Goal 1: Provide stronger coordination of all institutional support services for students.

Strategy 1: Consider ways of strengthening coordination of enrollment management functions at NMSU to mobilize and focus efforts across campus and increase our effectiveness in student recruitment and retention. Include these functions in the administrative systems study specified in Section 5.5, Goal 1, Strategy 1.

Strategy 2: Provide flexible and extended hours for educational and student support services.

Strategy 1: Create more extensive orientation for academic advisors and make it available to all advisors, and mandatory for all new advisors. Provide annual orientation updates to all advisors.

Strategy 2: Prepare and make available advising materials regarding general education requirements, academic support services, graduation requirements and deadlines, and other information common to all students, faculty, and staff advisors.

Strategy 3: Develop a web-based degree audit system available to students and all advisors so students can plan their academic programs, monitor progress toward their degrees, and take responsibility for their educational choices.

Strategy 4: Study the advising needs of first-year students and students with undeclared majors, as well as nontraditional students, foreign students, and first-time transfer students. Consider a special advising center or other means of providing focused attention, proactive monitoring, and other services for these special groups of students.

Strategy 1: Develop ways to provide student access to information regarding both academic and nonacademic issues at a single and readily available location. Consider such options as the expansion of the Corbett Center information desk or the creation of a one-stop information center. Consider expanded information hours and special help for students during beginning of the semester heavy-use times.

Strategy 2: Review existing student orientation programs to ensure they not only address traditional academic advising and introduce available student services and academic support programs but also (1) begin the process of building school spirit and a sense of university traditions, (2) convey the university's expectations for student performance and behavior, and (3) offer strategies to aid students in taking responsibility for their own academic success at NMSU.

Strategy 3: Enhance the support services for graduate students to include an expanded graduate student orientation for all graduate students and mandatory and expanded university- wide training for graduate students who will be serving as teaching assistants.

Strategy 1: Expand existing mentoring programs for new students with the ultimate goal of mentoring of all new students throughout their first year with the help of upper-class student, staff and faculty mentors.

Strategy 2: Expand the freshman-year experience program (UNIV 150) and the availability of freshman interest groups to accommodate all new freshmen seeking to participate.

Strategy 3: Expand the availability of tutoring services across campus. Update and distribute information on all available tutoring services to academic departments, advisors and student services staff every semester.

Strategy 4: Expand the availability of career development courses to accommodate student demand. Consider ways to encourage the participation of unclassified students.

Strategy 5: Establish an early-warning system for tracking at-risk students during their first year and implement intervention strategies to increase their chances of succeeding.

Strategy 1: Encourage the development of courses in which lower-division students work with faculty in collaborative research and of more opportunities for upper-division and graduate students to conduct independent research or creative work.

Strategy 2: Further strengthen our emphasis on hands-on learning by encouraging departments to require service learning experiences (e.g., co-op, internship, fieldwork, practicum) for each student.

Strategy 1: Create a new Crimson Scholar Honors Program that encompasses and enlarges the current Crimson Scholars Program and the current Honors Program. Create a larger array of courses that provide opportunities for outstanding undergraduates to take seminar-style, research, and readings courses, and to individualize their programs of study to meet their individual goals. Make funds available to these students to conduct undergraduate research or engage in creative activities and provide them with special privileges, including the use of a reserved computer cluster, registration priorities, library privileges, special dormitory facilities, and preferential hiring for campus jobs. Tie college and departmental honor societies to this program.

Strategy 2: Develop a recruiting focus to attract New Mexico's best high school graduates into the new Crimson Scholars Honors Program. Involve the colleges, admissions, and minority program offices in the recruitment and retention of students in this program.

Strategy 1: As resources permit, waive tuition for all state-funded graduate assistantships to strengthen our graduate recruiting efforts.

Strategy 2: Develop an endowment fund to provide expanded support for the unique research expenses of graduate students working on theses and dissertations.

Strategy 1: Study current services for minority students, nontraditional students and students with disabilities to determine if increased services are needed to complement other student support services.

Strategy 2: When hiring staff, consider the importance of having Spanish-speaking staff in all offices serving students' families and other community clientele.

Strategy 1: Promote active student involvement in outside-of-class university functions, including lectures, cultural activities, athletic events and other extra-curricular experiences.

Strategy 2: Provide as many opportunities as possible for students to invest their energy and commitment in their NMSU experience through student employment, participation in leadership-building activities, student friendships, and informal interactions with faculty and staff.

Excellence in academic programs is the raison d'etre of all academic institutions. As New Mexico's land-grant institution, we have a particular obligation to the citizens of the state. As our mission clearly states, "New Mexico State University's first responsibility is to provide high- quality education to a diverse student body." To fulfill this responsibility, we can accept no less than excellence in all our academic programs.

