Weber State Undertakes Strategic Planning Process in 2020

Weber State University will develop a new comprehensive strategic plan for the university.

The Goal

The goal of this process is to identify our institutional strengths and build on that foundation to inform Weber State’s priorities and goals for the next five years.

It will be an open and collaborative process that focuses on creative, realistic, and measurable ways to plan for WSU’s future. 

During this process, we’ll ask questions such as: What are our fundamental beliefs? Whom do we serve? What do we have to do to achieve our mission and move forward?

By the end of this process, we’ll know what our desired outcomes are, and how to achieve those outcomes. 

The Process

Dr. John Welty with AASCU-Penson has agreed to facilitate the process of developing an updated strategic plan for our institution. Dr. Welty served as president of California State University, Fresno, and has engaged in strategic planning processes in the state of Utah. Dr. Welty has developed a timeline for the strategic planning process, to have a new plan in place by Spring 2021. 

Dr. Welty facilitated meetings with stakeholders in April via Zoom. 

The University Planning Council (UPC) formed a sub-committee to review the data collected from these strategic planning sessions and other data pertinent to the planning process. 

From the collected data, the UPC revised the university's foundational statements (Mission, Vision, Values) and developed five goal categories in which a majority of the data collected fell.  These categories included:

1) Retention and Completion Rates 

2) Diversify Students, Faculty, Staff, and Increase Commitment to Equity 

3) Institutionalize and Grow Anchor Mission - Build Community Resources

4) Personal Connections and Educational Excellence

5) Marketing/Branding of University

The UPC followed by forming a task force for each goal category.  The role of the task force is to form a goal statement, desired outcomes, and strategies.  

At each step of the process, there is a campus-wide town hall held to gather feedback on that step.  To date, the UPC held town halls to gather feedback on the revised foundational statements and the task forces' work.  

The UPC as a whole and task forces then returned to scheduled meetings to review the town hall feedback to further refine the work. 

The UPC approved the foundational statements and moved to draft goals and desired outcomes through its five task forces. 

These goals and outcomes went before the campus in a town hall for feedback, and the task forces returned to refine the goals and outcomes based on the feedback.

On February 1, 2021, the UPC approved the refined goals and outcomes. 

At the same meeting on February 1, the task forces presented their latest work on strategies.  These strategies then went before the campus in a town hall for feedback on Tuesday, February 9.  Based on that feedback, the task forces returned to refine their strategies.  

On February 23, 2021, the UPC will meet to consider the refined strategies for approval.  

On March 2, 2021, the Weber State University's Board of Trustees (Board) reviewed the strategic plan as approved by the UPC.  The Board accepted President Mortensen's recommendation to postpone the plan's approval until the UPC received additional feedback from the campus community on the plan's final draft. 

The UPC produced a survey to gather feedback on each element of the plan, from foundational statements to goals and outcomes.  Once the survey closed, UPC representatives and President Mortensen gathered to review the data.  Based on the data, the plan was updated.  

The updated plan went before the Board of Trustees at its regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, March 16, and the Board approved the plan.  The approved plan is available here. 

What's Next?

The implementation phase begins immediately with each division assessing its needs and prioritizing those needs in alignment with the new strategic plan.  

Over the remainder of the spring and summer 2021 semesters, assessment and alignment will take place, including budgeting.  By the fall 2021 semester, the implementation will include noticeable actions as directed by the strategic plan.

Feedback 

This is an important process for the university, and we want to make sure your voice is included. You are welcome to provide feedback on the process by emailing strategicplanning@weber.edu.

If you have additional questions/concerns, please contact Steven Richardson, Director of Strategic Initiatives at stevenrichardson1@weber.edu.

Thanks for your ongoing efforts to help shape WSU’s future.

This page will serve as a resource for updates throughout the planning process.

Last updated April 6, 2021.