Strategy Forum Follows Installation

The pageantry of the chancellor’s installation may get all the attention next Tuesday, but the nuts-and-bolts work behind Randy Woodson’s vision for NC State takes center stage later that day, when he hosts a town hall meeting on the university’s strategic plan.

The forum, which will be held from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in Stewart Theatre, is open to the campus community and gives faculty, staff and students an opportunity to share their ideas for the future of NC State with Woodson and his strategic planning team. It follows the installation, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in Reynolds Coliseum.

“It’s an exciting day for Chancellor Woodson, but also an opportunity for him to send a message to NC State’s faculty, staff, students and supporters,” said Provost Warwick Arden. “We have serious work ahead and we need everyone engaged in setting the course for the coming years.”

Woodson launched the planning initiative in August, charging Arden and Dr. Margery Overton, chair of the faculty, with spearheading the effort. They set up nine task forces to work on the top issues facing the university:

• Undergraduate student success
• Graduate and postdoctoral program development
• Faculty excellence
• Research and scholarship
• Comprehensiveness and interdisciplinarity
• Global engagement and competitiveness
• Partnerships, innovation and entrepreneurship
• Campus culture and community
• Resource strategies

Woodson has encouraged university stakeholders to get involved in the process, declaring that the most important part of the strategic planning effort involves the task forces as they meet and work with the campus community throughout the fall.

Woodson hopes to have the new strategic plan finalized and approved by the Board of Trustees next summer.