In our second strategic direction, we consider ways we can capitalize on our existing academic strengths to create new academic opportunities, strengthen existing academic programs, and enhance our research capabilities to better fulfill our land-grant mission of teaching, research, extension education, and service to the people of New Mexico.

To promote institutional vitality--the sense of challenge and excitement shared by faculty, staff, and students alike--every academic institution needs to identify and nurture the characteristics that distinguish it from others. Ideally, these characteristics provide an academic niche that no other institution can fill and match the needs of the clientele served by the institution.

NMSU's mission statement suggests that our distinctiveness is found in our "unique geographic location, heritage, and intellectual history" and that these characteristics "provide a natural focus that is intercultural and international." In addition, the mission notes that NMSU has a "special emphasis on preserving the state's multicultural heritage." As a minority-serving, Carnegie I research institution with a location on an international border, NMSU already has a distinctive academic niche matched by no other postsecondary institution.

In this strategic direction we propose that NMSU consciously make better use of this unique position by focusing greater attention on the teaching, research, extension education, and service that showcases our particular cultural, geographic, and intellectual expertise. We already have considerable multidisciplinary work in the border, Southwest, and arid lands arenas involving faculty members and students from throughout the NMSU community. We applaud this work and suggest a university focus on attracting new faculty members and students with border, Southwest, and arid lands interests and expertise with the goal of achieving national and international recognition for NMSU's unique academic assets in these areas.

The creation of knowledge and the sense of intellectual excitement are found increasingly at the boundaries between disciplines. While NMSU has some outstanding multidisciplinary programs, we must actively encourage greater multidisciplinary collaboration in teaching, research, extension education and service.

At a time of limited potential for new resources we also must be willing to assess our academic strengths and weaknesses. Few institutions can claim honestly that all their programs are of the highest academic quality and are essential in meeting the needs of their clientele. At NMSU we must strive to meet the ideals of excellence and high societal relevance. We must ask four questions: Does each of our academic programs meet a reasonable standard of quality and demand? Is each program central to our mission? Can restructuring our current programs better serve student needs? Is each of our academic programs essential?

We call for a continuing cycle of academic program review for degree programs at all levels to ensure that our programs remain high in quality and need, central to NMSU's mission, and efficient. The goals of this review process should be to promote program excellence, encourage high-quality programs that capitalize on our locational and multicultural advantages, and redeploy assets that are underutilized by our students. This program review should be conducted by peers from within and outside the college in which the program is located or by peers external to the university.

Our reputation in research and creative activities has been identified as a major strength of NMSU. This research strength is an integral part of our academic programs and their ability to provide high-quality education. As NMSU's mission statement notes, "High-quality fundamental and applied research, scholarly programs and creative activity are the vital underpinning of academic excellence at NMSU." Research efforts enhance the national reputation of the institution and the sense of intellectual excitement on campus. Research grants provide a major source of financial support for our students as well as a substantial contribution to our state and regional economy. Our research and creative activities also contribute relevant research findings which we can share with New Mexico's citizens to address real problems.

Providing adequate support for NMSU's research efforts is a high priority, and we reaffirm the prominent role of research in strengthening our academic programs. As a Carnegie I research institution, we should expect high-quality publications or creative work throughout the career of each faculty member.

We must also be vigilant in searching for any barriers to high-quality research endeavors, including those deriving from administrative organization. As noted in section 5.3, Preparing for the 21st Century, knowledge is often created at the boundaries of disciplines. We must eliminate any possible disincentives to the cross-disciplinary fertilization of creative ideas.

Goals and Strategies for Emphasizing Distinctive Academic Opportunities:

Goal 1: Emphasize the teaching of multidisciplinary courses to stimulate new thinking and new teaching methods.

Strategy 1: Encourage each academic department to teach multidisciplinary courses and encourage the exchange of faculty between departments.

Strategy 2: Place a priority on increasing the offerings of multidisciplinary courses.

Strategy 1: Encourage curriculum development, research, library collections and faculty hirings to increase our demonstrable excellence and visibility in these areas.

Strategy 2: Provide a research atmosphere that encourages the development of research institutes in these areas that capitalize on NMSU's competitive advantages.

Strategy 1: Identify and support successful multidisciplinary teaching and research areas initiated by faculty working together across college boundaries.

Strategy 2: Encourage curriculum development, research, library collections and faculty hirings to increase our excellence and visibility in areas identified as strengths.

Strategy 3: Provide a research atmosphere that encourages the development of research institutes in areas that capitalize on NMSU's competitive advantages.

Goal 1: Institute an ongoing cycle of program review to enhance our existing programs, examine and reduce duplicative academic offerings which are inefficient and costly for the university, and examine new course and program proposals for both need and possible duplication.

