Mission, Vision & Plattsburgh Next

SUNY Plattsburgh’s strategic focus was guided for much of the past decade by its 2013–2018 Campus Plan. Along with revised mission and value statements, this earlier campus plan identified six strategic priorities for the college. Over the life of the plan, progress was made on many of the goals and objectives within these strategic priorities.

Drawn from the campus plan, a set of priorities continued to guide the college strategically as it transitioned from its long serving president (2004–2019) to the appointment in January 2020 of the college’s 11th president, Dr. Alexander Enyedi.

The priorities — support for the student experience, increasing financial sustainability, and advancing institutional diversity, equity and inclusion — have again served to inform this most recent stage of strategic planning..

With the support of President Alexander Enyedi, the Plattsburgh Next Steering Committee conducted 47 focus groups in spring 2021 involving students, faculty, employees and leadership from all campus divisions. External community leaders and alumni were also involved to fully engage participants in the information gathering stage of our planning process.

Additionally, an online survey was distributed to allow individuals who were unable to attend a focus group or wished to share more information to participate in this process. We received responses from 177 people. Steering committee members used the SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, Results) model to acquire information and feedback with the larger goal of gathering a broad collection of ideas and suggestions for incorporation in our Plattsburgh Next plan.

Following the collection of all the submitted information, a sub-group of the larger steering committee was formed to review and identify repetitive themes and comments from collected information. This group was charged to independently assess the collective information and also met to ensure that subgroup members were in general agreement about the points we identified as significant.

The recruitment and retention of SUNY Plattsburgh students (at both the Main Campus and Queensbury) is our top priority. We will collectively focus our administrative leadership and divisional resources on strategies to steadily grow and then stabilize SUNY Plattsburgh’s incoming student classes, both undergraduate and graduate.

Growing and stabilizing the number of students we serve will have far-reaching benefits — from expanding the number of Cardinals who serve and lead to ensuring the financial resources we have in place to carry out our fundamental purpose of educating the next generation.

Resulting Priorities

1. Stabilize student enrollment at 4800 students by Fall 2025.
   1. Increase year 1 to year 2 student retention rate from 72% to 82% by identifying/eliminating barriers to student success and enhancing student support services (academic tutoring, social and emotional support).
   2. Investigate transfer student retention rates to identify whether or not there are particular cohorts of students who need additional intervention to increase their retention rates and successful progress to graduation.
   3. Increase 4-year graduation rate from 40% to 55%.
   4. Ensure that all faculty and staff have the opportunity to build on their areas of expertise in a manner that increases our students’ academic and collegiate experience. Allocate funding for improved professional development.
   5. Immediately implement the recommended strategies for increased enrollment detailed in the finalized ESS Strategic Enrollment Management Plan, including the development and/or revision of new/current undergraduate and graduate academic programs; increased targeted recruitment of out-of-state students from Northern N.J., Southern Conn., Western Mass., Vermont, and North Central Fla.;
      increased recruitment of North Country students for EOP matriculation; and other strategies.
   6. Continue to increase donor funded scholarship support annually. Achieve $2 million in Plattsburgh College Foundation scholarship support by 2025.
   7. Design and implement an updated Institutional Gift Aid plan that promotes wider access yet maintains our enrollment needs.
2. Revise the current budget model so that it aligns with our strategic priorities (enrollment, student success, inclusion, and our sense of place), focuses on institutional investment, is informed by a program review of all administrative and academic units on our campus, and is supported by data-informed decision-making.
3. Develop additional resource generation initiatives.
   1. Develop and implement a summer programming plan that will provide new revenue for the college.

A high level of commitment to student success is necessary throughout all facets of the college. We must consistently develop and provide excellent academic programs.

Our faculty are teachers, scholars, and researchers who are highly responsive to the changing needs of our students. SUNY Plattsburgh must be known widely as a place with an outstanding academic experience and exceptional support for all students as they strive to achieve their educational and career goals.

