April 4, 2014
To the Oberlin College Community,
In October 2013, the Board of Trustees decided to initiate a strategic thinking and planning effort beginning in fall 2014. It was motivated to do so by the rapidly changing landscape in higher education, including developments in information technology, traditional college financing models, student demographic shifts, globalization, and the emergence of new kinds of institutions in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. All of these trends are beginning to have destabilizing and disruptive effects on the long-term planning efforts of colleges and universities. To succeed in this new and transformed environment, institutions must develop a habit of mind that encompasses strategic thinking and agility in imagining and coping with change.
Oberlin’s last strategic plan was approved in 2005, nine years ago; it is therefore both urgent and timely for Oberlin to understand and consider its future in the context of the shifting terrain that is anticipated for higher education over the next decade, with particular attention to identifying not only the driving forces likely to have the greatest impact upon Oberlin and its peers, but also the uncertainties to be faced.
To this end, the board formed an ad hoc Planning Advisory Group (PAG) in fall 2013 and charged it with submitting a plan at the June 13, 2014, board meeting for an 18-month strategic thinking and planning process. The design for the planning process will identify guiding principles, suggest some methodologies, propose a timeline, and describe how the process will engage constituencies within the Oberlin community. A tentative title for the process is: Oberlin 2033: A Strategic Visioning Process.
PAG has held four meetings since December 2013, to discuss how to structure and conduct the strategic visioning process, and is now prepared to offer the following preliminary Framework to the Oberlin community for notice and comment. Written responses to this draft are welcome and should be received no later than Friday, May 2, 2014 in order to be considered by PAG as it drafts its final report for the June board meeting. PAG has established the following e-mail address to receive comments and questions on the Framework as follows: planningadvisorygroup@oberlin.edu.
Draft Framework for
Oberlin 2033: A Strategic Visioning Process
- Leadership: This proposed process has the full support of the Board of Trustees and the senior administration; its co-chairs will be President Marvin Krislov and Board Vice Chair Diane Yu.
- Transparency: The strategic visioning process should be as clear and as open as possible; views of members of the Oberlin College community will be solicited throughout the process. The intent is to ensure constant, reliable, and clear communication between the strategic planners and the rest of the Oberlin community. A dedicated website will be created, both to receive input and to serve as a repository for posting meeting summaries and documents that the Oberlin 2033 steering committee considers.
- Participation: In addition to members of the Board of Trustees, the Oberlin 2033 steering committee will include meaningful numbers of faculty, students, staff, and alumni and be of a manageable size in order to facilitate effective decision-making. From time to time, the advice of individuals and ad hoc groups will be sought for relevant expertise and experience. Should issues under discussion encompass the college’s relationship to the town, the steering committee may also seek input from Oberlin residents.
- Focus: The process should at once generate intellectual excitement and focus on major issues that confront Oberlin now and those expected to be of concern in the coming decades. It will not attempt to solve all problems, but rather concentrate on what Oberlin will need to do to attain the highest level of excellence and remain competitive. It should be willing to question how Oberlin has traditionally done things, to face up to sensitive and difficult issues, and to recommend appropriate structural or policy changes. It should offer an analysis that is not only theoretical and aspirational in articulating a shared vision for Oberlin, but also practical in setting out specific plans for the next three to five years to achieve those goals and metrics to assess progress. The ultimate objective is to ensure that Oberlin continues to thrive for decades to come as one of the nation’s premier liberal arts colleges and conservatories.
The Oberlin 2033 strategic visioning process will feature the following methodologies:
- Research on the higher education landscape that is both broad and deep to identify the current and likely future state of higher education in all of its complexity, ambiguity, and uncertainty.
- Intensive and extensive analysis of Oberlin’s strengths and weaknesses, cherished features, and potential new opportunities and or growth areas, including research on benchmarking against competitors and transformational innovators.
- Scenario planning as a tool for building a common narrative about the environment of the future and a framework for assessing goals and actions for Oberlin to ensure the continued health of the college. (Scenario planning constructs hypothetical and divergent stories or narratives of the future as a way of stimulating the planning process, unlocking fresh perspectives, and improving decision making.)
- Timeline: The process will attempt to walk a careful line between recognizing the sense of urgency in addressing external trends that pervade the higher education sector and acknowledging Oberlin’s historical respect for inclusion and dialogue. The Oberlin 2033 effort will begin in September, 2014 and conclude no later than March 2016.
Clyde McGregor, Chair, Board of Trustees
Diane Yu, Vice-Chair, Board of Trustees
Marvin Krislov, President
Chris Canavan, Trustee
Jacob Gayle, Trustee
Robert Lemle, Honorary Trustee
Chesley Maddox-Dorsey, Trustee
David Shapira, Trustee
Elizabeth Welch, Trustee
Leanne Wagner, Trustee
