Your input requested

As part of Baylor's efforts to involve a wide variety of voices in shaping the university's next strategic plan, community input sessions are being held in cities across the nation to provide alumni and friends an opportunity to share their insights and ideas. Sessions have already been held in cities such as Waco, Houston, Dallas, Nashville and Atlanta, with more still to come.

Whether or not you are able to attend a community input session, individual alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends of the university also are encouraged to share input on the next round of strategic planning by visiting baylor.edu/strategicplan. This opportunity exists until the end of April.

Baylor Executive Vice President and Provost Dr. Elizabeth Davis, BBA '84, is charged with guiding the process to develop a plan to direct and inspire Baylor's progress during the next decade.

"Baylor is on a powerful upward trajectory, and ahead of us are many wonderful opportunities. But we need to be disciplined and intentional in our efforts to determine the very best path for Baylor to take as it contemplates its future as a national research university that resolutely embraces its Christian identity," Davis said. "Baylor represents a unique offering in American higher education; all of us need to participate in determining how we can best act in this privileged position over the next decade."

The strategic planning process was announced in October 2010, and the public input portion of the process began in November. That portion wraps up in April, and by June, the Strategic Themes Committee will synthesize and analyze all of the community input and write a report that identifies recurring themes and priorities. The report will be delivered to President Ken Starr, Provost Davis and the rest of the members of the Executive Council, who will prepare a draft plan to be submitted for consideration by Baylor's Board of Regents at the Homecoming meeting in 2011.

A time of community feedback will follow, with a final plan created and presented in May 2012 and implemented beginning that summer.

On-campus discussions have taken place within academic and administrative units, multidisciplinary groups, and student organizations. These formal group responses have been captured through the strategic planning website, along with feedback provided by individuals. The off-campus community input sessions provide another opportunity for alumni and friends to learn more about the process and provide input.