Strategy 1: Institute a review of all academic programs, using the North Central program reviews, the Academic Program Subcommittee report and other data as needed. Consider program adjustments based on this review, including program enhancement, reduction and elimination.

Strategy 2: Continue to review academic programs on a three-to-five-year cycle based on the primary program review criteria of quality, centrality to mission, and need (student demand, employer demand, locational or comparative advantage). Consider program adjustments based on these reviews, including program enhancement, reduction and elimination.

Strategy 3: Consider moving all associate degree programs to the branch campuses to ensure that the NMSU Main Campus, as a Carnegie I research university, focuses its programmatic efforts on baccalaureate and graduate education to complement rather than compete with the missions of our branches.

Goal 1: Increase publications by faculty and students in nationally and internationally recognized scholarly journals.

Strategy 1: Develop, under the oversight of college administration, clearly delineated guidelines in each department regarding publication expectations for promotion and tenure. Make these guidelines consistent with the highest standards of academic excellence.

Strategy 1: Maintain a small, central research entity to protect the university from research-related liability and ensure the rapid transmittal of proposals and a rapid processing of grants and contracts that have been awarded.

Strategy 2: Facilitate better research management, including financial reporting to principal investigators, through the increased availability of essential financial management information, as recommended in Section 5.3, Preparing for the 21st Century.

Strategy 1: Adopt a uniform policy for the distribution of overhead funds to ensure equitable research support services across campus and alleviate internal barriers to multidisciplinary research endeavors.

Strategy 2: Expand the Council of Research Centers' (CORC) efforts to foster and facilitate the administration of cross-college research efforts.

Strategy 1: Consider short-term investments in the creation of promising research institutes that build on demonstrable excellence and capitalize on NMSU's competitive advantages.

Strategy 2: Develop a university policy of program discontinuation for any research entity requiring continued institutional funding to survive.

Our institutional mission and the planning assumptions which undergird this plan require that we respond to the ever-changing external environment within which universities conduct the scholarly activities of teaching, research and service. Part of NMSU's mission is to "increase its prominence as an agent of economic, social, technological and environmental change." Our basic planning assumptions (page 3) suggest that the rapid pace of technological change; increasing globalization; the changing demographic, social, and economic diversity of our student clientele; and ever greater demands for public accountability are among the factors that will change how NMSU fulfills its mission as a comprehensive land-grant institution. These factors in our external environment mandate our third strategic direction of preparing for the 21st century.

The need for this strategic direction was confirmed by the Economic and Technological Subcommittee, which reported that rapid changes in communications and technology already have had a substantial impact on our daily lives as students, faculty members and staff. It is not possible to predict where the changes in information and computing technology will take us over the next five years. We can, however, predict with reasonable certainty that NMSU must be technologically competitive if it is to fulfill its mission of providing high-quality teaching, research, extension education and public service.

In a post-industrial "information age," information resources such as the library are becoming even more critical. Up-to-date management information systems, campus computer and communications networks and new methods of educational delivery are also essential for universities in this era of technological change.

Several planning subcommittee reports suggested the world is characterized by the increasing globalization of economies and cultures. At NMSU exposure to global diversity and the resulting intellectual stimulation should be a daily occurrence. NMSU must have an international outlook in its teaching, research and service activities. We must produce globally- competent, life-long learners able to understand the interdependence of societies and cultures and to demonstrate appreciation for differing values and perspectives. To succeed in this effort, faculty members, staff and administrators must be internationally competent.

Our students also are entering a world characterized by diversity. The United States and particularly its border states are experiencing significant social and demographic changes as described by the Social and Demographic Subcommittee. NMSU's mission statement emphasizes our responsibility to preserve the state's multicultural heritage. We must be certain that the rapidly changing ethnic and cultural base of NMSU's constituency is reflected in diversity within the university. We also must ensure that our students are multiculturally competent and that our teaching, research, extension education and service reflect diverse intellectual viewpoints.

Technological change, globalization and New Mexico's ethnic and cultural diversity should not be considered in isolation. The fact that these trends are closely connected parts of the modern world intensifies the need for NMSU to prepare for the 21st century. The urgency of preparing for rapid change at NMSU is evident in the condition of the state economy and the income levels of the people of New Mexico. Clearly, New Mexico's future development depends on its ability to compete in this world-wide arena and on the skills of its future leaders.

Several planning subcommittees recommended that the university respond to the changing character of the labor market by reassessing the educational process. We must teach students to be problem solvers and life-long learners as well as to be flexible and to be good communicators and listeners. These skills will help students respond to an economic and social climate characterized by a high degree of change.

Given these critical trends in our external environment and NMSU's comprehensive land- grant mission, we make the following recommendations to prepare for the 21st century. The recommendations are interconnected but are presented in the form of goals and strategies in three sections: Information and Technology, Internationalization and Multiculturalism and Diversity.

