Transition Team reports distributed publicly, results to be used by Strategic Planning Team

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The Presidential Transition Team’s final report containing information regarding the university’s strengths, weaknesses and potential changes was released Tuesday.

The transition team subcommittees focused on academic, student, alumni, business and community, public relations and communications and administrative staff priorities.

The information gathered from these reports will be given to the Strategic Planning Team to look at and determine Central Michigan University’s direction for the next five years.

Phil Squattrito, professor of chemistry and Academic Senate president, co-chaired the team.

All the pieces collected from different subcommittees should be really helpful at addressing various opinions about CMU, Squattrito said.

“We asked for their respective areas to ask constituents how they felt about university priorities, concerns, aspirations and so on,” he said. “From the data collected they were asked to make recommendations.”

One response he said stood out in the student priorities was the recommendation to start fall courses after Labor Day.

This would require a change in the academic calendar that would have to be looked at by a group to determine its feasibility.

“It’s a complicated issue that effects students, staff, faculty, everyone,” he said. “It will take time to get everyone’s comments and see where it goes.”

Right now these issues need to be viewed as simply suggestions, he said.

Kathy Wilbur, vice president of development and external relations and co-chair of the team, credits the success of the reports to the members of each subcommittee.

“They have understood from the beginning that their recommendations would be helpful for the immediate- and long-term nature of the university,” Wilbur said. “They did a terrific job thinking along those lines and working within their committees.”

Two of the key academic priorities were to make education increasingly available and also affordable, as well as to focus on diversity and programs to enhance global understanding.

The business and community section of the report gave a list of suggestions for ways the president and his wife could be connected to the community by attending special events and meeting with local leaders annually.

University President sent the reports to the campus community Tuesday afternoon — two months after first receiving them in February.

Squattrito said Ross went through the report thoroughly.

Between traveling, work in Lansing and the nature of Ross’ job in general, Squattrito said looking over the reports took longer than anticipated.