The strategic planning readiness effort set the stage for a broad based community engagement around the future of BGSU. Three specific elements are noteworthy:

The Collaborative Dialogue Pilot
A small-scale collaborative dialogue pilot was held in late July. The pilot was intended both to see how principles and activities would work with individuals who had not been immersed in the strategic planning preparedness efforts and to document the process for future participants so that they would have an idea of what to expect.

Nine Days of Data
On each of the nine days between the President’s opening day address and the kick-off of Charting Our Future week, the entire University community was sent series of email communications, each highlighting a broad element impacting higher education in general and BGSU in particular. Individuals were encouraged to dig deeper into the issues, and to provide thoughts and commentary through the strategic planning blog, as preparation for the Charting Our Future sessions.

Charting Our Future week
Charting Our Future week was held September 8-12, 2008. Eight sessions were conducted at the Bowling Green and Firelands

 campuses. Each session included activities designed to gather individual, small group and large group input on the landscape and existing university strategy (vision, mission, core values and goals). Individuals who were not able to participate were invited to post ideas on the blog and to review the results from each session. To see the results from each session, visit the Strategic Planning blog.