Goals and Strategies for Preparing for the 21st Century:

Goal 1: Enhance significantly the resources devoted to the library. A strong university needs a strong library. Achieving this goal should be one of NMSU's highest priorities.

Strategy 1: Enhance the resources devoted to library acquisitions in order to maintain and acquire new books, journals, electronic databases and other forms of information.

Strategy 2: Replace the library's on-line catalog system to enhance capacity and user accessibility to library resources.

Strategy 3: Enhance the library's operating budget to provide sufficient staffing for extended hours of operation and a full range of services.

Strategy 1: Ensure the completion and upgrading of the on-campus computing and communications network (NMSU-NET).

Strategy 2: Enhance or replace NMSU's student records systems, financial records systems and human resources systems to provide user-friendly access to comprehensive management information essential for efficient management and responsive service to our university community and clientele.

Strategy 3: Establish a systematic program to ensure that a large proportion of NMSU's classrooms, as well as student residences, are technology-ready as we enter the 21st century.

Strategy 4: Design and implement a distance education policy which will: (1) maintain high standards of scholarship and quality in all distance education programs; (2) keep course offerings and quality standards under faculty control, with Faculty Senate approval for new off- campus as well as on-campus degree programs; (3) clarify the relationship between distance education and current extension programs; (4) encompass all forms of off-campus educational programs including, but not limited to, televised courses, interactive video courses, computer- based (Internet) courses, and faculty teaching off-campus.

Goal 1: Significantly enhance globally-competent learning.

Strategy 1: Encourage knowledge of a foreign language, which facilitates globally- competent learning. Encourage academic programs to require students (undergraduate and graduate) to demonstrate competence in a foreign language. Consider a focus on Latin languages and Pacific Rim languages as languages are expanded.

Strategy 2: Enhance further the international opportunities already available for students, including study-abroad programs, short courses, intensive foreign language courses, internships with international organizations and businesses, and NMSU courses involving international travel. Ensure that students become more aware of international study and work opportunities by (1) maintaining a web database of international options, (2) making certain that student orientation programs present such opportunities, (3) ensuring that academic advisors are aware of and encourage international opportunities, (4) providing counseling on funding alternatives, and (5) increasing the number of active exchange programs with non-U.S. universities.

Strategy 3: Enhance the involvement of NMSU's foreign students in internationalization efforts on campus. Develop a systematic program for sharing the wealth of knowledge foreign students bring about their home countries, languages, economies and cultures, thereby increasing domestic (U.S.) students' knowledge of other nations and enriching the educational experience of foreign students.

Strategy 4: Enhance and support the ability of faculty to teach and to conduct research in the new global environment by encouraging all faculty to engage in meaningful international activity on a regular basis.

Goal 1: Provide opportunities for faculty and staff to expand their knowledge of other cultures and their intercultural skills.

Strategy 1: Make available to faculty and staff opportunities to increase their awareness of the ethnic and cultural characteristics of others and their own intercultural interaction skills.

Strategy 1: Increase the number of course offerings directed at Southwest and border studies.

Strategy 2: Incorporate information on cultural diversity in coursework across the curriculum to prepare all students to live in an increasingly diverse society.

Strategy 1: Reestablish a minority faculty recruiting program to make funds available for opportunity hires of under-represented minority faculty.

Strategy 2: Increase course offerings and add faculty positions in the academic areas of African American Studies, American Indian Studies, Latino Studies and Women's Studies.

5.4 Enhancing NMSU's Sense of Community

NMSU's mission statement pledges to serve the people of New Mexico "in a student- centered community of learner-scholars that is characterized by challenge, intellectual excitement, openness, and accountability." Consistent with this mission, NMSU has a strong and dedicated community of learner-scholars who identify with NMSU and work together to create an effective and desirable learning environment for students and employees. At the same time, the planning subcommittees identified efforts needed to strengthen the creation of a strong sense of community within NMSU. Some areas identified for improvement involve the internal climate, including perceptions of disenfranchisement in decision-making and lack of information on policies and priorities. Other suggested areas of improvement include increasing student and employee identification with the institution as a whole and ensuring consistently high levels of service to our students and other clientele. Areas for improvement in NMSU's external community include needs for projecting a clear and positive institutional image and developing a higher-profile institutional presence in the local community.

Our fourth strategic direction is to enhance NMSU's sense of community--internally and externally--so we can better carry out our land-grant mission of benefitting the citizens of New Mexico through excellence in teaching, research, extension education, and service. Internally, all aspects of academic planning and decision-making should reinforce the message that we are all part of a single institution with a common mission and direction. Competition among units is healthy but should not foster identification with the unit over NMSU as a whole or lead to conflict among units.

