Each of the University's schools is increasing its involvement with the Virginia 2020 plans through a series of workshops designed to elicit each school's tactics for the long term strategic goals.
Once each school's workshop is complete, the deans of each school will meet in a Deans Council Planning Committee to "collectively discuss all the workshops and try to gather collective themes," University Provost Gene Block said.
The committee will then augment the original Virginia 2020 plans with new feedback from the schools.
The Virginia 2020 plan outlines University President John T. Casteen III's goals for the University by the year 2020.
The workshops are independent from, but related to, the Virginia 2020 commission reports. Vice President for Development Robert Sweeney proposed the idea of holding workshops within schools to help integrate their goals with those of the University.
Sweeney could not be reached for comment.
The purpose of the workshops is to promote "a discussion among the faculty that presents their plans for the future ... and how those plans mesh with University-strategic objectives" as defined in Virginia 2020, Block said.
According to Block, the workshops have been very productive so far.
Each school is selecting a group of representative faculty members to participate in the meetings.
The Engineering School and Commerce School have been the first two schools to hold their workshops.
The workshop fit in nicely with the Engineering School's ongoing strategic planning, said Milton Adams, associate dean for academic programs in the Engineering School.
"We're in the process of developing a strategic plan for the Engineering School ... but we're by no means finished," Adams said.
Naturally, each school will have some objectives that match more closely with Virginia 2020 long-term planning initiatives than others, Block said. For example, he said he expects the Engineering School's plans to coincide more closely with the Science and Technology Commission's initiatives.
The strategic plan "certainly will include plans that will tie in with the Virginia 2020 Science and Technology Commission," Adams said.
But the Engineering School also has developed plans to better incorporate additional goals, such as international study, outreach programs and public service, into their specific goals, he said. They already have begun some of these initiatives, he added.
Block described the feedback from the Engineering and Commerce schools as "interesting and informative, but not inconsistent with what we want to plan" in Virginia 2020.
Each school's workshop should be complete by January 2002, and the compilation process will last into the spring, Block said.
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