The NKU Strategic Planning Committee released the first draft of the NKU 2013-18 Strategic Plan which included student success, talent development, academic innovation, community engagement and institutional excellence as its five main goals.

Geoffrey Mearns, president of NKU and Strategic Planning Committee member, released the plan today on the strategic planning website and through an email blast to the NKU community.

“Through an extensive planning process, the committee has heard and assimilated ideas from people across the campus and the community to develop a strategic plan for our next five years,” Mearns said in the email.

TheNKU 2013-18 Strategic Plan contains five main goals which, according to Mearns, are ranked in order of importance.

“Student success [goal number one] is our paramount goal,” Mearns said. “But that doesn’t mean goal number five [institutional excellence] is less important. It is the institutional foundation to support all of the goals.”

Mearns compared the structure of the five goals to that of a building: the fifth goal representing the foundation that will support all the goals, with the middle three goals representing pillars or columns to support the paramount goal of student success

The three goals Mearns referred to as the three middle goals are talent development, academic innovation and community engagement.

The next step in the strategic planning process, according to Mearns, is to allow the NKU community to make comments through open forums and meeting with different groups around campus such as Student Government Association, various deans, Faculty Senate, etc.

The list of the forums is available here. All forums are open to students, with one being specifically tailored towards students.

September will be the month of accepting recommendations, with October serving as the month to “assimilate the information”, according to Mearns.

The final draft of the plan is set to be presented to the NKU Board of Regents at their Nov. 13 meeting.

Check out The Northerner’s next print publication available Sept. 5 for more in-depth coverage of the strategic plan and how it will affect the NKU community’s future.

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