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Last Modified: Friday, November 6, 1998
Copyright 2006, Regents of New Mexico State University
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NMSU's Strategic Planning |
Table of Contents
This strategic plan is based on two fundamental premises: first, that even a strong institution of higher education can become better, and second, that the rapid pace of demographic, social, economic and technological change mandates that all institutions of higher education respond to new environments. The plan draws on NMSU's traditional strengths and identifies areas for institutional improvement.
The overriding goal of this plan is to make NMSU stronger academically and more
intellectually exciting and user-friendly during the next five years. The core of the plan is in five
strategic directions:
Creating a Student-Centered Learning Community. NMSU already has a reputation as
a student-friendly institution. This first strategic direction is designed to build on that strength by
expanding and improving support services for students, increasing programs aimed at developing
self-directed learning skills, and otherwise enhancing students' chances of success.
Emphasizing Distinctive Academic Opportunities. As New Mexico's land-grant
university, NMSU has a special obligation to the citizens of the state. And as a minority-serving,
Carnegie I research institution located near an international border, the university has a distinctive
academic niche. This second strategic direction is designed, among other goals, to strengthen the
university's position as a center of expertise in border, Southwest and arid lands studies.
Preparing for the 21st Century. The third strategic direction addresses NMSU's need to
respond to dramatic social, economic and technological forces by enhancing information resources
and technology and increasing the emphasis on international and multicultural educational
opportunities.
Enhancing NMSU's Sense of Community. A strong sense of community, both internally
and externally, is essential for nurturing the intellectual excitement and challenge of a university.
This strategic direction provides goals and strategies for increasing communication, emphasizing
customer-friendliness, and improving external community relations and services.
Renewing NMSU's Capacity for Change. The fifth strategic direction is designed to
increase the university's capacity to redirect its energy and resources toward its primary mission of
teaching, research, extension education, and service to the people of New Mexico.
To remain a strong institution, NMSU must respond continually to new opportunities and challenges. The strategic plan closes with recommendations for implementing change, developing action plans and updating the planning process on a five-year cycle.
New Mexico State University's Strategic Plan: 1998-2002 reflects both a commitment to
build on our considerable university strengths and the desire to make positive changes at NMSU.
This is a comprehensive
plan that anticipates an exciting next five years at NMSU.
NMSU's strategic planning process has actively engaged hundreds of people including
faculty, students, administrators, staff and the general public over the past 16 months. A Plan to Plan
Committee was appointed in Spring 1996 and recommended the creation of the Strategic Planning
Committee, which was appointed on October 31, 1996. Thirteen subcommittees worked diligently to
develop background information and recommendations for the SPC. Subcommittee reports were
available for review and comment by the university community. The Executive Review Board
provided counsel to the SPC. (The membership of the SPC, the subcommittees and the Executive
Review Board are listed in the Appendix.) Dr. Robert Shirley, President Emeritus of the University of
Southern Colorado and nationally recognized for his expertise in strategic planning, served as
consultant.
This strategic plan was preceded by two review drafts, each of which was the focus of a month-long review by the university community and the general public. This document benefitted not only from the hard work of the Strategic Planning Committee but also from the intense interest of the community and the thoughtful comments and diverse points of view that followed each review draft.
As this strategic planning process was initiated, three major outcomes were anticipated:
1) an institutional plan to guide NMSU's actions for the five-year
transitional period from the 20th to
the 21st century; 2) increased communication and discussions across the university community and
broad participation in institutional priority-setting; and 3) the development of an ongoing planning
and priority-setting process and a collaborative organizational culture. The process just completed
and the strategic plan before you are steps in achieving these outcomes.
The strategic plan begins with the fundamental assumptions guiding the strategic planning process, followed by a revised mission statement for NMSU. An assessment of NMSU's strengths and areas for possible improvement follows. Then the plan presents a vision for the next five years at NMSU, followed by the core of the strategic plan -- five strategic directions devised to capitalize on NMSU's mission, values and unique opportunities, together with the associated goals and strategies recommended to carry out these strategic directions. The strategic plan closes with recommendations for implementing change and responding to future challenges.