This strategic direction reinforces the value we place on institutional democracy and our belief that faculty, staff and students should be responsible and reliable partners in institutional decision-making processes. We encourage greater collaboration and communication throughout the campus community. We advocate dissemination of information throughout the institution on issues and priorities and consultation with the range of campus constituencies prior to final decisions.

Our internal relationships on campus should be examined to make certain they reflect our philosophy of service. All university employees play a part in making NMSU a friendly and caring university. We wish to emphasize a customer-friendly orientation in every interaction.

We need to reinforce the role of the university as an educational partner with a variety of public and private institutions, including business and industry. Such partnerships will help fulfill our mission of being a prominent "agent of economic, social, technological and environmental progress in New Mexico and the United States-Mexico border region."

NMSU reaffirms its land-grant commitment to share the university's knowledge and resources with the citizens of New Mexico, particularly through extension education, public service efforts and ties with other educational institutions, including public schools. As a part of our land-grant mission, we have a special obligation to make our programs accessible and responsive to our citizens' needs.

NMSU must strengthen its interdependence with the local community through more long- term cooperation and interaction. NMSU should provide the best possible cultural and recreational resources to community members in southern New Mexico. Our performing arts and other cultural events and our intercollegiate athletics should be a cornerstone of community experience and spirit.

All these avenues for increasing NMSU's sense of community internally and externally should have positive effects in increasing the sense of inclusion and the sense of pride in our institution and our work. These efforts will be reflected in the attitudes and actions of university employees as they interact with students and the public and can be reinforced through our recruiting and marketing of NMSU's distinctive strengths. These outreach efforts, in turn, can help build long-term relationships based on mutual communication and interaction with our states' citizens, our elected officials, our alumni and other friends.

To increase NMSU's sense of community, both internally and externally, we recommend the following goals and strategies.

Goals and Strategies for Enhancing NMSU's Sense of Community:

Goal 1: Increase institutional democracy through increased on-campus communication and consultation.

Strategy 1: Provide opportunities for increased campus dialogue among administrators, faculty and staff through such regular activities as departmental visits, town meetings and question-and-answer sessions on specific topics to share and gather new information.

Strategy 2: Create a meeting place for administrators, faculty and staff to interact informally. Consider the new Student Club in Corbett Center, rarely used by students during the day, as one possible setting for such a meeting place.

Strategy 1: Review existing policies and procedures and eliminate those which foster conflict among academic units, lack of collegiality or allegiance to the individual unit over the institution as a whole.

Strategy 1: Provide an extensive orientation program for new employees to include information on NMSU's mission, vision, values, strengths, and the customer-friendly and student-centered philosophy of the institution. Offer regular refresher courses to all members of the campus community.

Strategy 2: Evaluate customer-friendliness of university offices through yearly customer satisfaction/friendliness surveys to provide regular feedback. Implement improvements in service as suggested by the evaluation results.

Goal 1: Make NMSU's campus and information regarding the campus more accessible for campus visitors.

Strategy 1: Create a Visitor's Center to provide information and directions and to impart a sense of university history, traditions and distinctions along with facts about NMSU's intellectual and cultural opportunities.

Strategy 1: Encourage the development of joint research and training with these entities, as well as with other New Mexico institutions of higher education, to increase research possibilities, share expertise, create new technologies and knowledge, and increase the state's economic resources.

Strategy 1: Encourage NMSU faculty to work with their public school colleagues to increase the retention rates and the educational expectations of New Mexico's elementary and secondary school students.

Strategy 1: Continue to work to ease the path for college students who enroll initially on other campuses and wish to transfer to a four-year degree program at NMSU.

Strategy 2: Encourage joint teaching, research, extension education and service endeavors with faculty at other colleges and universities in New Mexico.

Strategy 1: Consider ways in which the concept of outreach, as exemplified by our Cooperative Extension Service, can permeate other discipline areas across campus to increase NMSU's historic emphasis on service to New Mexico's citizens by responding even more broadly to their range of educational and informational needs.

Strategy 2: Increase public and professional service efforts throughout the state, including partnerships with public service and social agencies.

Strategy 1: Focus attention and resources on concerts, exhibits, lectures, and other cultural events that are open to the public and reflect New Mexico's cultural and intellectual diversity.

Strategy 2: Make intercollegiate athletics an integral part of the campus community and a pivot point in establishing school spirit and a sense of community internally and externally. Set priorities and program decisions regarding athletics as a part of the overall priority-setting process at NMSU. Ensure increased accountability in all athletic programs through a continuous review process that would result in the sanction of any sport that does not meet stated graduation, grade point, budget, disciplinary or other standards. Determine the level of competitiveness for our athletic teams within the context of overall NMSU priorities, and consider the comparative opportunities of various sports for student participation and community interest.

