The Chancellor’s New ‘Strategic Plan’—What Can You Expect?

For the past 10 months, a panel consisting of 30 committee members has been working tirelessly to form UW Tacoma’s Strategic Plan — though the plan doesn’t quite say what it’s going to do — yet.

Titled Charting Our Course, the Strategic Plan was formed after surveying 231 students, 265 alumni, 161 community members and 219 faculty and staff. It was understood that the culture of the campus, along with the community of Tacoma, needed a shared vision plan that would help bring those plans to reality.

“That’s the real beauty of the plan,” says Chancellor Mark Pagano, who was an integral part of the Strategic Plan Coordinating Committee, “We are an institution of the community, by the community and for the community and we want to still be that.”

“[The Strategic Plan is] a set of goals that are to be achieved in order for the betterment of students, staff, faculty, administrators and community,” says Nataley Guajardo, a UW Tacoma student familiar with the Strategic Plan.

One of the key pieces to the plan are the, “impact goals,” which include six distinct areas of focus. Chancellor Pagano says that students, communities, scholarship, equity, culture and growth are the most important factors to ensure success of the new plan.

While the seven page document does include in-depth procedures for plan implementation, the plan itself lacks quantitative goals. The plan neither includes quantitative goals to achieve nor does it have a financial balance. Chancellor Pagano said that discretionary funds would be utilized to implement the plan, stating, “It will be a significant number.”

Pagano said that rather than being an initiatives-based plan, it has shifted to being a measured-based plan.

“We want to raise the bar. We want to do it better than anyone else so when people come and look at our institution, they will want to engage and improve our community. We want the University of Washington Tacoma not to be just the best, but THE best institution in the world in doing this kind of thing.”

On Oct. 17, students, employees and faculty are invited to the grand unveiling of the Strategic Plan. The plan will be showcased at William Philip Hall at 3:30 p.m.

This extravaganza will have a formal presentation outlining the plan, its articulation of the six goals, how they will be implemented and a special guest speaker that will bring a “call to action.” Students are strongly encouraged to attend and attempt to decipher the mystery of the Chancellor’s plan.