1. BASIC PLANNING ASSUMPTIONS
The fundamental assumptions that guided the development of New Mexico State University's
first strategic plan were derived from the reports of the 13 strategic planning subcommittees,
extensive commentary from the broader university community, and the judgment of the Strategic
Planning Committee. The assumptions are:
NMSU's mission statement emphasizes our land-grant traditions, our institutional strengths
and our values:
New Mexico State University will be an exemplar among land-grant universities through
excellence in teaching, research, extension education, and service to the citizens of New Mexico, with
special emphasis on preserving the state's multicultural heritage. New Mexico State University's
unique geographic location, heritage and intellectual history provide a natural focus that is
intercultural and international. Consistent with its land-grant heritage, New Mexico State University
will increase its prominence as an agent of economic, social, technological and environmental
progress in New Mexico and the United States-Mexico border region. Our goal is to enact these
mandates in a student-centered community of learner-scholars that is characterized by challenge,
intellectual excitement, openness and accountability.
New Mexico State University's first responsibility is to provide high-quality education to a
diverse student body. Its educational mission will be characterized by active learning, with emphases
on learning-to-learn, critical thinking, problem-solving and the students' quality of life. High-quality
fundamental and applied research, scholarly programs and creative activity are the vital underpinning
of academic excellence at NMSU. As a land-grant university, New Mexico State has the principal
responsibility to serve the people of New Mexico through practical education, university-community
interaction and lifelong learning opportunities. Thus, critical interconnections exist among New
Mexico State University's teaching, research, extension education and service responsibilities.
3. NMSU'S STRENGTHS AND AREAS FOR
IMPROVEMENT
NMSU can accomplish this mission by focusing its efforts and building on its land-grant
tradition, its existing strengths and its distinctive characteristics:
We also must examine areas of the university that need improvement, updating or
reemphasis. NMSU will be a stronger institution if we not only build on strengths but also enhance
our performance and responsiveness to concerns expressed consistently during the
strategic planning process. Some of these relate to resources and cannot be solved by NMSU alone.
These include needs for:
In addition, the planning process identified aspects of university performance that only
NMSU itself can address. Planning subcommittee recommendations and public comment suggested
attention to the following areas:
4. OUR VISION OF NMSU IN THE YEAR
2002
New Mexico State University embraces the traditional land-grant mission of combining high-quality and affordable education, world-class research and public service with a practical orientation
and a deep sense of responsibility to society. At the turn of the century, NMSU seeks recognition as
one of the nation's leading land-grant universities and as a leader in making a positive difference in
the lives of New Mexicans.
Our vision for NMSU in the early part of the 21st century is one of a strong university
becoming stronger and more intellectually exciting, user-friendly and efficient.
5. STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS
Strategic directions furnish a framework for the future unique to the institution. The core of
NMSU's first strategic plan is five interconnected strategic directions:
Because NMSU's first responsibility is to its students, our highest priority is to create a
student-centered learning community designed to enhance our students' on-campus experience.
Our second strategic direction is to capitalize on our distinctive academic opportunities and
strengthen existing academic programs and research capabilities to serve the educational needs of
New Mexicans on-campus and throughout the state.
Our third strategic direction is mandated by the rapid pace of technological change, the
internationalization of the world economy, and changes in social and demographic conditions. This
strategic direction is designed to prepare us for the 21st century.
Our fourth strategic direction is to enhance NMSU's sense of community through increased
communication, participatory decision-making and customer orientation.
Our fifth strategic direction is to renew NMSU's capacity for change through a
strengthening of the administrative support functions essential to our programs, our services and our
overall ability to respond to New Mexico's needs.
5.1 Creating a Student-Centered Learning Community
A variety of strategic planning subcommittees assessed the extent to which NMSU is upholding its land-grant ideals with respect to the student experience. In many respects, NMSU received high marks. Among NMSU's identified strengths are our ability to attract students from across the state, our reputation as a student-friendly institution, our emphasis on student hands-on experience, and our dedicated faculty and staff. At the same time, the subcommittees identified areas in which coordination of programs and services for students could be improved and in which the programs and services were underdeveloped. Recruiting and retaining talented New Mexico students and attention to student diversity also were mentioned as areas for improvement.
In our first strategic direction, we reaffirm NMSU's priority on meeting students' needs and maintaining a learning community that supports and challenges all learners. The following recommendations to create a student-centered learning community are presented in the form of goals and strategies in four sections: Stronger Institutional Support Services for Students, New and Expanded Services for Students, Increased Provision of Self-Directed Learning Skills, and Expanded Efforts to Recruit and Retain Students.
Goals and Strategies for Creating a Student-Centered Learning Community:
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, extended hours for educational and student support services.
Goal 2: Strengthen academic advising services for all students.
Strategy 1: Create more extensive orientation for academic advisors and make it available to all advisors and mandatory for 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, international students, first-time transfer students, and non-degree students who seek assistance. Consider a special advising center or other means of providing focused attention, proactive monitoring and other services for these groups of students.
