A continuing Strategic Planning Committee helped assess progress and provided suggestions for revisions. Thus planning has become an ongoing process at The University of Iowa. As part of that process, the documents supporting the planning process and communicating the goals and aspirations require periodic review and renewal. The present document is the culmination of nearly a year's detailed examination, commentary, discussion, and revision of Achieving Distinction based on extensive testimony and suggestions from every segment of the University community. Goals are less general than the mission, which contains the broadest ends, but more general than objectives.
Goals are the basis for objectives which, in turn, serve as a link between goals and action.
A strategy can be a single action or a set of complementary actions. It should be clear that strategic planning focuses on the University as a whole, raising fundamental ques-tions about direction and emphases. Once established, the strategic plan is not etched in stone. The plan must be re-evaluated on a regular basis and continual adjustments will be necessary to meet new challenges or constraints and take advantage of unanticipated opportunities. Flexibility and adaptability characterize both the appropriate content and purpose of a good strategic plan.