Plattsburgh Next Implementation

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.

Several campus priorities result from the goals outlined in the pillar. Key mileposts here include:

• Stabilize student enrollment at 4,800 by fall 2025.
• Revise the current budget model to align with strategic priorities.
• Develop additional revenue generation initiatives.

Progress on this pillar includes:

• Increased undergraduate and graduate marketing.
• Special receptions and events for prospective students.
• New online degree programs.
• Targeted out-of-state recruitment and financial incentives.
• Added peer mentors and retention tools.

LINK TO CURRENT ACTION ITEMS AND PROGRESS (AS OF AUGUST 2023)

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.

Several campus priorities result from the goals outlined in the pillar. Key mileposts here include:

• Strengthen student support in all areas that impact student life.
• Assess academic portfolio for educational excellence, career value, global context and responsiveness to societal needs.

Progress on this pillar includes:

• Enhancements to first-year courses and experience.
• Added online accessibility training.
• New training for campus mental health providers.
• Created new space in Angell College Center.
• More clubs and student organizations.

LINK TO CURRENT ACTION ITEMS AND PROGRESS (AS OF AUGUST 2023)

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.

Several campus priorities result from the goals outlined in the pillar. Key mileposts here include:

• Move forward with goals specified in the 2021-2016 Inclusive Excellence Strategic Plan.
• Increase student-facing programming led by DEI and the Center for Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation.
• Revise focus and programming of the Institute for Ethics in Public Life to increase involvement and connections to social justice and environmental issues.

Progress on this pillar includes:

• Developed Equity Advocate Program in hiring.
• Hired multicultural student success coach.
• Created targeted DEI campus newsletter.
• Held gathering session for BIPOC faculty.
• Growing campus community policing committee.

LINK TO CURRENT ACTION ITEMS AND PROGRESS (AS OF AUGUST 2023)

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.

Several campus priorities result from the goals outlined in the pillar. Key mileposts here include:

• Enhance the opportunity of all students, faculty and staff to explore and enjoy our North Country location.
• Foreground environmental sustainability as critical to our identity through curricular offerings and campus operations.
• Increase the strength of our relationships with the larger Plattsburgh community.

Progress on this pillar includes:

• Increasing local internships.
• Adding more area trips, including ski and winter sports opportunities.
• Boosted funds available for applied learning grants.
• Developing more intentional community and campus connections.
• Engaged in shared training with local law enforcement.

LINK TO CURRENT ACTION ITEMS AND PROGRESS (AS OF AUGUST 2023)

The regular review process prescribed by Middle States provides campuses an opportunity for self-assessment, to reflect on its values, mission and vision, and to review a range of other areas in an inclusive and substantive manner.

The university is advancing on recommendations and collegial advise provided by the peer-review team, as well as self-identified opportunities for improvement that emerged from the campus' work.

We have added to campus priorities from the collaborative Middle States process. Key mileposts here include:

• Advance on recommendations to align institutional and unit-level plan with mission and assessment.
• Follow collegial advice to enhance educational effectiveness, meet changing student needs and link budget and assessment.
• Develop self-identified opportunities for improvement, including exit interviews, administrative evaluations and increased employee support.

Progress on this pillar includes:

• Maintaining details of recommendations, advice and opportunites.
• Added campus communications on budget, enrollment and Plattsburgh Next.
• Addressing evolving student needs.
• Creating a formal system of evaluation of higher administrative positions.
• Working to ensure Cardinal Core has sufficient course offerings.

LINK TO CURRENT ACTION ITEMS AND PROGRESS (AS OF AUGUST 2023)

An accountability partners group was developed in fall 2022 and met over the course of the semester and with the President’s Cabinet to review progress, share ideas and bring questions to our collective work. 

The group was expanded for the spring 2023 semester and will continue to review and assess. The group may also assist in identifying new priorities as progress is made on the initial action items and they function as valued partners across campus who can share current information on our progress to goals with colleagues.

End of year divisional reports and the president’s work with cabinet members will also be used to assess how well planning priorities have been achieved. This can inform improvements to existing planning initiatives and establish new priorities to yield the highest return on investment in the future.

This process is being integrated into campus standard operating procedures to support constant progress towards achievement of the articulated goals and realization of Plattsburgh Next.

“Plattsburgh Next”  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.