Individual academic departments and other units in the University were requested to review the revised core values, revised planning assumptions and their own departmental strategic plans to develop statements about their own departments that were then distilled into institutional strategic directions by the Strategic Planning Steering Committee. In October, the Faculty Senate, the Staff Council, the Student Government Association, the Commuter Council and the Graduate Student Senate scrutinized the eleven Strategic Directions. Each representative body recommended changes in wording and suggested goals that might be considered for many of the strategic directions. The President and the Vice Presidents assessed these suggestions and finalized the Strategic Directions. The third step in the planning process was the development of goals and action plans for each strategic direction.
Goals are ends, future states, or conditions to be produced.
Goals should be developed in the context of the mission and the strategic directions, and are the basis for specific action plans. The subcommittees reviewed the goals developed for the previous strategic plan to determine if any needed to continue into the new strategic plan, then considered additional goals. After developing goals for the strategic directions, the subcommittees were then asked to submit action plans for each goal. In early January 2000, the subcommittees submitted their suggestions for goals and action plans. These were compiled and sent to the entire committee for review and discussion.