Dear Colleagues:
The PLU community submitted 206 ideas to the Presidential Commission for Innovation and Change. The Commission carefully reviewed and analyzed all ideas and, using criteria that our campus community shared with us this Fall, have clustered and defined select ideas into ten categories. The Commission believes that these ten categories present significant potential for long-term sustainable positive impact on PLU’s future. They build on PLU’s strengths and distinctiveness, follow the overarching commitments as initially articulated by the Commission, and fit within our institution’s mission. They provide a diversified cross section of potential return, risk, investment required, and timeline to implementation. While some will require considerable development and investment, and a few include entirely new components, their implementation will produce enhanced long-term net revenue and/or savings based on our existing resources, expertise, and institutional strategic direction. Ad hoc working groups will research and develop actionable plans in the Spring semester for the following alphabetized categories of ideas:
- Adult & Continuing Education
- Applied Learning
- Fun, Engagement, Spirit & Tradition (FEST)
- Health Clinic
- Hispanic Student Recruitment & Retention
- Land & Real Estate
- Marketing, Perception & Awareness
- Online Education
- Sports Restructuring
- Study Away Provider
The Commission believes that many of the 206 submitted ideas will be better developed by the existing structure of the university. Therefore, the Commission is recommending that 135 of these ideas be distributed to the relevant departments and divisions for further consideration, review and potential implementation. The Commission feels that many of these ideas have potential for enhanced net revenue and/or savings. Categories for those ideas being distributed include (note that some ideas are reflected in multiple categories):
- Academic Calendar & Policy (8 submitted ideas)
- Academic Programs (52)
- Academic Restructuring (15)
- Administrative Restructuring (5)
- Advancement (4)
- Benefits (6)
- Dining/Culinary (8)
- Endowment & Investments (4)
- Facilities (20)
- I&TS (4)
- Non-traditional students (4)
- Registrar & Business Office (2)
- Student Recruitment (14)
- Student Retention (7)
- Tuition Cost (3)
- Wellness (4)
The Commission’s goal, as charged by the President, is to develop ideas and priorities that position PLU for long-term financial health to deliver our mission. We recommend that each of the ten categories of ideas be assigned to a working group composed of a cross section of PLU community members. We believe that these categories require collaboration across the university and have significant potential for long-term net revenue.
We have published detailed summaries and directives for the ten recommended categories to move forward on the Commission website. Over the next two weeks, we will form ad hoc working groups for each of the selected ten categories of ideas. The working groups will be intentionally small and agile to achieve the directives in the requisite time frame.
We thank you for your participation in this important process and for sharing our goal of collaborative dedication to PLU.
Sincerely,
The Presidential Commission for Innovation and Change
Cameron Bennett, Chief Innovation Officer, Dean/School of Arts and Communication
Kory Brown, Assistant Professor of Business, School of Business
Melody Ferguson, Associate Dean of Admission, Division of Enrollment Management
Erin McGinnis, Associate Vice President for Hospitality and Retail Services, Dining and Culinary Services
Adela Ramos, Associate Professor of English, College of Arts and Science