2013-2023 Strategic Plan Close-Out Ceremony
The ending of the 2013-2018 Strategic Plan, which was extended to AY 2018-2023, was acknowledged on December 13, 2023, at the plan’s close-out ceremony. The ceremony was led by President Darrell P. Wheeler and Associate Provost Laurel M. Garrick Duhaney. Implementation of the plan was furthered first by the Strategic Planning Council and later by the Strategic Planning and Assessment Council (SPAC). Members of the two committees included Sue Books, Dante Cantu, Beth Clark-Gareca, L. David Eaton, Linda Eaton, Jeffrey Gant, Laurel M. Garrick Duhaney, Deborah Gould, Isidoro Janeiro, Heather Lai, Julie Majak, Bruce Milem, Shala Mills, Lisa Mitten, Heather Morrison, Matt Newcomb, Tom Nolen, Michael Patterson, Pamela St. John, Chi-Yang Tsai, Andrea Varga, Michael Vargas, Lucy Walker, and Katherine Wilson.
The Strategic Plan Close-Out Ceremony was well-attended with many who served on the SPC and SPAC committees joining faculty, staff, and administrators to celebrate the plan’s many accomplishments. The SUNY New Paltz Final Strategic Plan Report: 2013-2018, prepared by Laurel Garrick Duhaney in collaboration with the Strategic Planning and Assessment Council, is available online. Copies of the report were distributed at the ceremony.
The development of a new strategic plan was stalled by COVID and the University’s transition to a new president. Pre-strategic planning activities occurred in fall 2023 with a professional development opportunity hosted by SUNY New Paltz on August 22 and 23 in conjunction with the Renaissance Center for Interdisciplinary Thinking, Knowledge Integration and Advanced Applications of Imagination, titled, “The Change that We Seek.” The experience was designed to stimulate creativity and to encourage strategic thinking, including about our future strategic planning process.
According to President Wheeler, “My goals as president for this new plan are to integrate strategic planning with resource development, financial planning and implementation and to nurture a culture of planning, measuring, and increased accountability toward goals at a time when fiscal management and the demonstrated impact of our mission will be critical to our ongoing viability and success.” He noted that the University plans to have “a consultant on board this summer who can begin their work with the campus community in fall 2024. We will conduct an inclusive consultative process across the 2024-2025 academic year to ensure the plan has plenty of opportunities for community input. I will task the selected consultant with guiding our plan to focus on auditing our capacities for improving our key vulnerabilities for doing business in higher education in the 21st century.”