Standards:

STANDARD TWO

Planning and Evaluation

2 Description 
	Eastern undertakes planning activities to implement the university's mission. 
The Academic Master Plan was developed during 1990 and approved by the CSU Board 
of Trustees and the Board of Governors for Higher Education in 1991. The Campus 
Master Plan was developed and approved in 1992 and updated in 1997. A role and 
scope statement operationalizing Eastern's mission was approved in 1993 and 
revised in 1999. The vital few goals were developed in 1996 and 1997, and a new 
mission statement was developed in 1998. All of these documents are 
interconnected and have provided a framework for developing the university's 
academic goals during the 1990s and into the next century.  These documents were 
developed by committees with representation from faculty, staff, students, and 
management and were reviewed by the university community through open forums.
In fall 1993, President Carter established the Task Force on Strategic Choices 
for the 1990s to review the plans, goals, and priorities of all academic 
programs for the period 1993-2000. The task force objectives were to assist 
academic programs in shaping their special visions and to provide 
recommendations for the allocation of resources. The task force identified 
academic areas and programs that should receive enhanced levels of support based 
on program quality. See document room/index for a copy of this report. 
The Task Force on University Support Programs and Activities was formed in 
October 1995 to provide recommendations to improve the effectiveness and 
efficiency of support programs and activities. The task force focused its 
efforts on programs and activities necessary to support the initiatives 
recommended by the University Task Force on Strategic Choices for the 1990s. The 
Task Force on Support Programs and Activities was charged with the following: 
(1) review plans, goals, and priorities of all academic, administrative, and 
student affairs support units for the period 1996-2002; (2) consult and interact 
with the respective support units, and assist in shaping their special visions; 
and (3) provide overall direction for the university through recommendations on 
priorities pertaining to support programs and services. The task force process 
produced forty-three recommendations which were published in the May 1996 final 
report. See document room/index for a copy of this report. 
	Eastern currently has two planning units: the Planning and Priorities Council 
and the Quality Improvement Team. The Planning & Priorities Council was 
appointed by the president and is charged to (1) review and reassess the 
university's mission and recommend changes that will enable the university to 
respond to the opportunities and challenges of the twenty-first century; (2) 
identify major priorities for implementation; (3) review and monitor 
implementation of the strategic plan and report on the university's achievement 
of its goals and objectives; and (4) assess the extent to which spending 
commitments are in line with major goals and priorities. 
	The purpose of the Quality Improvement Team is to develop and monitor project 
teams that are established to respond to strategic goals as identified by the 
Planning and Priorities Council and to continue the work of the Task Force on 
University Support Programs and Activities. Each of these groups is composed of 
management, administrative staff, classified staff, faculty, and students.
Eastern's planning and evaluation activities were reviewed for effectiveness as 
a part of the Task Force on University Support Programs and Activities process. 
One recommendation suggested that strategic and operational planning be tied 
together in the budgeting process. A new budgeting process that better 
incorporates strategic priorities is currently being developed. The task force 
also recommended that the evaluation process be continued by a permanent body. 
The Quality Improvement Team was established in part to carry on the evaluative 
work of the task force. See Table 1. Status of Task Force on University support 
Programs and Activities.
	Eastern has a planning process that operationalizes major goals. Each year the 
CSU chancellor and Eastern's president develop the President's Letter of 
Priority which outlines Eastern's major priorities for the coming year. The 
priorities are one of the driving factors in Eastern's internal resource 
allocations and drive operational planning. The status of the priorities is 
periodically reported to the CSU chancellor and is used to evaluate Eastern's 
progress. 
	Eastern develops an annual institutional spending plan that is consistent with 
the initiatives approved by the CSU System Office. This plan is reviewed and 
approved by the System Office and the CSU Board of Trustees before it becomes 
the foundation of the annual budget. The annual spending plan reflects planning 
priorities and is the vehicle through which the university operationalizes its 
planning efforts. Faculty and staff hires have been made to support priority 
academic programs, such as studio art, business administration, developmental 
mathematics, and writing. The university periodically reports to the CSU System 
Office and the Board of Trustees on the implementation of its institutional 
spending plan and on the President's Letter of Priority. 
	In 1996 and 1997, each CSU university developed a set of "vital few" goals to 
focus planning activities. Eastern specified a number of objectives to be 
reached in order to achieve each goal and identified measures to assess the 
achievement of each goal. Eastern has established goals in six areas: revenue 
and student enrollment; faculty, staff, and student diversity; academic 
programs; continuous quality improvement; teamwork, productivity, and 
satisfaction; student success; and technology. The establishment of these goals 
helped clarify the relationship between Eastern's mission and those of the 
system office and the other universities in the CSU System. Status reports on 
the achievement of the vital few goals are submitted to the President and the 
CSU System Office on a quarterly basis.
	The State of Connecticut has been moving toward performance-linked funding for 
the past several years. Building on the Connecticut Department of Higher 
Education Performance Measures Task Force list of goals, Public Act 99-285 
expanded the number of goals to six (1) to enhance student learning and promote 
academic excellence; (2) to join with elementary and secondary schools to 
improve teaching and learning at all levels; (3) to ensure access to and 
affordability of higher education; (4) to promote the economic development of 
the state to help business and industry sustain strong economic growth; (5) to 
respond to the needs and problems of society; and 6) to ensure the efficient use 
of resources
	The extensive assessment information infrastructure at Eastern allows academic 
and administrative units to use the results of the New Student Survey, the 
Current Student Survey, the Survey of Graduates, the University Services Survey, 
and the Alumni Survey to evaluate their programs and services and make 
improvements. Each administrative and academic department receives department-
specific information from the surveys. This information allows academic and 
administrative areas to see how their customers (students, faculty, and staff) 
have evaluated their services. All academic and administrative departments 
submit an annual report, which reviews the completion of programmatic goals from 
the previous year and planned goals for the coming year. Eastern's academic 
program review efforts are discussed under Standard Four: Programs and 
Instruction.
	Eastern systematically uses information obtained through its evaluation 
activities. As part of the planning process, achievement of annual objectives is 
assessed and reported to the president and the system chancellor. Eastern uses 
this quarterly assessment information to refocus the activities of operational 
units to better achieve the university's objectives. 


