Compact planning forms basis for USU success
President Kermit L. Hall began implementing the Compact Planning Process at Utah State University one year ago this week with the idea of creating a better academic institution.
Compact Planning is a process that involves every unit of the university. Each must develop a plan that describes its viability, its potential and mode of action. Thursday, in his State of the University Address, Hall charged each unit with the challenge of showing how it will help better the university through compliance with the 10 main goals of USU.
North Carolina State University has implemented the same type of planning. As of this fall, it is entering into its second three-year compact planning session. Hall was the provost of NCSU when compact planning began there.
The new provost of NCSU, Stuart Cooper, said, “It involves a lot of work, but it really allows the planning to be focused.”
In his speech, Hall said USU is aiming for a five-year plan that includes more stringent academic standards for incoming freshmen, higher-paid professors (to match the national average), better academic advising, and a more ethnically diverse campus.
Brent Hoggan, a member of Utah’s Board of Regents, said Hall would be keeping USU working hard for a while.
“He’s going to keep this place on its toes for the next five years,” he said.
With budget cuts totaling $9.5 million for this year, Hall’s requests may seem bold. He said Utah is going to be forced to choose one of three options for the future of USU and the other higher education institutions of Utah. The first option is to find new public revenues to counter what could turn out to be steady increases in tuition. The second option is to restrict the number of students by raising academic standards. The third option is to maintain that which is currently in existence and have the quality of education deteriorate.
“Utah State – as a community of scholars and students – casts its vote for quality,” Hall said.
The role of compact planning, then, will be to organize well the funding received by the university. That organization will not come directly from the highest administrative offices of the school. It will come through each department’s initiatives.
“The jury will be out for some time on the results of compact planning,” Hall said.
This October, the administration will release the 150 initiatives that have been presented and refined within the last year. Those initiatives will be available to the public on USU’s Web page. Hall previewed these initiatives in his speech.
The new Biotechnology and Genomics Research Center comes from the compact plan put forth by the College of Agriculture. This will be one example of complying with the No. 1 goal to enhance the reputation of USU for learning, discovery, and engagement, Hall said.
The College of Business has proposed, through their compact plan, to become one of the top 75 business schools in the country, he said.
The College of Engineering is willing to cut research programs that do not receive sufficient external funding, Hall said. The university’s peer institutions filed an average of 52 patent applications three years ago, compared to USU’s seven. These institutions received an average of $2.3 million more from the licensing of their patents than did USU. In order to obtain more and better funding, the school must have more patent applications, he said.
Individual units within the university have created these initiatives as part of the Compact Planning Process to help streamline the budget and forward the vision of the school.
-jonryan@cc.usu.edu