In his Sept. 10, 2004, inaugural address, President Roderick McDavis spoke to the importance of creating a vision that would guide Ohio University’s future and raise its national profile. By December, McDavis had appointed Interim Provost Kathy Krendl to lead a 46-person task force that includes representatives from a broad cross-section of the university community. He charged the committee to identify a vision, create a mission statement and develop a set of core values/guiding principles. A working draft of those elements has been presented to the university community in public forums – the first on March 3 on the Athens campus and the second on March 11 on the Lancaster campus. For the latter, other regional campuses joined the conversation via the compressed video network. A town forum is scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. April 19 at the Athens Community Center on East State Street. The task force will continue to present the draft document to constituent groups throughout the university this spring, deliberating input from these meetings as it works to create a final document by early June.
“Strategic planning requires strong community buy-in,” Krendl says. “The committee is working hard to solicit feedback not only throughout the institution, but from the community at large.”
Krendl is pleased with the extent of participation so far and encourages others to join the dialogue.
“There has been a surprising level of consensus about the general concepts of the vision,” she says. “Faculty, staff and students are coming together very quickly on a shared vision of Ohio University.”
Members of the Ohio University community take great pride in solving problems, creating partnerships and improving opportunities regionally and globally, Krendl notes. The visioning process will articulate these and other areas in which the university is already strong and will help guide future decision-making.
