Update on the Strategic Planning Process

April 20, 2015

​Dear Faculty, Staff and Students:

In early February I wrote to the campus on behalf of the Committee on Mission and Priorities (CMP) inviting submissions of strategic planning proposals. In response, CMP received 190 submissions representing a range of initiative areas. I write now to thank you for this strong engagement with Smith’s future and to explain our next steps.

Members of CMP have conducted a preliminary review of the proposals. Some proposals will be forwarded to existing committees (e.g., the Committee on Academic Priorities) in whose purview they fit. Others will lend themselves to consideration by CMP sub-groups, which will refine closely aligned ideas, seek further information, and recommend projects to pilot from among the proposals received to date.

While CMP continues to review the proposals, we want to make sure you are part of the process. We have made them available on the strategic planning website. I invite you to review the proposals online and provide comments to CMP. There is a comment link connected to each planning proposal on the web page.

Thank you to all of the individuals and groups who took time to propose new initiatives or suggest ways to adapt, extend, reimagine or end existing programs. If you did not have the chance to submit an idea in response to this call for proposals, I anticipate we will extend another call during the 2015–16 academic year.

I look forward to continuing to work with all of you as our planning process moves forward.

Sincerely,

Kathleen McCartney
President