The Strategic Planning Process

2022 - 2024 Strategic Planning Process

Peter Naccarato, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty, is co-chairing the strategic planning effort with Sarah Nelson Wright, Associate Professor of Communication and Media Arts/Director of the Theresa Lang Center for Producing.

This Strategic Plan will be focused almost entirely on the College’s educational offering, which is composed of the curriculum and the co-curriculum (i.e., educational programming that takes place outside of coursework). The educational offering is at the heart of the MMC experience and shapes all other strategies—from enrollment and facilities, to technology and hiring, to the many other strategies we employ to achieve the College mission.

Therefore, President Walk has appointed the Educational Strategic Planning Working Group and charged it with focusing on the College’s current and potential curricular and co-curricular programs and through a highly participatory process, developing an action plan for focusing them in ways that further distinguish MMC’s educational offering. This includes identifying opportunities for intentional linkages between the College’s curricular and co-curricular programs in order to challenge our students both critically and creatively, prepare them for personal and professional success, and further distinguish the MMC experience.

At its February 2021 meeting, the Faculty Council elected three members to serve on the Educational Planning Working Group: Brad Herling, David Mold, and Nava Silton. President Walk then invited Sarah Nelson Wright and David Mold to co-chair this working group, appointed additional members, and gave the working group its charge.

Charge to the Educational Planning Working Group

The foremost goal of the 2008 – 2013 Strategic Plan was to prepare students for personal and professional lives in an increasingly complex world. The two plans that follows—for 2013 – 2017 and the current Strategic Plan, for 2017 – 2021—went beyond envisioning an MMC education as beneficial; these plans, in very different ways, also sought to differentiate an MMC education in a crowded, competitive higher education marketplace. The chief aim of the 2013 – 2017 plan is to Articulate Our Identity, and Goal I of the 2017 – 2021 plan is to Craft a Singular MMC Experience—“a contemporary, cross-disciplinary, and cutting-edge curriculum that is integrated with vibrant co-curricular programming and embedded in New York City in order to motivate students to enroll in MMC, thrive at the College through graduation, and participate in the MMC community as alumni.”

Over the past four years, the College has laid the ground work for strengthening MMC’s value proposition as the nation’s premier destination for students seeking a small-college experience focused on critical inquiry, creative practice, and social justice, and immersed in the rich educational and professional landscape of one of the world’s greatest cities. The further defining and strengthening of the College’s value proposition, through a deep consideration of the curricular and co-curricular programs, which, together, constitute an MMC education, will continue to be the centerpiece of our strategic planning efforts.

The Working Group on Educational Planning is a group of individuals from Academic Affairs, Student Success and Engagement, and the Office of the President who are called together to advance the work of differentiating the College’s educational offering writ large. Here are some of the ways the Working Group will fulfill its charge:

1. Reviewing the report of the Presidential Task Force for Academic Strategic Planning, formed in Fall 2019, and updating its guiding principles and recommendations based on such factors as the College’s current and potential curricular and co-curricular programs; recent and potential changes in the curriculum; and the current higher education landscape and its possible future direction;
2. Through a highly participatory process, developing an action plan for focusing the College’s curricular and co-curricular programs as informed by these guiding principles and recommendations;
3. Identifying opportunities for intentional linkages between the College’s curricular and co-curricular programs that further distinguish the MMC educational offering.

Membership of the Educational Planning Working Group

• Sarah Nelson Wright (Co-Chair), Associate Professor of Communication and Media Arts; Director, Theresa Lang Center for Producing
• David Mold (Co-Chair), Professor of Theatre Arts; Acting Assistant Chair, Department of Theatre Arts (elected)
• Erin Greenwell, Associate Professor of Communication and Media Arts
• Bradley Herling, Associate Professor of Religious Studies (elected)
• Katie LeBesco, Interim Vice President for Student Success and Engagement
• Robin Nackman, Executive Director of Career Services
• Erin O’Connor, Associate Professor of Sociology; Chair, Department of Politics and Human Rights
• Michael Salmon, Assistant Vice President/Dean of Academic Excellence; Senior Advisor to the President
• Nava Silton, Professor of Psychology (elected)

Advisors to the Educational Planning Working Group

• Lennay Chapman, Assistant Professor of Marketing
• Emily Clark, Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts and Chair of the Curriculum Committee
• Pielah Kim, Assistant Professor of Marketing
• Lorraine Martínez-Novoa, Assistant Professor of Marketing
• Emmalyn Yamrick, Associate Vice President for Student Success & Engagement; Dean of Students

 

2017 - 2021 Strategic Planning Process

Members of the Strategic Plan Steering Committee get the ball rolling at a September meeting. A Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SPSC) was established to lead the strategic planning process and develop the Institutional Strategic Plan.  The SPSC consisted of the following faculty and staff members, one of whom is the elected Faculty Council President and three of whom were elected by the Faculty Council specifically to serve on the committee (as noted):

• Katie LeBesco, Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs/Dean of the Faculty (Co-Chair)
• Jill Stevenson, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts and President of the Faculty Council (Co-Chair)
• Ann Aguanno, Professor of Biology (elected)
• Jennifer Brown, Associate Professor of English and World Literatures and Chair of the English and World Literatures Department (elected)
• Christine Gregory, Assistant Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, Diversity, and Title IX
• Andreas Hernandez, Assistant Professor and Chair, Department of International Studies
• Ann Jablon, Professor and Chair, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
• Carol Jackson, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students
• Nancy Lushington, Assistant Professor of Dance (elected)
• Richard Sheldon, Assistant Vice President for Academic Administration
• Erica Stein, Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Arts
• Diana Zambrotta, Director of Auxiliary and Real Estate Services
• Alexis Garcia ’18, Student
• Taylor Harris-Butler ’18, Student (served Fall 2016)
• Angela Lanaris ’18, Student (serving Spring 2017)
• Maria Deinnocentiis, Assistant Vice President - Financial & Registration Services and
  Executive Director of Center for Student Services (serving Spring 2017)
• Michael Salmon, Dean of Advisement and Student Retention (serving Spring 2017)
• Jim Rogers, Dean of Admissions (serving Spring 2017)

The Charge

The Strategic Planning Steering Committee was convened on September 21, 2016, at which time President Kerry Walk gave the committee its charge. The complete Charge to the Committee is available here. In brief, President Walk has charged the committee to develop an Institutional Strategic Plan that focuses on the following:

1. Highly differentiates the academic program and co-curriculum in alignment with a competitive and complex higher education landscape to foster both educational excellence and financial sustainability.
2. Significantly enhances the student experience along all axes to ensure optimal conditions for student learning and success.
3. Establishes a long-term Strategic Enrollment Plan (SEP), developed in consultation with Ruffalo Noel Levitz (RNL), to promote long-term enrollment and fiscal health.
4. Maximizes the value of MMC’s human resources and advances the College’s stated commitment to diversity and inclusion in order to strengthen and sustain the campus community.
5. Establishes mechanisms for continuous strategic planning and institutional effectiveness.