Syracuse University will host three open forums Wednesday to allow for input to the working groups of the Fast Forward Academic Strategic Plan.

The Day of Conversation will be held in the Goldstein Auditorium and is open to any and all university affiliates. There will be three opportunities to participate in the conversation — one at noon, another at 3 p.m. and the last at 6 p.m.

Students, faculty and staff will have the chance to see brief presentations by each of the seven working groups, said Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost Liz Liddy. Following the presentations, each working group will break off into its own station where campus members will have a chance to have informal conversations with working group members about the progress and content of the Academic Strategic Plan.

“You never know where the best ideas are going to come from so let’s hear from you,” Liddy said. The main focus of the forum is to gather more input, which will improve the academic strategic plan.

“(The working groups) may have had 17 people in their group, but it’s good to talk to more people (to find) how’re your ideas going to be adjusted (and) what more input might you get,” Liddy said. “That’s the whole goal.”

The planned forums came about as a result of two different needs that converged. The University Senate, a co-sponsor of the event, wanted updates about the progress of the working groups. At the same time, Liddy was thinking about ways to involve the campus in the plan.

After a successful pitch to the Board of Trustees about the Academic Strategic Plan and helpful feedback, Liddy said she wanted more feedback. She mentioned the idea of an open forum in passing to Chancellor Kent Syverud, and he gave Liddy the go-ahead.

During a report to the University Senate about ongoing dean searches, Liddy mentioned she would like to try a big open forum to engage the campus. The University Senate, seeing an opportunity to meet its own goals, offered to co-sponsor the event, said Can Isik, a chair of the Senate Agenda Committee and a professor of electrical engineering and computer science.

“(This forum) is both a report to the university at large and also a report to the senate,” he said. “It satisfied both of our interests.”

Isik said he hopes students and faculty will take advantage of the chance to learn about the plan. “This is an outstanding opportunity to increase transparency in how the strategic plan is progressing, and I hope people will take advantage of it,” he added.

Seven working groups are developing the Strategic Plan. There are working groups for undergraduate excellence, strategically focused research and doctoral programs, leadership in veterans and military affairs, enhancing internationalization, change: innovation and institutional renewal, student- and faculty-centered operations and professional program excellence.

The working groups have been developing the Academic Strategic Plan since Syverud initiated Fast Forward last fall. The Steering Committee is planning to take the findings of the working groups and prepare a draft of the plan by mid-April. At that point, the document will go up on the Fast Forward website for review and feedback, Jacki Grosso, the executive director of communications and public relations for Fast Forward, said in an email.

Grosso said that after the open comment period, the draft will return to the Steering Committee for revision before the updated version is sent to Syverud and then the Board of Trustees in May 2015.

Said Liddy: “The goal, and you’ve heard the chancellor speak about it, one university, this is definitely it and you can see it in action.”

Published on February 25, 2015 at 12:01 am

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