Process Overview

Initiated by President Frederick M. Lawrence, the Brandeis University strategic planning process is designed to engage a broad spectrum of Brandeis stakeholders and result in a plan that will set the institution’s 10- to 20-year trajectory and lay out a five-year framework for moving forward.

The Strategic Planning Steering Committee is being chaired by Provost Steve A.N. Goldstein, and is comprised of faculty (one each from Heller, IBS, and the four divisions in Arts and Sciences); the academic deans; undergraduate and graduate student leaders; trustees; and members of the senior administration.

The Strategic Planning Steering Committee is at the center of the process. This group is working to: synthesize internal and external information including interview data collected throughout the process; form subcommittees as needed and receive recommendations from those groups; deliberate on strategic questions and, ultimately, propose a long range vision and five-year strategic plan to start on the path to that future for Brandeis. The steering committee is made up of a highly principled group of leaders — respected across Brandeis for their interest in the entire university community and trusted for their ability to guide the institution toward success. Several of the members of the committee are individuals who will also be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the plan. The committee is supported by the planning consultants of Cambridge Concord Associates, in particular, Elaine Kuttner, principal.

A Strategic Planning Financial Task Force has been convened to consider the financial implications of the emerging vision and plan. That work will significantly inform the continued evolution of the plan and will provide the critical linkage to a future capital campaign.

Similarly, the Strategic Planning Steering Committee will convene a small number of additional subcommittees to delve more deeply into priority areas that emerge from the process. These will include members of the steering committee and will engage others with appropriate expertise.

It is expected that the steering committee will produce a preliminary framework for the plan by June 2012 and a more fully developed draft plan by October 2012. The draft plan will be discussed by the full campus community and the board of trustees, and should be finalized and confirmed in December 2012.

The Deliverables

This process will produce a strategic plan for Brandeis University that:

  • Articulates a clear mission, long-range vision, and five-year framework for moving forward
  • Enhances the institution’s ability to raise and leverage its resources toward mission-related activities
  • Contributes to the “case’ for an upcoming capital campaign
  • Provides a mechanism to measure progress over time and revise the plan as needed

The Approach

The planning process at Brandeis will be carried out in a way that:

  • Embraces the values of Brandeis University and builds on its strengths
  • Enables meaningful campus-wide participation and input while ensuring the appropriate decision-making role of the Brandeis University leadership
  • Engages, in ways appropriate to each constituency — trustees, faculty, administrators, students and staff — and creates widespread ownership of the plan itself
  • Ensures that everyone’s time is used productively, and keeps everyone informed as the plan evolves
  • Culminates in the development of a clear and succinct planning document that can be used throughout the institution for ongoing planning and decision-making