SUNY-ESF has begun the process of setting goals for the college for the next five years and beyond.

In an effort to lay out the college’s long-term goals, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry President Quentin Wheeler has put in place a three-step strategic planning process.

The first phase is an envisioning exercise focused on the next five to 20 years for SUNY-ESF, according to the strategic planning website. In this phase, students and faculty aim to figure out how to play a larger role in American environmentalism, increase science literacy and increase the visibility of SUNY-ESF nationally and internationally as an institution focused on environmental issues.

The second phase, which will begin in January, will focus on setting priorities to figure out which goals the college can realistically pursue in the near future and how to allocate resources. The last phase, which will be completed by May 2015, is the creation of the strategic plan itself, with specific goals and dates set as well as metrics for tracking progress, according to the website.

Wheeler said in an email that the purpose of the plan is to focus SUNY-ESF’s vision on areas where it can make contributions to education, discovery and problem solving.

He added that he was inspired by scientist E.O. Wilson’s observation that in science, asking the right question is more important than finding the right answer. So, while asking a trivial question leads only to a trivial answer, asking the “right” question, even if unanswerable in exact form, will lead to major discoveries, Wheeler said.

As a result, Wheeler said he has challenged the SUNY-ESF community to consider which environmental and sustainability questions are “right” for the college. He said he wants to address “the most important issues facing science and society and which build upon ESF’s strengths.”

The three-step process also aims to discover the “optimal organization through which to excel at the pursuit of these questions,” Wheeler said.

“It’s not a campaign but a process to determine how the college can use existing resources and add resources to offer programs that would be among the best in the nation/world,” said Donald Leopold, a professor at SUNY-ESF and a co-chair of one of the visioning groups, in an email.

SUNY-ESF is launching the strategic planning process because of the arrival of a new president, “which is when most institutions do this planning,” Leopold said.

Wheeler said he believes that institutions should periodically reexamine their visions and goals to assure that they are in line with their aspirations and desires.

“I want a clear vision of where I am leading the college and I want the entire ESF community to have the opportunity to shape that vision,” he said.

A survey had been given in the spring that asked faculty and staff open-ended questions about environmental issues, strengths and weaknesses of SUNY-ESF and about other top environmental universities. The strategic planning process was introduced on Sept. 17 and the first visioning group meeting was held on Sept. 24 and continued the survey’s job of collecting ideas for the future of the university.

Students are welcome to attend these sessions and there is an additional track put in place exclusively for student input as the president believes that open engagement with students is critically important to the process, Wheeler said.

“We are trying to envision the greatest issues on the horizon,” Wheeler said. ”Students will inherit that world and will be our only and best hope for solving those problems.”

Published on October 7, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Anjali: acalwis@syr.edu