The 14 Long-Range Planning Committees that were asked to determine long-range strategic goals for the college turned in their final reports on Monday to the President's Office.
The committees, which were comprised of both faculty and student members, met extensively since Winter Term to examine many aspects of the college and recommend changes that defined Oberlin's mission in the future.
President Nancy Dye received a 70-paged document entailing all of the committees' findings and recommendations, which she will summarize in a brief report of dominant patterns to be publicized Tuesday.
The circulation of her report represents the culmination of phase one of the long-range planning activities. Collaboration began in the early fall of last year with meetings of focus groups gathering student and faculty input. From there, the Long-Range Planning Advisory Committee, which consists of both administrators and students, broke the results into 14 issue areas to be addressed by separate planning teams beginning in February. Faculty and student members of each group were selected by the Advisory Committee on the basis of relevant interests and activities.
Now that research has been concluded, the Advisory Committee, whose job it is to oversee the long-range planning process, will submit Dye's report to the General Faculty (GF) at its next meeting Tuesday and finalize decisions at its last meeting of the year, May 20.
"I think a lot of good can come from these reports," said Senator junior Matthew Green, a member of both the Advisory Committee and the GF Planning Committee. "It is realistic to assume that we as Oberlin College can establish institutional priorities for where we want to put our resources."
Dye is optimistic about the results of this phase of planning. The reports "look terrific [and show] a great deal of creativity," she said. "[The committees] have all done really really well."
Following the expected GF approval of the long-range reports, the Board of Trustees will meet in June to examine the goals and proposals of each committee (for a general overview of recommendations, see below).
Further decisions and actions will be made at the beginning of the next schoolyear.
Related Stories:
