WSU Staff Session
December 6, 2005
Below is a summary of the discussion held by WSU staff on December 6, 2005 who focused on four of the five strategic directions contained in the current plan.
1. The Learning Experience: Establish and sustain a superlative learning experience that builds upon the unique values and attributes of WSU.
- Evaluate and analyze the success we have made in accomplishing the goals of our 2001-2006 strategic action plan.
- Establish measurable outcomes as a means of determining our progress.
- Provide good infrastructure, support and administrative systems to boost student retention and shorten the time to degree.
- Emphasize WSU strengths including the university’s multicultural nature, affordability and accessibility of faculty.
- Align general education requirements to the strategic directions.
- Explore creating a learning community for commuter students – e.g. electronically.
- Leverage our international students and create global learning opportunities.
- Create flexible scheduling option and look beyond the traditional 16-week semester.
- Utilize faculty to communicate a wide variety of WSU programs and services to students and promote the total campus experience.
2. Pre-eminence in research and scholarship: Strengthen our performance as a nationally recognized research university by focusing on our competitive advantages, enhancing our scholarship, emphasizing a multidisciplinary approach to research, and collaborating with government, industry and other institutions to enhance economic growth and the quality of life.
- Model the diversity of the medical school across campus.
- Develop courses, workshops, Web-based communications and newsletters educating students on available scholarship and grant funding.
- Focus on quality and not just quantity, to ensure that faculty publish in well-respected, peer-reviewed academic journals.
- Provide more start-up funding for research projects and promote faculty mentoring.
- Encourage alumni to bring their expertise, knowledge and experience back to campus.
- Streamline the contract bidding process to reduce administrative overhead and simplify the process.
3. Quality of Campus Life: Enhance the quality of life on campus by nurturing a culture of success and excellence.
- Promote diverse campus organizations, including fraternities and sororities.
- Reach out to incoming students before they arrive on campus.
- Provide incentives for students to use their campus e-mail.
- Make better use of publications such as HOUR magazine and the Metro Times to offer student discounts.
- Direct student employees to career relevant opportunities.
- Devote resources to particular sports programs and step up efforts to increase attendance at sporting events.
- Publish on-line magazine, similar to Life@Wayne, for students.
- Improve the quality of student services and provide more information on student loans and scholarships.
- Change online job descriptions to provide more specific and detailed information on individual postings.
4. Engaged University: Develop mutually beneficial partnerships with our community as catalysts for the social, cultural, economic and educational enrichment of the region.
- Involve students in alumni activities before they graduate.
- Create housing for families and elder-friendly communities around campus.
- Expand visibility in St. Clair, Livingston, Oakland and Macomb counties.
- Construct a hotel and conference center that can also double as a performing arts center.
- Aggressively capitalize on existing arts and cultural programs including WDET, campus theaters and the Detroit Orientation Institute.
- More engagement by WSU in various regional and statewide councils.
- Identify unmet needs to determine if goal of 40,000 student enrollment is desirable.
- Create new professional development programs such as clinical research administration.
- Engage students with K-12 systems and address the issue that many working students are unable to spend a semester student teaching.
- Encourage positive word-of-mouth advertising to promote the university.