April 16, 2001
Participate in The Big Picture!
I would like to encourage the entire campus community - students, faculty, staff, and alumni - to participate in "The Big Picture" at 12 noon on Tuesday, April 17, on the front steps of the Oviatt Library. This oversize group photograph will complement a similar photo taken of the campus family in the 1980s. The new photo will be made into a poster and be available for purchase about a week later at $5 each in the Matador Bookstore.
Triumphs like the selection of one of our faculty, biology professor Maria Elena Zavala, for the Wang Family Excellence Award; the success of the men's basketball team in reaching the NCAA championship tournament; our 10-year reaccreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges; and, the end of earthquake recovery activities have given rise to a real sense of pride and self-confidence at the University. For these reasons, I look forward to posing with all of you, my friends and colleagues, for "The Big Picture" at this wonderful moment in our history.
Light refreshments (cookies and lemonade) will be available afterward. I know that many student groups and departmental staff have made plans to be part of the picture, and I hope many others will join us. The group photo is, of course, one of many events planned as part of inaugural week festivities. My thanks to the Inaugural Committee for planning and organizing these activities.
I also hope many of you will attend the noon Thursday, April 19 inauguration, which is planned as a celebration of the entire University community. We will be joined by many distinguished guests, including Chancellor Charles B. Reed, members of the California State University Board of Trustees, CSU presidents, local and state officials including California Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, members of the student body, faculty, staff, and alumni, and many other friends and supporters. For further information about other inaugural-related activities, link to CSUN's home page at www.csun.edu.
University Goals and Initiatives
In recent years, university goals and initiatives have been developed in various arenas by different groups. In order for the university to best accomplish its major objectives, we felt those varying approaches needed to be focused into a single uniform vision. As part of that, we have also looked at consolidating the two major groups on campus charged with leading the development and implementation of those goals. After campus consultation, I have accepted the attached set of university goals and the establishment of a new campus entity, the University Planning and Budget Group, to guide our work in this area.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to those who worked on this project. This kind of teamwork sets the standard for how faculty and administrators can come together to accomplish meaningful results.
Jolene Koester
President
(04/16/01)
Goals and Initiatives / University Planning and Budget Group
At the fall meeting of the Strategic Planning Governance Group (SPGG), it was proposed that the University combine the various priorities and goals laid out in four University documents: the WASC Recommendations, the Accountability Performance Areas, the President's Priorities, and SPGG's University Themes and Goals. A subcommittee of SPGG was formed and charged with reviewing and integrating the various goals and priorities. This subcommittee, named the Integrated University Planning Group, was made up of faculty and administrators. The group met several times between January and March 2001 to develop a proposal to integrate the priorities and to propose a structure that would address them. The following are the results of that integration, which have been approved by the President in consultation with the Cabinet.
University Goals and Initiatives
I. Student Achievement
- Increase graduation rates (including undergraduate, graduate, credential students).
- Enhance quality of the baccalaureate degree (including review of GE and advisement).
- Enhance quality of the graduate degree and credential (including review of advisement).
- Increase the level of student preparedness/decrease the need for remediation.
- Focus student learning/assessment criteria in curricular and co-curricular arenas.
II. Campus Environment
- Develop user-friendly academic, business, and personnel processes for students, staff, and visitors.
- Enhance internal communications.
- Enhance physical environment (including safety issues, buildings, parking, signage).
- Develop a campus culture that promotes personal engagement in communities, thereby fostering excellence in all faculty, staff, and student endeavors
- Develop greater pride in the University.
- Enhance support for diversity in all areas of campus life.
III. Research, Scholarship, and Creative Achievement
- Provide support for research, scholarship, and creative achievement for all within the campus community.
- Focus on and promote outcomes: instructional innovations, publications, presentations, creative work.
- Enhance faculty, administrative, and staff development.
- Honor professional recognition and distinction.
IV. Resources/Institutional Effectiveness
- Establish budget priorities to support excellence in educational programs.
- Increase external funding (including grants and scholarships).
- Increase sources and levels of financial aid.
- Enhance information technology and technology in general.
- Maximize effectiveness of facilities utilization.
V. Serving External Community
- Serve as intellectual, cultural, and artistic resource for the community.
- Develop and enhance partnerships in service to the community.
- Enhance external communications to promote knowledge of the University's contributions to the community.
- Attend to areas of special state need.
University Planning and Budget Group (UPBG)
Committee Charge and Structure
The University Planning and Budget Group (UPBG) will serve in an advisory capacity to the President by assisting with the development and prioritization of campus goals and advising on the allocation of resources.
As a starting point for developing and setting goals, UPBG will use the approved list of integrated campus goals and initiatives.
The UPBG will:
- assist in developing long-and short-range plans to accomplish prioritized goals and initiatives;
- consult on the status of ongoing campus goals and initiatives;
- evaluate information, including key performance indicators, and use them in the development of the programmatic and resource priorities;
- advise on communication plans regarding budget and planning;
- review and comment on budgets prepared by University officers.
The UPBG's 15 members will be:
1.Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs (chair)
2. Vice President for Administration and Finance
3. Vice President for Student Affairs
4. Vice President for University Advancement
5. Chief Information Officer6. President of the Faculty
7. Chair of the Council of Chairs
8-9.President and student member of Associated Students
10.Staff member designated by the President
11-15. Five faculty members designated by the President of the Faculty