institutional Research, Planning & Assessment), Markus Kessler (Facilities Planning), Barbara Nolan (College of Education), Sarah Laurie (Environmental Health & Safety & Sustainability), Victoria Pucci-Schaefer (Student), Zachary Sweet (Student), David White (Educational Development Program), Jeffrey Woodard (Marketing & Communications)

CHARGE OF STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE

• Review current planning initiatives underway at the State University of New York at Fredonia to discover what operational planning is being done (Strategic Enrollment Management plan, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan, International Plan, Facilities Master Plan, Applied Learning Plan).
• Develop and implement a process to engage the campus in identifying strategic directions for Fredonia in 2018-2022. The process in the past has invited various groups to use a toolkit to engage in critical questions and to submit their responses. There have also been open forums and focus groups to gather information and ideas in a variety of ways, including online submission of ideas and face-to-face meetings.
• Develop a website for the planning process, and update it regularly to keep the campus community engaged in and informed throughout the process.
• Analyze submissions to identify 3-5 strategic directions for the campus in the next five years. These directions should be broad enough to include some of the work that is being done in the operational plans.
• Prepare a strategic plan draft that can be presented for discussion and revision by the University Senate, Cabinet, and leadership groups in each division. The plan should include narrative about each initiative, along with specific goals, tasks, and measures.
• Working with the President and Cabinet, incorporate revisions into the final draft of the plan, and present the plan to the University Senate for approval.