A Letter from the Co-Chairs
Dear colleagues and friends:
When we embarked on this phase of UAlbany’s strategic planning process, we thought we had a good understanding of the road ahead: identify opportunities to enhance, strengthen, and build this institution over the next five years.
President Rodríguez’s charge to us was simple: work collaboratively to lead this effort with an unwavering emphasis on our students’ success; after all, everything we do at the University at Albany should contribute to their success. So, armed
with five core priorities, we set out to support the creation of a plan to
achieve this imperative.
The plan’s goals were developed by five priority workgroups, populated by the members of the 110-person strategic planning committee, which included undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff, each led by tireless co-chairs. With the first draft of the strategic plan in hand, we set off on 30 “Road Show” stops across the University’s schools, colleges, administrative units, and shared governance groups. In the end, we had collaborated with more than 1,000 campus stakeholders.
At every stop we connected with the people who make the University at Albany such a special place—the faculty and staff, students and alumni who have a vested interest in our collective success. Along the way, it became abundantly clear that the plan would reflect the fact that it’s about each of us.
This strategic planning process was different than any other we had experienced, because it wasn’t about process, as much as it was about people.
The feedback at the road show sessions, the discussions at the action-planning roundtable events, spontaneous conversations in the Campus Center, and hundreds of thoughtful emails and online feedback all refined and shaped the plan.
So we are grateful to everyone who contributed to Authoring Our Success; for everything you have done and will continue to do to advance the University at Albany and help our students succeed.
This is our plan, and we are the University at Albany!
Sincerely,