Table 1
Status of Task Force on University Support Programs and Activities - April 1, 
2000


	
Rec. No.
 
Description
 
Status



	
1
 
Mentoring
 
Partially completed

									

	
2
 
Annual Reporting
 
Completed



	
3
 
Mission statements, unit-specific
 
Ongoing
									


	
4
 
Cross training
 
Ongoing

								

	
5
 
Micromanagement
 
Ongoing



	
6
 
Budgeting
 
Ongoing



	
7
 
Media Center
 
Partially completed



	
8
 
Fund raising
 
Completed



	
9
 
Recruiting, student
 
Completed



	
10
 
Admission/registration policies
 
Completed
				
								

	
11
 
Continuous quality improvement
 
Completed



	
12
 
Purchasing process
 
Partially Completed



	
13
 
Grant administration
 
Partially Completed



	
14
 
Task Force implementation
 
Completed



	
15
 
Campus mail
 
Completed



	
16
 
Payment process for personal 
	  		
							service providers
 
Partially completed



	
17
 
Center for Educational Excellence
 
Partially completed
				
								

	
18a
 
Room scheduling and vehicle/

						facilities reservations
 
Partially completed

						

	
18b
 
Student employment and

			 			payroll functions
 
Partially completed
								


	
19
 
Facilities reservations
 
Partially completed
					
							

	
20
 
Academic year calendar
 
Partially completed
						
						

	
21
 
Campus maps
 
Partially completed
										
	 

	
22
 
Administrative program review
 
Partially completed

			

