The University Planning Council and the President's Cabinet believe that BGSU can move toward its Vision of becoming the premier learning community in Ohio and one of the best in the nation by pursuing the following Strategic Directions (i.e., long term terminal goals) and Annual Imperatives (i.e., short term instrumental actions that must be accomplished next year):

STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS (2007-2008 Edition):

1. Commit to student learning and development.
2. Attract and retain faculty, staff and students and provide an environment that is conducive to their success.
3. Produce high quality scholarship and creative achievements.
4. Actively engage external communities, embrace the Scholarship of Engagement, and stimulate economic development through partnerships and outreach activities.
5. Promote global understanding, and cultural competency within a diverse learning community.
6. Sustain a level of financial stability for the University that allows it to achieve its vision, while minimizing the burden on students.
7. Communicate the University's value to external publics such as legislators, parents, and the media and continue to cultivate meaningful relationships with our constituencies.
8. Embrace sustainability considerations within student learning, engagement, and University decision making.

ANNUAL IMPERATIVES (2007-2008 Edition):

1. Promote best practices for teaching and learning.
2. Assess current practices and develop a comprehensive enrollment management strategy that addresses transfer students, first year students, evening, weekend, degree completion, distance learning, and cohort programs, and other issues as appropriate.
3. Strategically invest in replacement, repair, maintenance, accessibility, and alternative use of classroom and laboratory buildings and residence halls as a tool for student, faculty, and staff recruitment and retention and as a method to promote long-term savings.
4. Develop creative methods to motivate, promote, and compensate faculty and staff members.
5. Focus on health and wellness for students, faculty and staff members.
6. Enhance mutually beneficial community engagement with the development of genuine linkages to and between entrepreneurship, creative product development, and regional economic development for student, faculty, and staff in tandem with the university’s various external constituencies.
7. Enhance strategies to promote diversity, cultural competency, and appreciation of individual difference.
8. Examine efficiencies in all operations, including reductions in energy use, implement strategies with the greatest return on investment, and eliminate activities where appropriate.

Strategic Directions (2007-2008 Edition):

• Commit to student learning and development.
  As BGSU strives to realize its vision, a focus on student learning, development, and success toward essential outcomes remains paramount.  As noted in the BGSU Academic Plan , it is our goal that our students will proficiently investigate and make connections, write and make presentations, and participate and lead as defined within the learning outcomes of their disciplines.  While we seek to empower students to become adaptive lifelong learners, we also bear the responsibility to teach and guide them within a supportive environment, in and outside of the classroom, where expectations are clear and possibilities abundant.
  
  
• Attract and retain faculty, staff and students and provide an environment that is conducive to their success.
  As a learning-centered organization we seek to attract, retain, and advance the careers of faculty and staff through by providing a supportive employment environment that fosters respect for one another, cooperation, intellectual and spiritual growth, creative imaginings, and pride in a job well done. 
  
  
• Produce high quality scholarship and creative achievements.
  As noted in the BGSU Academic Plan , faculty, staff, and student research and creative endeavors fuel the passion for inquiry across the learning community. Inquiry is the backbone of academic disciplines, a powerful vehicle for student learning, and a bridge between the University and society.  We must continue to provide an environment that is conducive to promotion of inquiry for all members of the community at all stages of their lives. 
  
  
• Actively engage external communities, embrace the Scholarship of Engagement, and stimulate economic development through partnerships and outreach activities.
  The continuous flow of ideas between the University and the broader community invigorates the    process of inquiry and heightens individual and institutional achievement.  As noted in the BGSU Academic Plan and the Report of the Task Force on the Scholarship of Engagement , engagement engenders a sense of understanding about and responsibility for other  individual and for society at large.  While enhancing our students’ academic experiences and our faculty and staff members’ professional development, this exchange of talent and expertise has the potential to significantly influence our diverse external constituents and communities in many ways.
  
