College of Liberal Arts Strategic Plan (CLASP)
Read the latest DRAFT Strategic Plan here.
CLA’s previous strategic plan expired in 2019. Based on broad-based input in 2019 and 2020, Dean David Wallace and the CLA Faculty Council’s Executive Committee agreed to focus CLA’s new strategic plan squarely on matters of equity in order to dismantle systemic barriers that continue to place some individuals and groups at a disadvantage.
Dean Wallace delegated the task of planning, designing, and facilitating an inclusive strategic planning process to the Planning Support Team (PST), a group comprised of faculty members with collective expertise around equity.
The PST assembled a diverse steering group over 70 members with various institutional roles (students, staff, faculty, administrators, and community members) to produce CLA’s next Strategic Plan. The strategic planning sessions began in late October.
Equity is both a principle and a practice of fairness and justice that seeks to achieve well-being for individuals and groups that have experienced historical barriers and continue to face systemic obstacles today.
As a principle of fairness and justice, equity applies to:
- Outcomes--i.e., achieving tangible results for marginalized individuals and groups.
- Process--i.e., including different groups in the process, especially those who have been marginalized; centering the issues of marginalized individuals and groups throughout the process; recognizing the historical barriers and current systemic challenges that undermine their well- being; providing safe conditions for creative dialogue; and ensuring transparency with information and decision-making; among other conditions.
As a practice of fairness and justice, equity entails concrete actions that:
- Provide material support that enable marginalized individuals and groups to participate in a process to name historical barriers and current obstacles affecting them and to recommend solutions;
- Prevent or remove these barriers and obstacles;
- Commit resources for programmatic initiatives that generate changes in organizational culture and systems to improve outcomes for marginalized individuals and groups; and,
- guard against institutional interests and discourses that co-opt equity without advancing tangible institutional change that enhances the status and well-bring of marginalized individuals and groups.
There are two ways to participate in the strategic planning process:
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- Join the Steering Group
- Join an Action Learning Team
The Steering Group
Purpose: recommend ways to achieve greater equity in CLA via a three-year strategic plan to be implemented from 2022-2023 through 2024-25. The Steering Group’s recommendations will be presented to the CLA Faculty Council and to CLA Dean David Wallace as early as March 2022 for their consideration and approval.
Composition: A demographically diverse group of over 70 members with various institutional roles (students, staff, faculty, administrators, and community members) and belonging to various groups in CLA, especially those that have formed as a response to systemic barriers and out of desire to create a more just, equitable, and healthy environment.
Time Commitment (Fall 2021): Three five-hour Friday sessions--October 29th, November 5th, and November 19th.
Support: Lecturers and tenure/tenure-track faculty will receive a $1000.00 stipend for their participation for these 15 hours. Incentives will also be available for students, staff, and community members, based on a case-by-case basis and pending administrative approval.
Accommodations: ASL interpretation will be provided for all three sessions.
Action Learning Teams (ALTs)
Purpose: conduct more in-depth analysis of issues and develop more specific recommendations for the Steering Group. Each ALT will present its recommendations in late February so that the Steering Group can review and integrate all recommendations into a coherent plan of action.
Composition: ALTs are open to anyone who wants to join to provide ideas and analysis. This includes people with expertise in certain systems, people with authority over specific programs and processes, and/or people who are impacted by these programs and processes. Consistent participation in ALTs is critical.
Time Commitment (Spring 2021): ALTs will meet multiple times during the spring semester to complete their core task. The first two meetings are scheduled for Friday, February 4th and Friday, February 11th from 9am-12pm. Additional meetings will be determined by the majority of the ALT members, if necessary.
Support: TBD based on the workload of each ALT.
Accommodations: ASL interpretation will be provided for all three sessions.
October 15th: Planning Support Team finalizes Steering Committee.
October-November 2021: Steering Group meets during three sessions to discover common grounds to achieve equity in CLA.
December 15, 2021: Steering Group will develop a list of key recommendations for the CLA strategic plan to achieve equity in CLA.
November 19, 2021 -February 25, 2022: Action Learning Teams develop concrete recommendations for the CLA strategic plan to achieve equity in CLA.
May 20th, 2022: Steering Group will have built consensus for the CLA Strategic Plan, and advocated for its adoption by the CLA Faculty Council and the CLA Dean.
CLASP Committee Report (spring 2021): In February 2021, Dean Wallace began assembling the College of Liberal Arts Strategic Planning (CLASP) Committee to assist with the development of the next strategic plan. The CLASP Committee was charged with producing a report that (1) summarized documents from prior years containing input from different stakeholder groups, (2) synthesized recent feedback in 2021 pertaining to using ‘equity’ as a central element of CLA’s strategic plan, and (3) provided recommendations on how to proceed with CLA’s strategic planning process.
2016 CLA Strategic Plan: The College's previous strategic plan was approved in May of 2016. It expired in 2019.