Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Msu Strategic Planindd Midwestern State University
Msu Strategic Planindd Midwestern State University
of Contents
Mission and Values ............................................. 2
Background ........................................................ 4
Operating Environment ...................................... 5
Internal Strengths ....................................... 5
External Environment ................................. 5
Implications for MSU .................................. 7
Critical Issues ............................................ 10
Goals................................................................. 11
Next Steps ........................................................ 12
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Values
• Excellence in teaching, learning, scholarship,
and artistic production
• Intellectual curiosity and integrity
• Critical thinking
• Emotional and physical well-being
• Mutual respect, civility, and cooperation
• Social justice
• Civic service
• Stewardship of the environment, and of
financial and human resources
• A safe, attractive, and well-designed campus
About MSU
MSU is a Texas state university. It is one of only
four independent universities in Texas not part of a
university system, and is overseen by its own Board
of Regents appointed by the Governor. The university
is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts
Colleges (COPLAC) and is designated in the Texas
Education Code as a Texas’s only public liberal arts
university. Enrollment is more than 6,100 students,
including 700 graduate students. The university
offers 45 undergraduate and 28 graduate programs.
Just over 49 percent of MSU’s students come from
Wichita County and nine surrounding counties, 17
percent are from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex,
and 13 percent are from out of state or international.
Nearly 20 percent of the students live on campus.
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Operating Environment
accommodate a vital campus life. MSU’s cam-
pus is the stereotypic image of the small, elite,
liberal arts college.
Student-focused
MSU’s internal strengths support its capacity and capa-
bility to accomplish its mission and achieve its vision. MSU has a long history as a student-oriented
The opportunities and threats are a reflection of the university. The core value reflected on the
external conditions that may affect MSU in the future. campus is a focus on student development.
The result of being student oriented is not the
The assessment that follows reflects MSU as a whole, lowering of standards, but providing means by
and individual programs and support operations may which students can develop in order to meet
have lesser or greater capability and capacity, and be standards.
affected differently by factors in the external environ-
Educational value
ment.
An educational value is defined as the educa-
tional outcomes achieved per dollar spent.1
INTERNAL STRENGTHS MSU, given its student orientation and highly
qualified faculty, is able to provide excellent
The following are areas of strength that MSU can use
educational outcomes at a moderate price.
to advance itself toward its goals.
Positive reputation
EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
MSU has a positive reputation, especially in
the local area. In addition, it has a loyal base A number of patterns in the operating environment
of alumni. These strengths enhance the ability will affect MSU in the future. MSU has a significant
to recruit students and to seek external gifts. number of its student base affected by local trends,
MSU has benefited substantially from gifts but also draws substantial numbers of students from
from members of the local community. throughout Texas, the United States, and other coun-
tries. Still, the primary base for students is Texas.
Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges Since local trends may be different than state trends,
(COPLAC) membership selected trends from both are considered.
MSU is a member of COPLAC, which comple-
DEMOGRAPHIC PATTERNS
ments the university’s standing as a public
liberal arts institution. The university was the LOCAL DEMOGRAPHICS
first in the state to offer a core curriculum and
The local area’s population growth is
is committed to a strong liberal arts experi-
ence for students in all majors. COPLAC values expected to remain flat over the next 10
interdisciplinary opportunities, close faculty years. Wichita County and the surrounding
and student interactions, and opportunities counties have remained at about the same
for faculty-supervised research, which taken population since 2000.
together, provide a distinctive experience for
MSU students and faculty. The proportion of the local population
that will be college age in the next decade
Good quality human resource base is declining. Census data from 2000 and
MSU has a strong faculty base that is well 2010 indicate that the number of 10- to
prepared to provide instruction for the cross- 14-year-olds dropped from just over 9,000
section of programs provided. In addition, MSU to just over 8,000, and the number of 15- to
has a loyal and experienced staff that is able to 19-year-olds declined from about 12,000 to
provide the operational and support services about 10,500.
necessary to the university.
Attractive campus 1 This definition is an adaptation of a definition of value
in health care. See: Porter, M. E. (2010). What Is Value in
MSU has a very attractive campus with the Health Care? New England Journal of Medicine, 363(26),
capacity to provide instruction effectively and 2477-2481. doi:10.1056/NEJMp1011024
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REGULATORY systems such as accrediting bodies and state
requirements are imposing requirements
The demand for assessments of student
that constrain required adaptation. Clarity
learning and performance has increased
of mission and vision are essential to ensure
markedly in the past two decades. In
that MSU sustains its purpose while being
addition to university accreditation, the
buffeted by countervailing forces. MSU
number of program accreditations has
will need to strengthen its clarity of vision
increased. Further, the scope of what
and the extent to which it is a vision-driven
must be measured and reported within a
organization.
given accreditation or assessment also has
increased. The result has been that more The current structure of MSU tends to lead
time and resources must be devoted to to limited collaboration across different
those activities. For all intents and pur- units of the organization. The rapid changes
poses, these are unfunded mandates. facing MSU including technology, student
attributes, and economic uncertainty re-
CULTURAL quire structures that enable rapid response
Current and future students have had to change, as well as collaboration across
computers, social networks, smart phones, units to create innovation and develop
and other technology for most of their excellence.
