From its founding as a Quaker school for boys to its evolution into a military school and, ultimately, into the thriving coeducational civilian institution it is today, Widener University has been no stranger to change and transition. It may come as a surprise, therefore, that although it had a mission statement and goals, prior to 2004 the…

With the convergence of an ailing economy, a new generation of political leaders, and a strong public sentiment that change is needed on many fronts within the society and across the world, the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship has found new life and is flourishing within society as a whole and within higher education in particular. Yet, there…

This article describes the relevance of an army-university partnership in view of the cultures of both public higher education and the military graduate education system. The article also outlines the planning model used to navigate through the various issues that should be considered when a university partners with a federal or military agency to…

The project described in this article was an attempt to uncover the principles of financial sustainability for online programs and to align these with a guide to managing online programs. An initial team of experienced online educators developed draft principles, which were then reviewed by an external consultant and revised; the revised…

The use of issues management as an organizational process and its relationship to the more comprehensive notion of strategic planning are discussed, and its application to the establishment of a new school of communications at Penn State examined. (MSE)

A strategic approach to institutional planning is proposed that integrates three usually isolated planning efforts as a means of making planning more manageable and of minimizing turf problems, favoritism charges, and other threats to morale and commitment to decisions. The approach includes breadth of representation on the planning team and…

Four factors--the perceived needs of the faculty, the perceived needs of the market, the competition among institutions, and the competition within institutions--represent the major forces behind the development of new academic programs. Two case studies in Missouri and New England are described. (MLW)

The Division of Student Affairs at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor engaged in an iterative strategic process to create and implement a set of long-range goals. This strategic journey continues to evolve, uniting a guiding framework of strategic planning steps, a reflective process with an assessment component within each step, and a group…

In the current highly competitive higher education market in North America, many colleges have identified the importance of upgrading their existing residential housing facilities as part of their strategy to attract and retain students. The case study discussed in this article describes the successful planning process used by Perkins+Will and…

A discussion of planning for college and university centennial celebrations, or other milestone anniversaries, looks at reasons for creating a major event; objectives of early planning sessions; considerations in event design; scope and budget; use of consultants; appointment of an archivist; individual event planning; and fitting events to the…

If planning is to succeed in higher education, radical changes must be made in the way in which the process is conceptualized and implemented. Philosophical assumptions and operational guidelines are identified, and a strategic planning process model is described. (MLW)

The experiences of the University of Michigan in developing its Flint campus since the mid-1970s and the use of the Critical Path Method are described. The usefulness of the method during several phases of development is highlighted. (MSE)

An approach to faculty development activities that combines individual initiative with program needs in order to effect a more cost efficient and program effective system is described. The rationale for the convergence of developmental activities is given and a plan for the implementation of a feasible working model is described. (Author/MLW)

Issues related to the use of radio broadcasting for instructional purposes (such as two-way radio network conferences among doctors) and effectiveness, cost factors, and policy decisions within broadcasting are explored. Suggestions for implementing an instructional program on a school radio station are presented. (PHR)

Factors leading to dissatisfaction with planning processes are identified, barriers to successful planning are described, and proposed solutions suggest a set of minimum characteristics applicable to all academic planning systems. Implementation of a program review system is discussed. (Author/LBH)