Goal 1: Provide students with better access to
information regarding NMSU.
Strategy 1: Develop ways to provide student access to information regarding both academic
and nonacademic issues at a single, readily accessible 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 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 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 help students take responsibility for their own academic success.
Strategy 3: Enhance support services for graduate students to include an expanded orientation
for all graduate students and mandatory and expanded university-wide training for graduate students
who will be serving as teaching assistants.
Goal 2: Provide students with more focused personal
attention and services during their first year at
NMSU.
Strategy 1: Expand 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. Update and distribute information on
tutoring services to academic departments, advisors and student services staff every semester.
Strategy 4: Expand the availability of career development course sections (AS 102) 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.
Goal 1: Ensure that all students have access to courses
and resources stressing active learning.
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: Strengthen our emphasis on hands-on learning by encouraging departments to
require service learning experiences (co-op, internship, fieldwork, practicum) for each student.
Students should consider both domestic and international experiences.
Strategy 3: Encourage self-directed learning through the library and other academic services.
Goal 1: Recruit more of New Mexico's best high school
graduates.
Strategy 1: Create a new Crimson Scholar Honors Program that encompasses and enlarges
the Crimson Scholars Program and the 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 program
offices for students of color in the recruitment and retention of students in this program.
Goal 2: Recruit more high-quality graduate students, both
within and outside New Mexico.
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 3: Establish a coordinated graduate student recruiting effort involving the Graduate
School and the graduate programs across campus.
Goal 3: Increase efforts to provide for the needs of
students with diverse backgrounds.
Strategy 1: Assess services for students of color, nontraditional students and students with
disabilities to determine if increased services are needed.
Strategy 2: When hiring staff, consider the importance of having Spanish-speaking staff in all offices serving students' families and other community clientele.
Goal 4: Increase efforts to encourage student participation in a full range of university experiences to improve their chances of success through greater satisfaction, challenge and opportunities for growth.
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.
5.2 Emphasizing Distinctive Academic Opportunities
Excellence in academic programs is the raison d'etre of all academic institutions. In our
second strategic direction, we consider ways to capitalize on our academic strengths to create new
academic opportunities, strengthen existing academic programs, and enhance our research
capabilities to better fulfill our land-grant mission.
To promote institutional vitality, every academic institution needs to identify and nurture the
characteristics that distinguish it from others. 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. 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 showcase our cultural, geographic and intellectual expertise. We already have
considerable multidisciplinary work in the border, Southwest, and arid lands arenas. We applaud this
work and suggest a university focus on attracting new faculty members and students with interests
and expertise in these areas, with the goal of achieving national and
international recognition for
NMSU's unique academic assets in these areas.
Because the creation of knowledge and the sense of intellectual excitement are found
increasingly at the boundaries between disciplines, we must also actively encourage greater
multidisciplinary collaboration in all our 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. 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.
Adequate support for research 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.
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.
Goal 2: Achieve national and international recognition in
border, Southwest, and arid lands areas.
Strategy 1: Encourage curriculum development, research, library collections and services, and faculty hirings to increase our demonstrable excellence and visibility in these areas.
Strategy 2: Provide a research atmosphere that encourages the development of collaborative
research initiatives in these areas that capitalize on NMSU's competitive advantages.
Goal 3: Achieve national and international recognition in
other multidisciplinary areas of strength.
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 services,
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 collaborative
research initiatives in areas that capitalize on NMSU's strengths.
Goal 1: Institute an ongoing cycle of program review to
enhance existing programs, reduce
duplicative academic offerings that are inefficient and costly for the university, and examine new
course and program proposals for both need and possible duplication.
Strategy 1: Institute a peer review of academic programs on a five-to-seven-year cycle based
on the primary program review criteria of quality, centrality to mission, and need (student demand,
employer demand, locational or comparative advantage). Whenever possible, coordinate program
reviews with other external accreditation reviews. Consider program adjustments based on these
reviews, including program enhancement, reduction and elimination.
Strategy 2: 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.
Goal 2: Facilitate the grant and contract award process.
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 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.
Goal 3: Encourage multidisciplinary research efforts, particularly across colleges.
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' efforts to foster and facilitate the
administration of cross-college research efforts.
Goal 4: Ensure that all research entities are
economically viable.
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.
5.3 Preparing for the 21st Century
Our institutional mission and the planning assumptions that undergird this plan require that
we respond to the ever-changing external environment. 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.
The Economic and Technological Subcommittee reported that rapid changes in
communications and technology already have had a substantial impact on our daily lives as students,
faculty members and staff. 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.