lives. Their sense of reality includes these
ENROLLMENT
technologies. As such, they expect these
technologies to be part of their education. Enrollment growth will require increases
The use of technology does not mean that in recruitment of students from outside
students have knowledge of or comfort the local area. Local demographic patterns
with the underlying knowledge required for indicate a declining base of students locally.
technology development. State demographic patterns, however, indi-
cate increased demand for education from
Search engines, instant messaging, social
outside of the area. MSU is not especially
media, and other technological innovations
well-known outside of the local area. It will
have shaped how students think, includ-
be necessary to strengthen its efforts to
ing a sense that memorizing facts is not
market regionally and to establish MSU as a
necessary. This, combined with an increased
desirable alternative to other universities.
reliance on standardized multiple choice
tests, has resulted in students who are not Weak academic preparation among Texas
prepared to synthesize complex information students will increase the need for remedial
at the time they enter college. education to ensure standards do not de-
cline. This will require a planned effort that
Most future students will be comfortable
involves collaboration among groups within
with cultural diversity. At the same time,
and outside of MSU.
they face a world in which careers will not
be a matter of moving to another city, but
sometimes to another country. Universities
will need to prepare students to effectively
work within the global economy.
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There are many forces that will require that are designed to foster social interaction
a reshaping of instruction. While the among campus community members.
traditional didactic format has its place, the
MSU has been very successful in its efforts
need to incorporate hands-on, experiential,
to add and update facilities. The challenge
and interactive educational approaches
that faces MSU in the future is significant.
has been suggested since Socrates used
The challenge is not only financial. It
the Socratic method. The divide between
also will require designing facilities that
distance education and classroom education
effectively accommodate the changes in
is disappearing. Indeed, the availability of
technology and instructional processes that
free content through the Web may reshape
are likely to occur in the future.
the role of the professor. MSU’s success into
the future will require defining a niche in The need to recruit more students from
which it provides the most positive student outside the area will affect the demand for
experience, not just in terms of educational housing.
outcome, but also in terms of campus life.
CAMPUS CULTURE
Changes in technology and instructional
processes, as well as changes in student MSU has limited engagement among
expectations, will increase the need for faculty, students, and staff. Engagement in
faculty development and support. education typically is described in terms of a
student who is not just active, but intrinsi-
CAMPUS AND FACILITIES cally motivated, curious, and reflective.
Employee engagement is much the same,
One of MSU’s strengths is its campus. It has
but engagement is in the work and the
the appearance of a traditional university,
aims of the organization. The dynamic and
and its size can foster a sense of community.
complex future that MSU faces will require
The need to increase enrollments from
fostering a culture of engagement for both
outside the local area may require MSU
students and employees.
to create a more robust campus life. At
present, the campus needs more facilities
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Goals
One important part of the planning process was to Develop an evaluation matrix for activities that
gather information about what faculty and staff consid- asks the question, How does this activity sup-
ered central goals for MSU. The results of the process port academic functions?
to identify those goals are presented in this section.
The process involved several steps. First, informa- GOAL 2
tion was gathered from individuals and units on
what they considered goals and actions for MSU. Establish and implement processes for effective
This information was reviewed and themes were faculty recruitment and retention to ensure the
identified. The themes were then written as goal highest quality faculty
statements. The goals statements were sent back to Develop and implement a systematic plan to
the units, faculty, and individuals to rank. address salary compression.
The top six goals were determined using two ranking Restructure faculty classification to distinguish
methods. The first method was to rank the goals faculty with various teaching and research
using their average rank score, a score computed responsibilities.
by assigning points based on the rank position. The
second approach was to count the number of votes Develop and implement system of rewards
that a goal received for first, second, or third posi- and incentives that aligns with the mission and
tion. The six goals presented here were the top five vision of MSU.
that resulted from both approaches (See Appendix A Provide professional development opportuni-
for a list of all the goals that were identified). ties.
The top six goals are very similar to the critical issues Provide faculty with sufficient resources to be
that were identified in the previous section. The effective teachers and researchers.
convergence of both frameworks suggests the primacy
of the goals and issues that have been identified. Increase faculty sense of well-being and shared
purpose.
GOAL 1 GOAL 3
Strengthen the extent to which MSU’s mission and Increase the quality of education provided to stu-
vision are effectively conveyed both within and dents to ensure they have essential competencies
outside of the organization, and serve as the basis to contribute to society, embark on or advance in
for decisions chosen careers, and engage in lifelong learning
Revise the mission and vision statements to Add more interdisciplinary teaching and
communicate the direction the university will research opportunities.
take in the future.
Weave critical thinking and writing com-
Communicate the meaning and value of the ponents into every program and the core
liberal arts to internal and external constitu- curriculum.
ents; explain the mutual benefit of the liberal
arts and sciences and professional programs. Continue to seek program accreditation and
maintain existing accreditations.
Participate in COPLAC conferences (students
and faculty) to develop COPLAC culture on Increase undergraduate involvement in
campus. research activities.
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S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y
3410 Taft Boulevard
Wichita Falls, Texas 76308-2099