Strategic Planning Update

Dear Faculty and Staff,

I am writing to update you on the progress of our next strategic plan and to thank you for your invaluable feedback throughout the process. We heard from many of you during the three feedback sessions we held in November, as well as through our online feedback form and email.

Thank you, too, to the Student Government Association, the Magnolia Society, and Pathways Peer Advisors who provided insight into their student experience, as well as other student groups who shared valuable comments.

The progress made in strategic planning this fall is a testament to the herculean efforts of the Strategic Planning Team, which organized and guided the feedback sessions and completed a lot of work in a short amount of time. They were engaged and thoughtful and represented the university well. Members (listed below) reviewed all of the data collected at Community Day last spring and during the feedback sessions as well as the student meetings and then worked with our consultant Credo through a rubric to prioritize, refine, and finalize the draft themes and initiatives.

This draft has been presented to the Senior Administrative Team for review and further adjustments. SAT and some members of the Planning Team will develop a strategic plan from this outline.

In February, I will present the draft plan to the Board of Trustees for their consideration and approval. Following adoption of a final plan, we will post the document on the strategic plan website and initiate implementation teams as early as March.

In the meantime, I welcome you to continue to provide feedback on the themes and initiatives by emailing strategicplan@furman.edu.

Thank you, again, to everyone who has participated in helping to build the plan that will guide our future. I am particularly grateful to the Planning Team, who dedicated hours and hours to this work, and to Co-Leads Interim Provost Beth Pontari and Vice President Connie Carson for their leadership throughout the process.

The future at Furman is bright, and that is because of you.

Warmly,

Elizabeth