Dear Colleagues:

As I reported recently, an Organizational Excellence Advisory Group has been established to answer core questions designed to guide budget decision making into the future.  The group’s first meeting was held on Monday, March 27.  Seventy-five individuals came together and held a very productive 2.5 hour work session focusing on the question, “What are Truman’s most important indicators of institutional and student success?”

The working session began with a presentation of relevant data followed by structured discussion.  The materials presented can be found at http://wp-internal.truman.edu/organizationalexcellence/.  As you will see in the materials, the group completed three tasks:

1. Select the top five constituent groups to consider when determining indicators of institutional and student success (a list of constituent groups was provided).
2. Determine the top three indicators of student/institutional success for each constituent group (not limited to indicators Truman already uses; can be current or aspirational indicators).
3. Determine which indicators are the most important in determining Truman’s identity.  (Who are we as Truman?  Who do we want to be?  For what do we want our students to be known?  What would make alumni/donors/funding agencies/paying students/the state/etc. want to support us?)

You, too, are welcome to submit your thoughts for each of the tasks on the Organizational Excellence website.

The next meeting of the group is scheduled for Monday, April 10.  The insights gathered from the first session will be used as a foundation to address the question, “What are the academic program offerings and support services needed to attract and retain the appropriate mix of students?”  I will provide another update after our second meeting.

Best regards,

Sue