CMU says Vision Plan still on track

Officials say Central Michigan University’s 2010 Vision Plan is still on track despite the loss of administrative roles this past year.

The resignation of former university president Michael Rao, in particular, had no effect on the 2010 Vision Plan’s progression, said Steve Smith, director of public relations.

CMU continued with its five-year plan, said Amy McGinnis, director of Strategy and Organizational Development. Created by the Board of Trustees in March 2005, the plan was designed as the blueprint for CMU’s future.

The blueprint consisted of five institutional priorities — teaching and learning, diversity and global perspectives, research and creative activity, service for the public good and culture of integrity, according to the Vision Plan’s Web site. Those were used to split the $5 million budget for the vision plan into separate projects.

“The application for projects are rigorous,” McGinnis said. “There are different planning phases.”

There are six projects planned for the 2010 fiscal year. Those include Copyright-Education and Electronic Reserve, Latin American-Latino Initiative, Remote Support Automation in the Online Learning Environment, Leaping Ahead by Laser, Intergroup Dialog Program and The CMU Research Infrastructure Tool.

Life after 2010

With the 2010 Vision Plan coming to an end on June 30, 2010, many are focused on what comes afterward.

“It’s beyond 2010 what we’re focused on now,” said Carole Richardson, director of Special Projects within Academic Affairs.

The university’s new president will have a major role for plans beyond 2010, as CMU will not begin any initiative projects until after a president is selected.

“Before we can consider anything beyond 2010, we have to wait for a new president,” Smith said. “It depends on what they want.”

Vision Plan process

Along with the five priorities come 18 KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators. These indicators were created to observe changes required to progress in the plan.

The 18 KPIs range from student projects to community service projects.

“KPIs were developed in order to measure the analysis that continued to come in,” Richardson said.

These were then used to determine what projects would be funded.

“We have had a handful that are done,” Richardson said.

Initially, there were more than 100 KPIs to choose from, Richardson said. After 18 months of surveys and forums, the possible KPIs were cut down until the final 18 were chosen by the president and the executive team based on those surveys.

Julia Wallace, former provost, was the co-chairman of the Planning Committee, but her departure did not seem to offset the vision plan, either, Smith said.

“There was a committee that decided the budget,” he said. “There is an individual that works on each project.”

There are still projects that have budgets still being determined — the process is just a planning phase, Richardson said.