Departmental Graduate Program Strategic Planning Process

This paper presents a strategic planning process for a departmental graduate program based on a recent planning retreat experience. The underlying assumption is that the graduate program, though administered by the Graduate School, is fundamentally owned by the departmental graduate faculty. The paper will cover preplanning efforts by committee, overview the role of key university officials in casting a strategic vision and identify a process useful by faculty for identifying key issues in a retreat setting. After identification of key issues from breakout sessions, we included a time portion for consensus development. Breakout groups reconvened to develop action plans for key issues. Faculty convene as a unit to develop consensus on “Who, What and When” regarding key action items. The purpose of the exercise is to develop consensus on departmental requirements, to evaluate possible curricula for new degree programs such as the ME degree.