Resulting Priorities

1. Strengthen student support in all areas that impact student life, student engagement, and student retention at SUNY Plattsburgh, including: Academic Advising, Athletics, Campus Housing and Community Living, Campus Recreation, Career Development Center, Feinberg Library, the Global Education Office (GEO), Student Accessibility Services, the Student Learning Center, the Student Health and Counseling Center, and Student Support Services.
   1. Take steps to enhance the sense of belonging of SUNY Plattsburgh students.
   2. Create a cross-divisional Student Success Consortium of AA and ESS staff to centralize college efforts around the efficacy of all student support services that impact student retention (holistic approach).
   3. Invest in increased mental health services. Ensure there is campus-wide understanding of how we can better support student mental health needs.
   4. Ensure that SUNY Plattsburgh’s accessibility services are thorough and effective in compliance with the ADA.
2. We will assess our academic portfolio for educational excellence, career value for our graduates, currency within a 21st century global context, and responsiveness to future societal needs.
   1. Increase embedded skills-oriented content in extant programs and building on skills introduced in the Cardinal Core Curriculum, e.g., data analytics, collaborative teamwork, and grant writing.
   2. Identify academic programs which have not evidenced a sustainable number of student majors across a 10 year period and determine how best to place these disciplines within the college’s course offerings.
   3. Using shared governance, conduct a scan of higher education program offerings to propose and successfully create two new academic programs in the next 3 years, with particular focus on graduate study at SUNY Plattsburgh.
   4. Consider further alignments between Cardinal Core Curriculum and our four foundational pillars.

SUNY Plattsburgh must continue to realize a shared vision of becoming an inclusive academy — a community of diverse students, faculty, and staff, where equity and inclusion are a constant focus and the pursuit of social justice is identified as a defining community value.

Resulting Priorities

1. Move forward with strategic goals specified in the finalized 2021–2026 Inclusive Excellence Strategic Plan towards becoming a truly inclusive academy with four key areas of focus: Education, Recruitment and Retention, Outreach, and Culture and Policies.
   1. Accomplish significant reduction in the equity gaps in all courses and majors where they exist.
   2. Accomplish significant reductions in the equity gaps in time to degree.
   3. Continue to support and increase involvement in the equity advocate program and employee resource groups to support BIPOC hiring and retention.
   4. Increase student awareness of their civic responsibilities and their potential to address social injustice in our world.
2. Increase student-facing programming led by DEI and the Center for Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation.
3. Revise focus and programming of the Institute for Ethics in Public Life to increase student involvement and connections to social justice and current environmental issues.

As a college of higher education, SUNY Plattsburgh is privileged to host students from all over New York state, from neighboring states, and from many different countries.

SUNY Plattsburgh also strives to distinguish itself as a preeminent public higher education institution of the North Country where our beautiful Adirondack, Lake Champlain, and Queensbury locations are understood to be central to our identity.

We will celebrate, explore, and preserve our North Country location and identity with environmentally sustainable practices and policies that serve the social, cultural, and economic health of our campus and the region.

Resulting Priorities

1. Enhance the opportunity of all students, faculty, and staff to explore and enjoy our North Country location.
   1. Develop North Country programming within student groups and Greek Life.
   2. Develop North Country programming across Community Living.
2. Foreground environmental sustainability as critical to SUNY Plattsburgh’s identity through curricular offerings and campus functioning.
   1. Conduct an environmental scan of current sustainability and resource utilization practices with the goal to establish a “Green Campus” initiative that is embedded in the curriculum.
   2. Conduct an academic scan of curricular offerings to promote and develop additional class offerings of environmental sustainability where appropriate.
   3. Conduct an Energy Audit of our campus facilities through participation in a New York State Energy Master Plan. The energy master plan will include an energy audit of our facilities and be used to develop a long range plan to reduce our footprint and reach NY State energy goals for 2025 and 2030.
   4. Become active institutional members of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).
3. Increase the strength of our relationships to the larger Plattsburgh community.
   1. Enhance collaboration between faculty/staff/student expertise and North Country environmental, business and civic planning.
   2. Increase student internships, job shadowing, and field experience opportunities across all academic programs, but across nonprofessional programs, in particular.
   3. Strengthen connections and student participation in area K–12 schools.

