Planning Process

Shortly after the arrival of the University’s sixth President, Judy Genshaft, and following appointment of the institution’s charter Board of Trustees, USF embarked upon an ambitious planning process to launch itself into the ranks of the nation’s top research universities. Following an extensive, year long strategic planning process, the USF Board of Trustees adopted the 2002-2007 Strategic Plan on November 21, 2002. Since that time, institutional performance in the areas of student quality, access and success; faculty quality and productivity; program quality and productivity; and fiscal self-reliance has continued to improve. Yet, despite a remarkable record of growth over the past five years, USF is eager to reach even greater heights in the next five year planning and performance cycle.

Upon her election as Chair of the USF Board of Trustees in June 2006, Rhea Law charged the University’s leadership to work with appropriate stakeholder groups to build upon the existing plan toward developing clear and focused priorities and performance expectations for the period 2007-2012. A relatively compact timeline was set with the expectation of presenting the revised plan to the Board of Trustees by the end of the 2006-07 academic year. Careful attention was given to aligning the University’s mission and strengths with local, state, national and global needs and priorities. Moreover, efforts were made to ensure consistency with the national higher education agenda, the State University System of Florida Strategic Plan, and related plans at USF, including the University’s Enrollment Growth Plan; the Master Plan (including the Capital Improvement Plan); the Comprehensive Campaign Plan; and the Budget Plan.

Unlike the 2001 Strategic Planning Process which set a new direction and launched a unique pathway to the future for USF, the most recent planning cycle was intended to build upon the existing plan and develop a set of focused priorities. It included a reassessment of the University’s mission, vision, and values and a bold yet measured goal-setting process for the period 2007-2012. As one of the nationally recognized strengths of USF’s earlier strategic plan, clearly defined performance metrics, milestones of success (and shortfalls), and accountability, remain key elements of the updated plan. Initiated by a steering committee of institutional leaders, and complemented by a larger, inclusive group of stakeholders (students, faculty, staff and administrators), the draft plan was broadly disseminated for public review and comment. This process included Town Hall meetings on each campus (including USF Health), led by President Genshaft and Trustee Lee Arnold. These highly engaged “conversations” elicited valued input which led to a further strengthening of the Plan and growing consensus across all constituent groups.

The 2007-2012 Strategic Plan was adopted by the USF Board of Trustees on May 31, 2007.