	
23
 
Publications for new students
 
Partially completed
				
	

	
 
 


	

	
 
 




	
 
 




	
24
 
Readmittance policies
 
No activity



	
25
 
Distribution of career and
 				
					educational information
 
Partially completed



	
26
 
Point-of-service user fees
 
Completed



	
27
 
First-year seminar program
 
Partially completed



	
28
 
"One-stop shop" for student
 			
					administrative functions
 
Partially completed



	
29
 
Office of International Student Affairs
 
Completed



	
30
 
Residence hall construction
 
Partially completed



	
31
 
Office of Student Retention
 
No activity



	
32
 
Budget information
 
Partially completed



	
33
 
Chief Information Officer
 
Partially completed
						
						

	
34
 
Copy service
 
Completed



	
35
 
Travel reduction/teleconferencing
 
Partially completed



	
36
 
Automated degree audit
 
Completed



	
37A
 
Information systems- Web systems
 
Partially completed



	
37B
 
Information systems Ð Kiosks
 
Partially completed



	
38
 
Information systems-modifications 
		
								  to current systems
 
Partially completed
		 
				

	
39
 
Software standardization
 
Completed
				
							

	
40a
 
Training- computers & technology
 
Completed
	


	
40b
 
Training- orientation
 
Partially completed
						
					

2 Appraisal

Four planning and evaluation activities (the Strategic Plan, the Vital Few Goals, the annual spending plans, and the annual President's Letter of Priority) present Eastern with a variety of priorities. The documents do not include the same objectives and similar objectives are often worded differently. In addition, since there are four separate planning and evaluation activities, there are four reporting processes that require the university to report similar information in different formats.

Although Eastern's planning documents generally guide the allocation of resources, the budgeting process is not tied explicitly to planning initiatives. This concern was expressed in a recommendation of the Task Force on University Support Programs and Activities. A new budgeting process needs to be developed so that unit-level managers can request and justify resource allocations by reference to numbered objectives from the vital few goals. The extensive assessment information infrastructure at Eastern allows academic and administrative support units to use the results of the New Student Survey, the Current Student Survey, the Survey of Graduates, the University Services Survey, and the Alumni Survey to evaluate their programs and services and make improvements. Housing and residential life, the health center, and the library use this information regularly. However, many units do not use this information to evaluate their activities.

Approximately 80 percent of the recommendations of the Task Force on University Support Programs and Activities have been implemented. The recommendations not implemented need to be implemented or rejected after discussion.

2 Projection

Eastern will coordinate the various planning systems now in place. A single set of long-term, prioritized goals will be established and periodically reassessed, and short-term, prioritized planning objectives will dovetail with these goals. The Planning and Priorities Council will lead this effort.

Budgeting will be explicitly linked to long-term goals and short-term objectives. Each year the Planning and Priorities Council will identify opportunities and goals for the university and link these to the budget process. Eastern will maintain and improve the systematic evaluation activities already in place. In addition to the quarterly assessment of the vital few goals, Eastern will implement a number of new evaluation activities. Enhanced student- learning outcomes measures will be employed to demonstrate learning outcomes and improve academic programs. The administrative services evaluation survey and other instruments will be used to improve administrative services through yearly self-evaluation.

The Office of Planning and Institutional Research will conduct evaluation workshops. One objective of the workshops will be to show how the survey and other evaluation information can be accessed. A second goal will be demonstrate how a department or administrative unit can use this information to determine if it is achieving its goals.

Eastern will develop methods to meet the new reporting demands of Public Act 99- 285 (see description section above). The information will be collected from our present planning documents.

The Planning and Priorities Council will reexamine the recommendations of the Task Force on Support Programs and Activities and identify the recommendations not implemented. These recommendations will be either implemented or rejected after discussion.

In 2000-2001 the Planning and Priorities Council will set priorities and determine a timetable for implementing the actions listed above.