The SUNY Plattsburgh campus through the focus groups, conversations and investigations identified a clear set of commonly agreed upon positive characteristics, or strengths, of this institution:

• Location/North Country/Adirondacks
• Care and support of students
• Cost/affordability
• Excellence of faculty, teaching, and academic programs
• Size, intimacy of campus and ability to foster personal relationships
• Community (external, engagement, involvement)
• Diversity of our student population (race, ethnicity, diversity of background, experiences, socioeconomics, and varying levels of student opportunity/preparation history prior to coming to Plattsburgh)
• Alumni

Data collected on opportunities and aspirations included the following:

• Increased community engagement including partnerships
• Improved student support to strengthen recruitment, retention, and overall student accomplishment/success. Systematically increase high impact practices
• Increased tuition revenue/resources (additional utilization of faculty strengths, summer programs, increased recruitment (domestic and international)
• Improve marketing with strengthened branding and improved reputation (**increased collaboration with faculty on these efforts was specified) cohesive approach for decision making around future development of online programs and ability to target and support non-traditional student population
• Expanded graduate program development (must increase graduate fellowships) Beautify campus and improve facilities (expand areas to gather, both inside and outside). Better signage.
• Take more advantage of our location
• Increase equity and inclusion efforts
• Holistic approach in caring for and supporting students
• Making college *fun*
• Build a just, inclusive, diverse community
• Increase the pride in “us” — our campus and our location
• Develop new and exciting opportunities for students
• Innovate
• Provide adequate funding to realize excellence throughout our campus
• Processing the strengths, opportunities and aspirations led next to conclusions and results that flowed into the development of the five pillars for action

Accountability Partners will be identified across campus based on their commitment to the plan’s four areas of strategic focus (Enrollment, Student Success, Inclusion, and Location). This team will meet regularly with the President’s Cabinet for updates on the institution’s progress, and will also have the opportunity to share ideas or questions they bring to our collective work. They may also assist cabinet in identifying new priorities as progress is made on the initial action items targeted for our focus. As individuals, they will function as valued partners across our campus who can share current information on our progress to goals with colleagues. Additionally, we will also establish an online idea generation mechanism so that all members of our campus community can submit ideas that will help to further realize Plattsburgh Next.

End of year divisional reports and the president’s work with cabinet members will be used to assess how well planning priorities have been achieved. They will also be used to recommend improvements to existing planning initiatives and establish new priorities to yield the highest return on investment in the future. This process will be integrated into campus standard operating procedures to support constant progress towards achievement of the articulated goals and realization of Plattsburgh Next.

“Plattsburgh Next” is a plan that was forged in a moment of great challenge. We were less than a year into the COVID pandemic when we began this initiative with many conversations, asking the Plattsburgh community to envision the future of our college. Institutions of higher education have been facing enrollment challenges for more than a decade. This is especially true for colleges in the Northeast. For SUNY Plattsburgh to thrive, we must work together to stabilize our enrollments and, ideally, achieve steady enrollment growth, where possible, and maximize in every way our retention of our enrolled students.

“Plattsburgh Next” is our commitment to the expectation that, despite external challenges, we will recruit, retain, and graduate successful students far into the future. COVID and rapidly changing demographic trends are just part of other crises that face our country and the world. We must create an institution not only where difference is valued, but also where all of our students feel welcomed, valued, and fully supported in pursuit of their educational goals.

(*as established in Spring 2021; some of the original members are no longer part of our campus community)

Co-Chairs
Dr. Anne Herzog, Provost
Dr. Gary Kroll, Faculty Senate Chair

Administration & Finance
Mike Simpson, Sponsored Research
Jamie McClatchie, Maintenance & Operations

CSEA
Cherice Granger, Office of the President

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Vacant

Enrollment & Student Success
Troy Joseph, Admissions
Taylor Manor, Admissions
Jim Sherman, Campus Housing & Community Living

Institutional Advancement
Paul Leduc, Alumni Relations
Catherine Keleher, Marketing

Library & Information Technology Services
Dr. Joshua Beatty, Library
Amos Olasoji, Computing Systems

Middle States Executive Committee
Dr. Sara Phillips, Institutional Effectiveness

Queensbury Branch Campus
Michelle Howland, Assistant to the Dean

School of Arts & Sciences
Dr. Kimberly Coleman, Earth & Environmental Science
Dr. Monica Ciobanu, Criminal Justice

School of Education, Health & Human Services
Dr. Ariel Goodman Williams, Counselor Education Program
Dr. Michelle Bonati, Teacher Education

School of Business & Economics
Dr. Lise Heroux, Marketing & Entrepreneurship
Dr. Kwangseek Choe, Supply Chain Management & International Business

Students
Michael Hamilton
Nyasia Harper
Ellen Miller
Hadar Pepperstone
Lillian Triana-Strautmanis

UUP
Kim Hartshorn, UUP President

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