Strategy 3: Enhance recreational and intramural sports activities to better serve students, employees, alumni and community members.

5.5 Renewing NMSU's Capacity for Change

The previous four strategic directions focus on priorities for strengthening NMSU's programs and services to meet the changing needs of our students and our other New Mexico constituencies. Our fifth strategic direction focuses on the critical role of university leadership and administrative process in providing NMSU with the will and the capacity for change needed to carry out this plan and achieve our vision for the future. The loyalty of faculty and staff to this university and their desire to work together in building NMSU's future are institutional strengths evident on a daily basis across campus and reinforced in a number of the planning subcommittee reports. At the same time, the subcommittees identified aspects of the university which needed strengthening to reward and build on this loyalty and foster ways for the university community to work more effectively together and with university supporters statewide to achieve shared goals.

Our mission statement describes the environment we seek to achieve at NMSU as "a student-centered community of learner-scholars that is characterized by challenge, intellectual excitement, openness and accountability." Administrative functions are essential to support and facilitate a learning environment and scholarly endeavors as well as to meet the needs and priorities of constituencies external to the university. Typically, strategic planning processes focus on how to increase the effectiveness of our administrative functions and systems to ensure that the required administrative support will be available as we move into the future.

NMSU's capacity for improvement will be enhanced by an organizational structure which better supports effective communication and service, decision-making and priority-setting, and resource allocations consistent with these institutional priorities. Increased process and communication can provide the university community with a stronger common base of understanding and purpose. Resource allocation or budgeting is the tool that can implement our institutional mission and priorities. In addition, we must increase institutional efforts in marketing and fund-raising to provide a broader resource base for a secure future.

NMSU can strengthen its ability to meet New Mexico's needs, also, by being an active partner in New Mexico's higher education community. By recognizing that each institution and campus has particular program functions and responsibilities, we can work together to provide coherent programs that meet citizens' needs, demonstrate the value and contributions of higher education within New Mexico and ensure the prudent use of taxpayer dollars.

Goals and Strategies for Renewing NMSU's Capacity for Change:

Goal 1: Increase the effectiveness of our administrative functions and our efficiency in the use of university resources.

Strategy 1: Contract nationally for expertise in administrative systems to help us review our administrative structure, systems and policies and make recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of administrative functions and to streamline procedures as appropriate at both the college and institutional level. One option would be to consult with NASULGC (National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges) to obtain recommendations for consultants.

Strategy 2: Reorganize administrative and support functions based on the recommendations of the administrative systems study to maximize effectiveness and reduce duplication of effort.

Strategy 3: Automate and streamline administrative systems and provide necessary training and backup to give authority and responsibility to the lowest possible level, eliminating the need for additional levels of "expeditors."

Strategy 4: Reallocate savings which may be realized through reorganization and streamlining of administrative functions to strengthen academic programs and services to students.

Strategy 5: Review the relationship of NMSU's branch campuses with Main Campus administration to clarify the effectiveness of the reporting structure, the degree of independence for administrative functions and the relationship of these campuses to NMSU's institutional mission and priorities.

Strategy 1: Develop and implement an operating budget process integrated with our strategic plan and with the resulting institutional action plans developed to achieve the vision, strategic directions and goals outlined in the plan. Use the 1996 recommendations of the Resource Priority Committee as the model for creating an open and participatory budget process with representation from the range of campus constituencies. Address all resource needs (e.g., dollars, positions, graduate assistantships) during the budget process and base resource allocation and reallocation decisions on these needs, within the context of our planning assumptions, mission and institutional priorities.

Strategy 2: Develop a process for budgeting space that is linked to the operating budget, the strategic plan and associated institutional action plans. Review space requests based on need, cost, and the utilization of current space and reallocate space, as necessary, to provide equitable support for our programs. Consider an external space utilization study using commonly-accepted utilization standards or comparative data from peer institutions as a means of determining the space available for reallocation or expansion.

Strategy 3: Develop priorities for NMSU's operating and capital requests for state or federal funding based on the relevance of these requests to the achievement of the university's mission and strategic directions.

Strategy 4: Develop an ongoing strategic planning process for monitoring and updating NMSU's mission and strategic directions as well as completing the next steps to implementation of this strategic plan (outlined in the next section).

Strategy 5: Propose for legislative and voter consideration an expansion of the NMSU Board of Regents to provide more opportunity for sharing the significant responsibilities of governing a large and complex university.

Strategy 1: Develop an institutional plan for attaining salary parity with comparable institutions and comparable community positions for all faculty and staff to strengthen our programs and services by being competitive in the recruitment and retention of quality employees. Use the 1996 Faculty Senate proposal for achieving salary parity as a model for developing a phased plan to improve faculty and staff salary levels at NMSU. The Faculty Senate proposal recommended raising NMSU's average salary level from 92 percent to 95 percent of the peer group salary mean over a three-year period.

