Strategic Planning Process

The College of Education’s strategic planning process began in Spring 2022 after NC State released Wolfpack 2030: Powering the Extraordinary. Units across the college completed Strategic Self-assessments to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to their work and the university’s strategic goals. The Strategic Self-assessments were consolidated into a document that the Deans’ Cabinet presented and shared during an All-College Meeting in April 2022. At that time, in small groups, faculty and staff reviewed the self-assessments generated within college units and identified the top five priority strengths and top five priority opportunities for each university strategic goal. Following the meeting, all faculty and staff had the chance to provide additional comments and feedback on the top five strengths and opportunities identified. 

The College of Education hired Emergent Method, a consultant, to assist the college with its next phase of the strategic planning process. The consultant was given the materials related to the Strategic Self-Assessments and held a kickoff meeting with the College of Education’s Leadership Team to finalize the scope of their work and outline the process.  

In Summer 2022, the college formed a Strategic Planning Steering Committee made up of representatives from across the College of Education. This group meets with Emergent Method on a biweekly basis to review progress to date and provide feedback.

Throughout Fall 2022, Emergent Method completed an in-depth desk research review of documents provided by the College of Education, including, but not limited to: 

• Detailed organization charts for college faculty and staff 
• Personnel allocation across relevant departments and offices, including recent staff attrition and workforce succession planning data 
• Annual budgets (last three fiscal years, if available) 
• Recent research-related data for the college, including grants submitted, grants funded, grants not funded, and or relevant research-related datapoints 
• Recent partnership data for the college, including list of previous and current partnerships 
• Recent trends in student enrollment and relevant demographic data 
• Example research studies or reports produced by college research centers and/or faculty 
• Current college and department or program-specific curricula 
• Peer or aspirant universities and/or colleges to further investigate via benchmarking research 
• Recent staff and faculty surveys and any other survey reports such as those reflecting the results of climate surveys, graduating senior surveys, alumni surveys, and employee engagement surveys 
• The instrument and feedback gathered through the self-assessment

Throughout Fall 2022, Emergent Method conducted surveys and interviews with faculty, staff, students and external stakeholders to receive direct feedback.

In Winter 2023, Emergent Method held strategic planning retreat with the college’s  Strategic Planning Steering Committee and members of the College of Education’s Leadership Team. Following the strategic planning retreat, Emergent Method and members of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee provided an update and engaged all faculty and staff during the College of Education All-College Meeting on Jan. 27, 2023. Afterward, Emergent Method developed a draft strategic plan for the college that aligned with the Wolfpack 2030 strategic plan and presented a cohesive framework with corresponding priorities, goals, strategies, resource needs, and proposed metrics. Various drafts were shared with the Strategic Planning Steering Committee, the broader college community, and other key stakeholders over the course of several plans, and Emergent Method incorporated feedback and made revisions at each point. A final draft was circulated to the college community in early Fall 2023 for final feedback, with the plan formally introduced at the College of Education’s All-College Meeting on Sept. 22, 2023. The college began introducing its Strategic Plan: 2023-2030 to the broader community in October 2023.

Units, departments, and centers/institutes will develop their own tailored action plans that align with and contribute to the college’s Strategic Plan: 2023-2030 in Fall 2023. Additionally, the college will proactively measure and monitor progress as it commits to being a forward-looking college that continues to improve and do better as it knows better.