Northcentral University

NCU Strategic Planning co–chairs Raymond Rodriguez, EdD, Vice President of Planning and Institutional Effectiveness, and Laurie Shanderson, PhD, Dean of School of Health Sciences, kicked off the 2020 strategic planning process the first week of November in San Diego with a workshop facilitated by the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP). The purpose of the workshop was to set the stage to assess NCU's institutional resources and culture to create a strategic plan aligned with our mission and vision that is consistent with our values built within an open and transparent process. The first phase of the plan includes: 1. Onboarding the strategic planning team 2. Assessing institutional context 3. Analyze stakeholders 4. Design planning process 5. Create communication plan 6. Analyze the environment The Steering Committee and the thematic groups are populated by volunteers from across the institution. They will engage the larger community to define and set goals, and develop strategies to advance NCU as it relates to the theme. After the holidays, the Steering Committee will deploy a data collection instrument so that each member of the NCU community may contribute to the process and follow up with a series of open forums so that every voice may be heard. The strategic plan will be presented at the 2020 Faculty Symposium in Phoenix, AZ. For questions please email: StrategicPlanning@ncu.edu. During November's Unscripted call, Dr. John LaNear provided an update on our progress in the WSCUC Reaffirmation of Accreditation process. Dr. LaNear informed the NCU community we were working through the iterative process of reviewing and refining our institutional report. The editing process is critical to our suc- cess because our aim is to concisely, yet fully, tell our regional accrediting body of the many achievements, developments, and enhancements the NCU community has accomplished since 2015 and that comprises the narrative of NCU. So, you may wonder, what is on the horizon for the NCU Community in the Reaffirmation of Accreditation process, once the narrative is submitted to WSCUC? That is a great question…after the institutional report and corresponding evidence is submitted, NCU will move into the second half of WSCUC's Institutional Review Process. The second half includes the "Offsite Review," which is a conference call with our WSCUC Site Visit Team and NCU's President, Provost, and CFO. The Offsite Review allows our WSCUC Site Visit Team the opportunity to ask for points of clarification or additional detail about the narrative contained in our institutional report. Ultimately, this call ensures the WSCUC Site Visit Team fully understands NCU and the NCU story. Our Offsite Visit is scheduled for March of 2020, and we will provide an update after the visit concludes. Click on the audio link to hear more accreditation updates from Dr. Tamra Cooper, the School of Business' Interim Dean. W O R K I N G T H E M E S Strategic Planning Committee Laurie Shanderson, Dean, School of Health Science & Ray Rodriguez, VP, Planning & Institutional Effectiveness Accreditation Update: What's on the horizon… Jessica Hensley, Director of Accreditation PILLARS Research Culture Commitment to Sustainability Student Success Diversification of Learning Commitment to Communities FOUNDATIONS Innovative Tools Committed Faculty & Staff Institutional Support Audio

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