This post has been excerpted from Penn State News. See the full article.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As Penn State’s 10-year strategic plan approaches its halfway point, the University has reviewed and analyzed progress achieved thus far to inform and guide strategic planning at the institution and unit levels through 2025. In less than five years, Penn State’s strategic plan has sparked creative thinking and guided advancements in the areas of health, sustainability, digital technology, the arts and humanities, and education, and set the institution on a path to innovate new solutions to further cement the University as a leader in Pennsylvania and beyond.
The University released a report this month assessing plan progress from 2016 through 2019 in conjunction with extending the strategic plan’s duration by five years, from 2020 to 2025.
Since March 2019, the University has been assessing plan implementation by reviewing unit-level strategic plans, strategic plan seed-grant progress, strategic plan executive committee reports, and signature-initiative data. That analysis, summarized in the assessment report, has helped to map connections and progress for each of the plan’s foundations, thematic priorities and supporting elements; identify future opportunities and areas of focus; and inform revisions and updates to the 2016-2025 strategic plan.
Signature initiatives
As the strategic plan has progressed, five signature initiatives — one for each of the plan’s five thematic priorities — have emerged thus far. These new funded projects are designed to engage people across the University for maximum impact. The initiatives and the strategic plan thematic priorities they support are:
- One Penn State 2025 (Transforming Education) is an ambitious rethinking of approaches to how Penn State structures learning and operates to support student success, based on five guiding principles: provide a seamless student experience; achieve curricular coherence; design relevant and responsive programs; engage learners throughout their lifetimes; and achieve the highest level of efficiency of University resources.
- The Consortium to Combat Substance Abuse (Enhancing Health) draws on University-wide expertise, aided by 12 new tenure-track faculty members over four years, to develop and implement programs, policies and practices to prevent and treat addiction and mitigate its impacts.
- The Humanities Institute (Advancing the Arts and Humanities) is designed to position Penn State as a national leader in the humanities and coordinate a network of humanities-focused research and outreach University-wide.
- The Center for Immersive Experiences (Empowerment Through Digital Innovation) is focused on truly transformative technologies, such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and 3D modeling, to improve learning processes and transform society through digital innovation.
- The Consortium for Integrated Energy Systems (Stewarding Our Planet’s Resources) is a visionary proposal to build capacity in energy research and education, involving the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, the College of Engineering, and the Institutes of Energy and the Environment.
The report also outlines several additional programs and initiatives established during the past four years of strategic plan implementation. Examples of these successes, among many others, include:
- The creation of 50 interdomain general education courses in the arts and humanities; the proposed construction of a new University Art Museum at the Arboretum; and the development of research entities such as the Arts and Design Research Incubator (Advancing the Arts and Humanities).
- The Penn State Cancer Institute working to attain National Cancer Institute designation; the College of Nursing launching the Employee Health and Wellness Center at University Park; and implementing a University-wide smoke-free policy (Enhancing Health).
- Starfish Analytics, Complete Penn State and the Student Success Center helping to support degree completion; creation of the Student Engagement Network and Engagement Space; and launching several projects promoting lower-cost textbooks and course materials for students (Transforming Education).
- The installation of a solar array near Mount Nittany Medical Center and a solar partnership with Lightsource BP in Franklin County; creation of the “EnvironMentors” program to partner faculty mentors with minority high school students; and the Office of Global Programs and the Sustainability Institute working to integrate their efforts with the United Nations’ Sustainability Development Goals (Stewarding Our Planet’s Resources).
- The creation of 21 LaunchBox innovation hubs and the growth of Penn State Startup Week, which is helping to foster and highlight entrepreneurship and innovation in Penn State communities; the creation of the Center for Security Research and Education; and the initiation of several digital-focused degree programs (Empowerment Through Digital Innovation).