The United States and particularly its border states are experiencing significant social and
demographic changes as described by the Social and Demographic Subcommittee. We must be
certain that the rapidly changing ethnic and cultural base of NMSU's constituency is reflected in
diversity within the university. We must ensure that our teaching, research, extension education and
service reflect diverse intellectual viewpoints.
The urgency of preparing for rapid change 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.
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.
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 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 staffing for extended hours and
a full range of services.
Goal 2: Provide universal access to networked
communications and information for students, faculty
and staff.
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 management information essential for
efficient management and responsive service.
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 that 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; (5) ensure that distance education programming meets students' needs for student/faculty interaction.
Goal 1: Significantly enhance globally competent
learning.
Strategy 1: Encourage academic programs to require students (undergraduate and graduate)
to demonstrate competence in a second language. Consider a focus on Latin languages and Pacific
Rim languages as language offerings are expanded.
Strategy 2: Enhance international opportunities for students, including study-abroad
programs, short courses, intensive second 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 international students in
internationalization efforts on campus. Develop a systematic program for sharing the wealth of
knowledge international 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 international 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.
Goal 2: Provide opportunities for students to expand
their knowledge of other cultures and their
intercultural skills.
Strategy 1: Increase 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.
Goal 3: Encourage the presentation of diverse
intellectual paradigms in our curriculum.
Strategy 1: Reestablish a faculty recruiting program that makes funds available for
opportunity hires of under-represented faculty of color.
Strategy 2: Add faculty positions in the academic areas of African American Studies,
American Indian Studies, Latino/a Studies and Women's Studies.
Strategy 3: Increase course offerings and course content as appropriate to address issues relating to African Americans, American Indians, Latinos/as, gays and lesbians, and women.
5.4 Enhancing NMSU's Sense of Community
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
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. Externally, areas for improvement include projecting a clear and
positive institutional image and developing a higher-profile institutional presence in the state and
local community.
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 a possible setting.
Goal 2: Increase identification with NMSU as a whole
through increased emphasis on cooperation
and collaboration among units.
Strategy 1: Ensure institutional policies and procedures promote cooperation and
collaboration among academic units.
Goal 3: Provide professional development programs that
include customer-friendliness training for
campus employees.
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.
Goal 2: Increase and strengthen partnerships between NMSU
and business and industry, the national
laboratories in New Mexico, and other New Mexico consortia.
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.
Goal 3: Encourage communication and shared resources in
our partnership with the public schools.
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.
Goal 4: Increase cooperative educational efforts with our
branch campuses and with two-year and
four-year institutions throughout the state.
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.
Goal 5: Expand NMSU's public service efforts, including
outreach education.
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.
Goal 6: Provide a greater variety of cultural and
recreational resources for the citizens of southern
New Mexico.
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
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. NMSU's capacity for improvement will be
enhanced by an organizational structure that 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 the 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.
Strategy 4: 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.
Goal 2: Enhance institutional decision-making and
priority-setting processes.
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 recommendations 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 Section 6).
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.
Goal 3: Invest in and foster NMSU's most valuable assets.
Strategy 1: Develop an institutional plan for attaining salary parity with comparable
institutions and comparable community positions for all faculty and staff, to be 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 to 95
percent of the peer group salary mean.)
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 meet human needs and changing program needs by making them more
efficient, effective, and accessible to people with disabilities.
Goal 4: Develop and implement major marketing and
fund-raising efforts at NMSU based on a
market analysis of our institutional image and the strategic directions set by this plan.
Strategy 1: Develop a request for proposals (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, and the entire
university community, to ensure a successful fund-raising campaign.
Goal 5: Reaffirm NMSU's educational responsibilities
throughout New Mexico and its role as a
partner within New Mexico's higher education community.
Strategy 1: Continue to fulfill our land-grant commitment to bringing the latest research
results through our Agricultural Experiment Station and our Cooperative Extension Service to people
in all parts of New Mexico, 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 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 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.
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:
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.
| Jim Peach, Co-Chair | Faculty |
| Cookie Stephan, Co-Chair | Faculty |
| Sue Brown | Staff |
| Dino Cervantes | Community |
| Rudolfo Chavez Chavez | Faculty |
| Carolyn Cordova | Student |
| Manny Encinias | Student |
| Christine Marlow | Faculty |
| Bill McCarthy | Faculty |
| Laura Gutierrez Spencer | Staff |
| Karen Becklin/Tammie Aragon Campos | Staff to SPC |
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 |
Questions? Comments? Send us e-mail.
Last Modified: Friday, November 6, 1998
Copyright 2006, Regents of New Mexico State University