Timeline

December 2014 – Formation of Provost-appointed Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SPSC)

The Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SPSC) is created as an ad hoc advisory committee charged with four main tasks:

1. Encourage, facilitate and gather broad community input on the direction of Duke’s academic mission in the coming decade;
2. Coalesce that input into major themes that will drive Duke’s academic strategic plan;
3. Formulate a planning process that takes full advantage of the intellectual and creative capital of the Duke community and allows for meaningful engagement of all parties interested in and impacted by Duke’s academic mission; and
4. Submit a white paper to the Provost in December of 2015 detailing the proposed themes and planning process.

January 2015 – SPSC adopts guiding principles

1. We recognize that a primary responsibility of our committee is to seek and listen carefully to the input of all Duke community members with a stake in the future of this university’s educational and research missions.
2. As a faculty committee charged with crafting an academic strategic plan for the entire university, we recognize and accept our responsibility to account for the aspirations of all members of the university community.
3. Though this committee is comprised of members from all schools across the university, each of us accepts the responsibility of advocating for a strategic vision that empowers the university as a whole.
4. We are committed to openly and frequently communicating to the Duke community about our planning process and its results.
5. We understand that our ultimate goal is to create an academic strategic plan that is consistent with Duke’s mission statement.

February/April 2015 – SPSC conducts a listening campaign

Deans, Institute Directors, and Vice Provosts are asked to provide an assessment of their unit’s strengths, weaknesses, challenges and opportunities.

Members of the university community are asked to contribute to the conversation on the overarching questions:  What should Duke look like ten years from now? What are the major avenues and themes by which we achieve this vision?

Faculty in Schools, Institutes, and Committees are engaged in this listening campaign, as well as students, administrators, staff, and the Board of Trustees.

Summer 2015 – Coalescence and distillation of themes by the SPSC

Fall 2015 – Reengagement of communities for feedback on emerging themes

November 2015 – Framing document that outlines new strategic goals is released

Spring and Summer 2016 – Working groups identify programs and initiatives for the strategic goals

Fall 2016 – Initial draft of the plan developed and reviewed

Winter 2017 – Feedback incorporated and plan finalized

May 2017 – Academic strategic plan submitted to Academic Council for endorsement, then to the Board of Trustees for approval