Opening the Discussion
The strategic planning process began in 2020-21 with a set of campus-wide town halls to explore the College’s existing body of knowledge relating to a set of core elements of our mission. President Anne Harris articulated these elements as fundamental planning principles and examined them in a series of reflective essays shared with the campus community. Essays centered on Community; Educational Excellence and Continuity; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), Health and Wellbeing; and Financial Sustainability. The Working@Grinnell Staff Task Force convened, and the Board of Trustees conducted discussions concerning collective impact and assessment.
Listening and Framing
2021-22 focused the work through a series of individual and small group discussions to deepen insight into the issues of highest resonance with current students, faculty, and staff. This was supplemented with deeper qualitative and quantitative research focusing on the lived experience of students and faculty at the college.
Collective Deliberation: From Listening to Plan
In 2022-23, members of the College community had a variety of further opportunities to participate in the planning process. Over the fall and early spring, members of a range of College constituencies were invited to participate in a series of workshops to solicit concrete ideas for how the college could make progress against its goals. In all, 278 individuals registered for 12 workshops and included staff, faculty, students, alumni council members, trustees, senior leadership, and leaders of local community organizations. Participants submitted over 700 comments, questions, and suggestions in the fall campus sessions, which we synthesized and shared back with the campus community.
In the spring semester, 58 academic and administrative units and other campus groups submitted a total of 268 potential action items relating to the planning goals that emerged from the initial stages of the planning process. The planning team synthesized the community’s inspirational ideas for the future and is working with College leadership to distill the opportunities for aligning for greatest impact.
Implementation
Academic year 2023-24 is the first year of implementation. President Harris began the year with a Scholars' Convocation, “Knowledge into Action: A Strategic Plan for Grinnell College, 2023-2030,” on Aug. 31. President Harris presented the themes and objectives of the strategic plan, as these have been framed by the priority of constituents’ experiences of the institution and the principle of collective impact.