Strategy 2: Review existing faculty and staff non-salary incentives and performance evaluation processes for adequacy and equity.

Strategy 3: Consider additional means of recognizing excellence in teaching, research, extension education and service by individuals and organizational units within NMSU.

Strategy 4: Consider the need for a review and update of the employee classification system, existing salary structures and hiring and advancement policies and procedures for both professional and classified employees.

Strategy 5: Expand and enhance our human resource support functions to provide greater focus on employee orientation, staff development to encourage upward mobility and employee benefit advocacy.

Strategy 6: Focus our facility funding requests on the renovation and improvement of NMSU's existing facilities to make them more efficient, effective, and handicapped accessible to meet program needs.

Strategy 1: Develop a request for proposal (RFP) seeking a coordinated set of marketing strategies for the entire institution based on the institutional directions set by this plan. Enlist the assistance of academic program, enrollment management, communications and marketing expertise on campus to provide oversight in the RFP development and in the implementation of the marketing program resulting from these efforts.

Strategy 2: Mount a highly visible major capital campaign with a fund-raising goal consistent with capital campaigns of similar institutions. Base the themes for this fund-raising effort on NMSU's distinctive strengths and on the priority directions set forth in the strategic plan. Coordinate the efforts of institutional development, alumni relations, community relations and marketing, as well as the entire university community, to ensure a successful fund-raising campaign.

Strategy 1: Continue to fulfill our long-standing land-grant commitment to bringing the latest research results through our agricultural experiment stations and our county extension offices to people in all parts of New Mexico, thereby helping them solve problems and improve their lives. Update and expand our extension education and outreach efforts throughout the university in response to changing societal needs, current communications technologies, and growing needs for assistance in economic development efforts and the development and transfer of new technologies.

Strategy 2: Work particularly closely with our branch campuses as the main campus pursues academic, budget or facilities planning and decision-making. Recognize and support the respective role of each branch campus in serving its local community and facilitate the ability of our branch campuses to carry out their responsibilities.

Strategy 3: Work with the other four-year institutions and the two-year colleges in New Mexico in the course of our academic, financial and capital planning, as well as in our marketing and other external relations activities.

6. IMPLEMENTING CHANGE:

If NMSU's strategic planning is to be effective, it must not end with this document. The goals and strategies recommended in this plan will be achieved only through the creation and implementation of institutional action plans. To remain a strong institution, NMSU must respond continually to new opportunities and challenges. The following strategic planning steps are suggested as the planning process continues:

(1) The university should develop institutional action plans to carry out the goals and strategies of the strategic plan. These action plans should address activities, timelines, responsibilities and a process to measure outcomes and achievement of the goals in the strategic plan as well as provide the context for the college and department planning to follow.

(2) Each college or other major administrative unit should develop or review its existing strategic plan to be consistent with the goals outlined in the university strategic plan and the institutional action plans for implementation. Departments should develop their own strategic plans in accord with the university and college plans.

(3) The university president should report periodically to the Board of Regents and the university community on goals addressed and demonstrable measures of progress achieved.

(4) An ongoing strategic planning committee should be established with broad university representation to review the current plan and the college and departmental strategic plans, measure progress and identify obstacles in achieving the goals and strategies in the plan, examine changing internal and external opportunities and threats to the institution, and suggest revisions and additions to the plan on a five-year cycle.


7. CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we present this strategic plan with the hope that the suggestions and directions will culminate in the fulfillment of the ultimate goal: to renew and promote at NMSU a sense of intellectual excitement that pervades programs and units and captures all members of the campus community. This sense of intellectual excitement should be advanced by building on NMSU's existing strengths and its underlying values of intellectual curiosity and academic freedom, which foster vigorous and uncensored debate of important ideas and issues within a climate of mutual respect.

1) E-mail responses to the Strategic Planning Committee at plans@nmsu.edu

2) E-mail SPC Co-chairs at strategy@nmsu.edu

3) Contact the SPC Co-chairs by telephone:

Cookie Stephan		646-4312
Jim Peach		646-3113

The co-chairs are willing to meet with your organization, department or unit to listen to your comments and suggestions on the plan.

4) Visit "Strategic Planning' on NMSU's Web home page. Respond through the "Comments on Strategic Planning" option. (This option provides the opportunity for anonymous comments. If you use this option and desire a response, you must provide your name and address with your comments.)

