All members of the Elon family are invited to participate in creating our next strategic plan.

In June 2018, the university began an 18-month process that will result in a new strategic plan beginning in January of 2020 and will be fueled by the ideas and concerns of students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and friends. Here’s what the process will look like:

Strategic planning process showing four-phase process: invitation to participate, generative phase, drafting & fine tuning, implementation

And here’s what will occur and how you can be involved in each phase:

Fall 2018 – Phase I: Invitation to Participate

  • President Book announces strategic planning process, how to get involved, and committee membership/charge and community working groups
  • Strategic plan website, email account, and handbook released
  • On- and off-campus meetings begin with Elon constituents to gather input on next plan
  • Unit, department, and program-level strategic conversations begin

Entire Elon family is invited to:

  • Attend sessions & discussions (schedule)
  • Answer questions on white boards across campus starting in October
  • Take all Elon constituent survey in November
  • Submit ideas to strategicplan@elon.edu

Units, departments, and groups are invited to:

  • Invite Strategic Planning Committee members to attend meetings, discuss the process, or lead unit-level planning discussions
  • Think about the next institutional plan and how departments can link to that plan
  • Compile and analyze what departments have completed and how they have engaged in or supported the Elon Commitment strategic plan
  • Engage in unit level planning. Feel free to use optional activities from the strategic planning guidebook

Spring 2019 – Phase 2: Generative Phase

  • Committee shares survey results & feedback and engages Elon family in generating plan themes
  • Unit, department, and program-level conversations continue
  • Strategic plan committee retreat with working groups, and invited guests in January 2019

Entire Elon family is invited to:

  • Attend sessions & discussions to review survey data (schedule)
  • Brainstorm plan themes
  • Provide feedback on plan themes as they are generated
  • Answer questions on white boards across campus
  • Submit ideas to strategicplan@elon.edu

Units, departments, and groups are invited to:

  • Invite Strategic Planning Committee members to attend meetings, generate potential plan themes, or lead unit-level planning discussions
  • Continue unit level planning
  • Consider institutional plan themes and how departments can link to those themes

Summer/Fall 2019 – Phase 3: Drafting and Fine Tuning

  • Committee begins to draft plan based on community feedback
  • Committee shares draft plan broadly for feedback from all Elon constituents
  • Unit, department, and program-level conversations continue
  • Committee brings plan to Trustees for approval in October 2019

Entire Elon family is invited to:

Units, departments, and groups are invited to:

  • Invite Strategic Planning Committee members to attend meetings, review draft plan, or lead unit-level planning discussions
  • Continue unit level planning

Spring 2020 – Implementation

  • Working groups formed on key initiatives of new strategic plan
  • Implementation, assessment, and reporting processes begin
  • Unit, department, and program-level conversations continue

How should units, departments, and other groups engage in the process?

All departments, units, and groups are encouraged to:

  • Envision the future of Elon
  • Consider how departments can link to and support the next institutional plan
  • Review progress on current unit plans
  • Engage in unit-level planning for 2030.

Departments, units, and groups can invite Strategic Planning Committee members to lead discussions or choose from the optional activities and exercises (one activity per semester) found in the Strategic Planning Guidebook.

Please submit key ideas and takeaways to the Strategic Planning Committee (strategicplan@elon.edu).