  
• Promote global understanding, and cultural competency within a diverse learning community.
  Cultural and cross-national competency is essential for students and faculty to function in a diverse and increasingly interdependent world.  As noted in the BGSU Academic Plan , the challenge for BGSU is to enhance the ways in which our students and faculty experience and engage in domestic and international diversity issues and to enhance the opportunities to build mutually beneficial relationships with cultural others.
  
  
• Sustain a level of financial stability for the University that allows it to achieve its vision, while minimizing the burden on students.
  External economic and political realities make it increasing less likely that BGSU will be able to realize its vision and strategic directions by continuing to draw upon traditional funding sources. In order to provide adequate resources we must draw upon private giving, sponsored research and outreach activities, partnerships, and other creative and fruitful approaches. 
  
  
• Communicate the University's value to external publics such as legislators, parents, and the media and continue to cultivate meaningful relationships with our constituencies.
  In an environment of constrained resources and increased accountability, BGSU must effectively communicate its value to its various constituencies.
  
  
• Embrace sustainability considerations within student learning, engagement, and University decision making.
  As a signatory to the Talloires Declaration, an international plan for sustainability and environmental literacy, BGSU has committed to becoming a societal leader in promoting sustainability in terms of student learning, engagement, and University decision making.

Annual Imperatives (2007-2008 Edition):

• Promote best practices for teaching and learning
  As noted in the BGSU Academic Plan, BGSU is committed to developing innovative academic and student life programming that enriches intellectual growth.  We will achieve this through a strategic approach that involves clarifying goals, assessing current programs, and coordinating efforts that apply to students at all stages of their academic careers.
  
  
• Assess current practices and develop a comprehensive enrollment management strategy that addresses transfer students, first year students, evening, weekend, degree completion, distance learning, and cohort programs, and other issues as appropriate.
  While the University remains committed to serving a primarily traditional aged, full-time, residential undergraduate student population, many opportunities are emerging for providing enhanced educational opportunities.  These should be pursued when they fit with our mission, strengths, and resources and fill a critical niche.  They should also be systematically evaluated and the results should be used for ongoing improvement.
  
  
• Strategically invest in replacement, repair, maintenance, accessibility, and alternative use of classroom and laboratory buildings and residence halls as a tool for student, faculty, and staff recruitment and retention and as a method to promote long-term savings.
  The University’s physical environment affects our ability to accomplish our goals as well as internal and external perceptions.  While being prudent in our spending, we must maintain and enhance our buildings and grounds in order to remain productive and competitive, and we must facilitate the development of our infrastructure as outlined in the Master Plan.
  
  
• Develop creative methods to motivate, promote, and compensate faculty and staff members.
  In an environment of numerous challenges and opportunities, it is important that we implement productive and innovative methods of structuring our workforce and rewarding and investing in employees in order to accomplish our plans.
  
  
• Focus on health and wellness for students, faculty and staff members.
  The University must focus upon maintaining and improving the health and wellbeing of all members of its community.
  
  
• Enhance mutually beneficial community engagement with the development of genuine linkages to and between entrepreneurship, creative product development, and regional economic development for student, faculty, and staff in tandem with the university’s various external constituencies.
  As noted in the the Report of the Task Force on the Scholarship of Engagement, it is necessary and urgent for colleges and universities to respond in institutionally appropriate ways to calls for greater engagement with their external communities. All members of the BGSU community should be included in discussions concerning why engagement is consistent with the University’s history, culture, mission, and how everyone can contribute to this goal.
  
  
• Enhance strategies to promote diversity, cultural competency, and appreciation of individual difference.
  As noted in the, learning about diversity within and outside of one’s own culture and nation enables students, faculty, and staff to consider their own values and practices in light of others’ cultural beliefs and values.  The challenge for BGSU is to enhance the ways in which our campus members experience and engage in domestic and international diversity issues and to enhance opportunities to build mutually beneficial relationships with people from other cultures.
  
  
• Examine efficiencies in all operations, including reductions in energy use, implement strategies with the greatest return on investment, and eliminate activities where appropriate.
  As a careful steward of its resources, BGSU must continually assess and promote efficiencies in all activities that support the academic mission.