Daily Bulletin, Wednesday, March 23, 1994 IT'S DEFINITELY SPRING: In fact, it's been so pleasant that Marlene Bechtold, of the Germanic and Slavic department, says she saw the first outdoor class meeting of the year yesterday. "It's like spotting the first robin!" she chirps. PLANNING FOR PLANNING: The president and provost are proposing a "commission" to write a mission statement and plan for UW. Here's the proposal they will bring to the long-range planning committee at its meeting this afternoon (3 p.m., Needles Hall 3004): The last academic plan for the University of Waterloo was published in 1987 as "The Fourth Decade Report." Not only has the pace of change quickened since then but the directions of change, especially of late, have been oblique, abrupt, and unsettling. While it may have been reasonable in the more stable economic environment of earlier decades to have a ten-year plan, it is no disrespect to those who prepared the Fourth Decade Report to suggest that the time has come again to re-examine our ends and means as a university. Beginning immediately therefore it is proposed that the Senate Long Range Planning Committee institute a process which will lead to a new plan for institutional development by December of 1995. Step I: Commission on Institutional Planning. A commission on institutional planning will be established, chaired by the Provost, and appointed by the President in consultation with Senate Long Range Planning Committee, employee and student associations, and the executive of the National Alumni Council. The Commission will make periodic reports to the SLRPC, which shall monitor its progress. Step II: Mission Statement. The first task of the Commission will be the reformulation of a mission statement for the University. A mission statement should distil in as few words as possible the essential character and aspiration of an institution. It must be general enough not to exclude any essential element of the institution; it must be particular enough to provide direction for the drawing of plans and the setting of priorities. Mission-statement making is not just an exercise in wordsmithing; it is the articulating of an institution's essence as it is felt and understood by the people who constitute that institution. For a university, this means faculty, staff, and students, but dedicated alumni and friends also. Consultation therefore with representative individuals and groups is essential. When consultation is completed, the Commission will propose a mission statement to SLRPC for discussion and presentation to Senate and the Board for approval. Step III: Draft Plan. While research, data-gathering, and the preparation of discussion papers will go on during the summer, the Commission will begin meetings and consultations in earnest in September, with the intention of producing by January 1995 a comprehensive white paper on institutional objectives, strategies for achieving those objectives, and performance indicators by which progress may be measured. Topics on which the white paper will provide commentary, analysis, and recommendations include: undergraduate education; graduate education; distance education; teaching; research; conducting program reviews; setting program priorities; enrolment and recruitment strategy; recruitment and support of faculty, staff, and administrators; integrating and rationalizing programs, courses, and services with church colleges and other universities; academic governance; infrastructure (including library, instructional equipment, information technology, space and capital); campus development; resource allocation; accountability. In preparing the paper the Commission will take account of planning exercises taking place at the faculty and departmental level, so that the process is both iterative and interactive: a confluence of top-down and bottom-up planning. Step IV: Institutional Plan. The white paper (or draft plan) will be widely distributed and discussed in the university during the winter term 1995. By September a revised institutional plan will be ready for presentation to the Senate Long Range Planning Committee for review before going on to the Senate and the Board. When approved, the plan will form the framework within which faculties and departments will establish priorities and develop local plans. NATURAL BEAUTY: "All graduate students are invited," says Alex Lopez-Ortiz of the Graduate Student Association, "to the video presentation of the natural beauties of Egypt and the newly formed Slovenia. This is also an opportunity to meet grad students from other departments, have a chat, and eat some snacks and pizza." The party starts at 6 tonight on the second floor of the Graduate House. AGAINST CANCER: The Math Society is sponsoring a Loonie Drive to raise money for the Cancer Society. Dollar coins will be collected outside the coffee and doughnut shop on the third floor of Math and Computer today from 9:30 to 1 p.m. Says Gordon Schmidt of MathSoc: "The Math Society has challenged the math staff and faculty to try to out-raise the math undergraduate population." Chris Redmond Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo 888-4567 ext. 3004 credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca