March 25, 2008

University Planning Council

Minutes for March 25, 2008

Present: Melissa Acker, Amanda Alvarez, Gwen Ashburn, Lothar Dohse, Bill Haas, Bill Haggard, Herman Holt, Jim Kuhlman, Bruce Larson, Judi Leffe, Bill Massey, Adrienne Olliver, Dan Pierce, Anne Ponder, Christine Riley, Barbara Svenson, Betsy Wilson, John Wood

Absent: Elizabeth Bagwell, Archer Gravely

Guests: none

Strategic Plan:

Committee members discussed preparations for our upcoming discussion with the Board of Trustees on 3-27-08. All members of UPC will be at the Board meeting except Amanda, Gwen, Til, and Dan. Committee members agreed on a strategy for sharing their individual perspectives on the strategic plan and the planning process with Board members. Confirmation of these will be send to UPC members before the meeting.

The Chancellor showed a draft marketing brochure of the Plan, which Board and UPC members will review at the Board meeting. UPC members also provided input and suggestions for revision on the most recent draft of the one-page strategic plan. Committee members advised that the plan will require modifications when being presented to different audiences (students, the Asheville community, the campus, our Boards, etc.).

UNC Tomorrow:

Committee members reviewed and discussed the draft match-up of UNC Asheville strategic plan goals with UNC Tomorrow goals. In discussing potential divergence between the two plans, members identified directives of UNC Tomorrow that either we don’t have the capacity to meet or that don’t line up with the UNC Asheville mission. These few items fell into the category of ‘volume and efficiency vs. quality,’ a tension that would be entirely predictable from a demand-driven plan, as UNC Tomorrow is. We know that we are not expected to meet all goals, but we agreed to speak compellingly to the ones that we can meet superbly, much as one would when applying for a specific job – matching our own talents to the needs of the organization.

Phase I of UNC Asheville’s response to UNC Tomorrow is due to GA by May 1. UPC will review an early draft that reflects today’s discussion at our April 14th meeting. This draft will then be circulated to the campus for review and feedback in time to revise it before the May 1 deadline.

UPC will be hosting a reception after the March 31st All Campus Meeting, when the strategic plan will be officially ‘rolled out’ to the campus. All UPC members were encouraged to attend.

The last UPC meeting of the academic year will be April 14th. We will review UNC Tomorrow goals, make plans for anything we might want to undertake or assign for the summer, say goodbye to those ex officio members rotating off UPC, and plan for our fall initiatives.