The Planning Task Force met Sept. 26-27 at the Abilene Country Club at Fairway to begin the process of creating an updated version of ACU’s strategic plan.
The PTF is made up of 32 faculty and staff members. The task force was commissioned by President Schubert and is lead by Adam Hester, chair of the Department of Theatre, and Wendy Jones, director of Human Resources.
“The Planning Task Force is a group commissioned by Dr. Schubert to create the next strategic vision,” Jones said. “The Planning Task Force is charged with creating a new strategic plan that will carry ACU forward through the year 2020 as we continue to fulfill the 21st Century Vision.”
The 21st Century Vision is the goal that, by 2020, ACU will be the premier university for the education of Christ-centered, global leaders.
Jones said the meeting during Sept. 26-27 was facilitated by Dr. Pat Sanaghan, who has written extensively about the planning processes in higher education. Jones said the PTF spent time identifying key components of the plan that require attention.
“From our time together we are now ready to spend the next few months gathering data,” Jones said. “This will be a season of intense listening. It will be a time to gather input from many different campus constituencies and to collect meaningful and pertinent data for context.”
The PTF will continue to meet throughout the school year. Jones said these meetings will include members of the task force and different constituencies of the university. She said the effects of the strategic plan will impact faculty, staff and students.
Dr. Jeff Arrington, associate vice president for Student Life, is one of the 32 members of the PTF. He said members of the Office of Strategic Planning, and the president’s Senior Leadership Team also met with the PTF during last week’s retreat.
Arrington said the consultant and PTF leadership is going through a “highly-structured process” to develop a strategic plan.
This plan focuses on “the broad ACU community, connects with and honors ACU’s heritage and values and provides clear, concrete steps to take us into the future,” Arrington said.
He said the team was able to accomplish three goals at the retreat. The discussions generated some work products, the style of discussion established a commitment to an open collaborative process and the task force worked as a full team.
“The way we worked together as a full team prepared me as a member of the task force to conduct effective, productive, open and collaborative conversations with groups across campus to continue the process of building a strategic plan,” Arrington said.
Planning Task Force members:
Jeff Arrington
Rodney Ashlock
Denise Barnett
Lesa Breeding
Omeita Burton
Kevin Campbell
Laura Carroll
Jim Cooke
Brad Crisp
Billie Currey
Matt Garver
Jamie Goff
Stephanie Hamm
Jeff Haseltine
Pat Hernandez
Bart Herridge
Susan Lewis
Stacy McGee
Dan McGregor
Bob McKelvain
Ron Morgan
Jared Mosley
Corey Patterson
Greg Powell
Kay Reeves
Corey Ruff
Greg Straughn
Stephanie Talley
John Weaver
Anthony Williams