5) Participate in discussions on the listserv available for Strategic Planning issues.
To subscribe to this listserv, e-mail a message to listproc@nmsu.edu
in the body of the text, type SUB plan_discuss your name

6) Mail written responses to:

Strategic Planning Committee
Box 30001, MSC 3004
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, NM 88003

7) Deliver written responses to:

Strategic Planning Committee
c/o Institutional Research & Planning
Hadley Hall Room 126

Executive Review Board

William Conroy	President
John Owens	Executive Vice President
Larry Sheffield	President, Board of Regents
Danny Arnold	Dean
Patricia Wolf	Vice President for Student Affairs
Clyde Eastman	Chair, Faculty Senate
Lynn Chumbley	ASNMSU President

Strategic Planning Committee Subcommittees

Academic Programs

Steve Castillo	Faculty	Barry Smith	Faculty
Wenda Trevathan	Faculty	Charles Townley	Administrator
Tim Pettibone	Administrator	Reta Beebe	Faculty
Judy Karshmer	Faculty	Juan Franco	Administrator
Cheryl Young	Student	Tracy Sterling	Faculty
Sheela Stuart	Faculty	Lisa Zigment	Student

Academic and Administrative Support Programs

Bill McCarthy	Faculty	Roberta Derlin	Faculty
John Waelti	Faculty	Chris Burnham	Faculty
Jeanne Oliver	Community	Steve Loring	Staff
Bob Smiggen	Staff	Jerry Paz	Community
Diane Benson	Staff	Charla Seciwa	Student
Clarence Fielder	Community	Heather Laughlin	Student

Economic and Technological

Steve Castillo	Faculty	Chris Erickson	Faculty
Dino Cervantes	Community	Ken Hammond	Faculty
Shaun Cooper	Staff	Robert Wohl	Community

Educational and Competitive

Lowell Catlett	Faculty	Bonnie Pratt	Staff
Anne Gallegos	Faculty	Brian Ormand	Staff
Joe Martinez	Community	Wendy Hamilton	Faculty

Financial and Physical Resources

Bill Foster	Faculty	Bill Harty	Staff
Herman Garcia	Faculty	Ben Woods	Administrator
Laura Huenneke	Faculty	Tommie Kemp	Staff
Larryl Matthews	Administrator	Rene Walterbos	Faculty

Human Resources

Sue Brown	Staff	Shirley Pace	Staff
Christine Marlow	Faculty	Bob Howell	Staff
Judi Paulus	Staff	Michael Morehead	Administrator
Lana Gilkison	Staff	Doug Kurtz	Faculty
Nadia Rubaii-Barrett	Staff	Felicia Zamora	Student
Lydia Bruner	Staff	Dorris Hamilton	Community

Institutional Climate

Rudolfo Chavez Chavez	Faculty	Vivian Giron	Staff
Christine Marlow	Faculty	Charles Nolan	Staff
Lisa Frehill	Faculty	David Pengelley	Faculty
Sandra Westbrook	Student	Rachel Mangas	Student
Sharon Urtaza	Staff	Donald Reed	Staff
Glenda Urquidez	Staff	Timothy Ross	Faculty

Institutional Image

Pookie Sautter	Faculty	Cynthia Dillon	Faculty
Bill Eamon	Staff	Josie Green	Community
Gweyn Leabo	Staff	Julie Maitland	Student
Nena Singleton	Staff	Steve Warburton	Faculty
Carolyn Cordova	Student	Kurt Anderson	Faculty
Javier Vargas	Faculty

Institutional Values

Laura Gutierrez Spencer	Staff	Dick Bagby	Faculty
Kurt Anderson	Faculty	Del Hansen	Community
Marta Remmenga	Faculty	George Clever	Faculty
Yosef Lapid	Faculty	Barbara Siegel	Faculty
Rosalinda Barrera	Faculty	Selene Virk	Student

Organizational Structure and Governance

Bill McCarthy	Faculty	Gina Libo	Faculty
Linda Leeper	Faculty	Terry Meyer	Staff
Larry Mays	Staff	Enrique Solis	Faculty
Kathy Brook	Administrator

Political and Legal

Joe Martinez	Community	Elba Serrano	Faculty
David Myers	Administrator	Miley Gonzalez	Administrator
Nancy Oretskin	Faculty	Kim Seckler	Faculty

Social and Demographic

Dino Cervantes	Community	Marie Mora	Faculty
Jim Williams	Faculty	Walter Stephan	Faculty
David Levi Gwaltney	Student	Fred Rubio	Community
Maria Luisa Gonzalez	Faculty

Student Services and Athletics

Carolyn Cordova	Student
Manny Encinias	Student	Wendy Ray	Student
Sue Brown	Staff	Ulyssess McElyea Jr.	Community
Angela Throneberry	Staff	Darrell Smith	Staff
Eric Pratt	Faculty	Karen Stabler	Faculty
Robert Gallegos	Faculty	Lydia Bruner	Staff