M E M O R A N D U M
DATE: September 29, 2000
TO: Members of Planning Committee on Support for New Mexico
Economy, Adult and Continuing Education, Vocational Education, Economic
Development, Commercialization of Intellectual Property
FROM: Brian Foster, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
SUBJECT: Charge to committee
Thank you for agreeing to serve on the planning “Support for New Mexico
Economy, Adult and Continuing Education, Vocational Education, Economic
Development, Commercialization of Intellectual Property.” This committee
is a critical part of the University’s strategic planning process.
Attached is a membership list of the committee. To give you a sense
of how your work fits in the broader strategic planning process that is
underway, we have also included a brief summary of the planning process
and its calendar, along with some other background materials. Your
committee is one described in the section called “Working Papers” and will
be chaired by Howard Smith, Dean of Anderson Schools of Management.
For more detail on the process, please consult the planning web site at
www.unm.edu/~unmstrat.
It may be helpful if I give you some background on what has been achieved
so far in the planning process. We have now completed several important
foundational activities that will guide the next steps:
-
UNM’s mission, vision, and value statements - a small group has reviewed
these and suggested changes.
-
environmental scan - the environmental scan examined the environment in
which UNM will exist for the next five to ten years.
-
brainstorming sessions - a series of these sessions with a wide variety
of university constituencies and community members produced a comprehensive
list of activities that the University should undertake together called
“the domain of the plan” (Your committee’s work will focus on one
sub-domain).
It is important that you keep each of these foundation activities in mind
as the committee’s work proceeds.
Your committee is one of approximately twenty that are writing working
papers on which the rest of the planning process will be based. A list
of all of the working papers that are currently under development is appended
to this letter. All of the committee reports will receive broad public
distribution and commentary late this fall. The reports and commentary
will be the source material for the central Planning Task Force to identify
a small number of strategic directions (i.e., broad institutional goals),
which will be the main elements of the strategic plan. Each of these
strategic directions will be associated with a set of major objectives
as well as tactical means of reaching the objectives.
The charge to your committee is to:
-
Produce a working paper no more than five pages long on “Support for New
Mexico Economy, Adult and Continuing Education, Vocational Education, Economic
Development, Commercialization of Intellectual Property;” your topic is
outlined more fully in the paragraph below.
-
Describe broadly: what are we now doing in your committee’s area?
What should we be doing? How does it all fit together? How
well are we doing it? What are the gaps in our inventory of programs
and activities in this area?
-
Please consider the entire University in your thinking, including for instance
the branch campuses, broadcast media, and the Extended University.
-
Your committee’s deliberations are likely to intersect with those of other
committees (e.g., several have technology or financial components).
It will be helpful if you communicate with other groups to understand the
nature of these common concerns and perhaps cross-reference them in your
report.
-
Consider UNM’s unique resources, strengths, and competitive advantages
in the area as well as our limitations and prospects.
-
Include a one-page set of bullets on the issues that arise in your paper
and what they mean for assessing where the University is now and where
it is or should be going. (This is in addition to the five-page report)
-
You may append some background information to the five-page report (keep
in mind the Task Force was not constituted with the kinds of expertise
needed to analyze the subject matter of your report. That is the
task of your committee, and we hope that you will present thoughtful and
grounded conclusions based on your expertise that will guide the Task Force
in its task of crafting the university’s strategic directions.)
The Planning Task Force encourages you to think broadly about your topic.
This definition of your topical focus is meant not to constrain how you
think about your subject matter, but only to demarcate the broad area that
needs to be addressed in the planning process. “Support for New Mexico
Economy, Adult and Continuing Education, Vocational Education, Economic
Development, Commercialization of Intellectual Property” concerns how increasingly
UNM contributes to the economic development of the community through forefront
research, commercialization of intellectual property, development of spin-off
companies and assistance to both small start-up and large, established
companies. UNM is also actively involved in strategic planning such
as the current Initiative for a New Economy that is setting some of the
foundations for Albuquerque’s and New Mexico’s future. Education
of a trained workforce has long been an important objective of the University,
one that encompasses life-long learning extending well beyond the first
undergraduate degree. This committee is asked to overview UNM activities
in all of the areas that relate to support for the New Mexico economy –
including vocational education, continuing education, economic development
support activities, the relationship with the Science & Technology
Corporation @ UNM, our intellectual property developer.
It may be helpful to mention two key elements of the Plan. First,
it will be tied closely to our resource base. All objectives and
tactics must be accompanied by credible and reasonable resource scenarios.
Second, all working papers, reports, draft plans, and other materials produced
in the process will receive close public scrutiny, and all comments received
will be considered as part of the record in subsequent planning activities.
Much dissemination of the information and public comment will be accomplished
through our strategic planning web site (www.unm.edu/~unmstrat).
Again, for the Task Force and for President Gordon, and for me personally,
I want to thank you for your willingness to serve in this important role.
cc: William C. Gordon, President
Members of the Strategic Planning Task Force
Attachments:
Summary and Schedule of Planning Process
Membership list
List of Working Papers
Environmental Scan
Mission and vision statements