Envisioning a new way to plan

Brooklyn Dippo | News Editor

The University of San Diego launched a new strategic planning website called Envisioning 2024. The year 2024 marks the 75th anniversary of USD and the website opens the discussion forum up to all students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, and other community members.

The website will be open for submitting ideas through February 12. After that, the ideas will be collected and taken into account for the strategic planning process to develop Envisioning 2024.

Associated Students President, Katie Coutermash, emphasized that Envisioning 2024 is a great way for students to share what they love about USD and what areas could be improved for future students.

“We all have certain aspects of USD that have defined our experience here,” Coutermash said. “Part of the planning process is making sure that we capitalize on our current strengths and take advantage of any unique opportunities USD has to differentiate itself.”

Peter Marlow, the Associate Vice President of University Communications, speculated that the ideas submitted in Envisioning 2024 will be similar to the feedback that Dr.Harris, the University President, has received in hundreds of meetings preceding this committee.

“Themes from those meetings included but are not limited to increasing access to financial aid, improving facilities, improving campus climate, enhancing our stewardship of the environment, and increasing diversity across the University,” Marlow said.

After they have closed the submissions on February 12, the Strategic Planning Steering Committee will review the submissions and form sub-committees for prevalent themes to present at a Visioning Conference in April. At that conference they will draft a plan to show to the Board of Trustees and will receive more feedback from the campus community before presenting Dr. Harris with a strategic plan and new vision statement by September 2016.

Marlow also emphasized how important it is to Dr. Harris that students get involved in the process and offer their experiences and feedback.

“Dr. Harris really wants students to participate in this strategic planning process,” Marlow said. “He has stated more than once that the time is now to come together to share ideas, create a vision, and realize our ambitions to make USD even stronger for the benefit of students.”

Students can submit their ideas online at www.sandiego.edu/envisioning-2024/ through February 12.