Tweaking the Strategic Plan

The University's updated Strategic Plan, due to be considered for approval by the Board of Trustees at its July meeting, features a number of revisions, according to Dave Reed, vice president for research.

Unchanged is the vision of Michigan Tech becoming a world-class research university, as well as the plan's three overarching goals: 1) attracting and retaining world-class faculty, students and staff; 2) delivering distinctive programs with a central focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and the business of innovation; and 3) producing outstanding research, scholarship and innovation. The primary changes in the updated plan involve the specific objectives emerging from the three goals.

"These changed because we've made progress," Reed said. "We've replaced some action items with new ones, focusing on strategies that will be of greatest impact. Those areas are open-ended, as we feel those who will actually be doing the work will be the best to determine the details as to how that happens."

"The deans were key to the process of updating the document," Reed says. "They were involved in the vetting and gathering input from others, and the executive team appreciates all the valuable discussion in the (University) Senate, Staff Council, the various administrative and academic units, and the comments posted to the web."

"I told the Senate that this is a living document that we'll look at formally every three years," Reed commented. "That will ensure that the plan is always fresh and relevant, and is an effective guide for our work."

The latest version of the Strategic Plan with changes can be viewed here: https://www.banweb.mtu.edu/pls/owa/strategic_plan.p_display.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.