To:     Campus Community                                                                Date:             January 26, 1996
 

From: Warren J. Baker                                                                    Copies:
          President
 
 

Subject: Revised University Strategic Plan

I am pleased to provide you a copy of the updated University Strategic Plan that reflects revisions to it underscoring the University's commitment to foster global awareness. These revisions stem from the work of the Task Force on Global Awareness and the review and approval of a resolution to this effect by the Academic Senate. I would like to congratulate the University Task Force on Global Awareness for proposing these revisions and the Academic Senate for recommending their adoption. As a result, the University Strategic Plan now contains strong, explicit statements about the University's commitment to foster global awareness and provides an appropriate and important enhancement of the University's strategic vision.

Cal Poly's Strategic Plan was developed as a means to guide the university over the next several years. It establishes a direction for achieving the mission of the university by setting forth the goals and priorities which will direct its future planning, resource allocation, and decision making.
 

As a predominantly undergraduate, comprehensive, polytechnic university serving California, the mission of Cal Poly is to discover, integrate, articulate, and apply knowledge. This it does by emphasizing teaching; engaging in research; participating in the various communities, local, state, national, and international, with which it pursues common interests; and where appropriate, providing students with the unique experience of direct involvement with the actual challenges of their disciplines in the United States and abroad.

Cal Poly is dedicated to complete respect for human rights and the development of the full potential of each.of its individual members. Cal Poly is committed to providing an environment where all share in the common responsibility to safeguard each other's rights, encourage a mutual concern for individual growth and appreciate the benefits of a diverse campus community.
 

The purpose of academic programs at Cal Poly is to fulfill the university mission of pursuing and transmitting skill, knowledge and truth. Cal Poly's academic programs support the university's unique comprehensive, polytechnic mission and should all be assessed periodically to ensure that they meet student and societal needs. Cal Poly should provide the necessary resources to ensure the highest quality of service to its students to facilitate their progress throughout all phases of their educational careers.

Goals:

1.1     Consistent with the provisions of Title 5, Sections 40050 and
        40051 of the California Code of Regulations, Cal Poly Strategic Plan

Cal Poly shall affirm its polytechnic orientation emphasizing undergraduate, graduate, and postbaccalaureate professional and technical programs, while providing high-quality programs in the arts, humanities, and natural, social and behavioral sciences that characterize a comprehensive, polytechnic university. These programs shall encourage students to be imaginative and assume leadership in the future.

1.1.1    Cal Poly shall ensure that a significant
         majority of Cal Poly students are enrolled
         in professional or technical programs.

1.1.2    Cal Poly administration shall continue to
         seek necessary state resources to support a
         high-quality polytechnic university.

1.3    Cal Poly may admit freshmen into majors, or colleges, or
       admit them into the university without declaring a major.

1.4    Cal Poly's general education will continue to maintain a
       technical component consistent with the university's
       character and will provide means whereby graduates:

  will have achieved the ability to think clearly, logically, and
  creatively; to   find and critically examine information; to
  communicate in English orally and in writing; and to perform
  quantitative functions;

  will have acquired appreciable knowledge about their own bodies
  and minds, about how human societies have developed and how they
  now function, about the physical world in which they live, about
  the other forms of life with which they share that world, and
  about the cultural endeavors and legacies of world civilizations;

  will have come;to an understanding and appreciation of the
  principles,methodologies, value systems, and thought processes
  employed in human inquiries.

    1.4.1    Cal Poly's general education program shall provide
             alternatives by which undergraduates can complete the
             CSU mandated requirements for general education.

    1.4.2     Cal Poly shall establish policy to facilitate
              general education transferability.

    1.4.3     Cal Poly shall ensure its graduates will have
              acquired knowledge regarding technology, its
              importance to society, and its impacts on the
              natural systems.

    1.4.4     Cal Poly shall strive to prepare its graduates
              with an ability to function in a global society.

1.6    Cal Poly shall provide a campus environemt where a strong commitment
       to teching and learning exists, and all members of the campus
       community are motivated to work together in the pursuit of
       educational goals.

1.7    Cal Poly's instructional programs will vary in size depending on such
       factors as:

• relevance to mission
• quality of program, faculty, students, and staff
• support of the university's Educational Equity and Affirmative Action plans
• projected demand by students and employers
• overlaps with programs in other institutions, including the number and size of similar programs offered elsewhere in the state
• requirements of accreditation associations
• resource requirements (variety of faculty, staff, facilities, equipment, library resources).

1.8    Cal Poly's decisions about academic programs and administrative
       organizations shall be based on the educational needs of students
       and society and the efficient, effective and appropriate use of
       resources within a program.

        1.8.1 Cal Poly shall review these decisions regularly.

1.9     Cal Poly shall participate in self-supporting programs that offer
        educational opportunities for nontraditional, nonmatriculated
        students.

1.10    Cal Poly shall ensure that the academic curriculum is appropriately
        infused with issues of gender and cultural and racial pluralism,
        including social, political, and religious similarities and
        differences among societies.

1.10.1    Cal Poly shall require for graduation, successful completion of course work that focuses on the issues of gender and cultural and racial pluralism, including social, political, and religious similarities and differences among societies.

1.10.2 Cal Poly shall ensure that the content of courses across the curriculum include relevant issues of gender and cultural and racial pluralism, including social, political, and religious similarities and differences among societies.

1.10.3 Cal Poly shall encourage academic programs abroad, both in general terms, and especially in those areas of relevance to the students' major courses of study.

1.11     Cal Poly shall encourage global awareness through international
         exchanges, studies abroad, and interactions with students from
         abroad.

The faculty shall be encouraged to be proficient and-current in their disciplines as well as their teaching skills. Cal Poly shall continue to encourage faculty to belong to appropriate professional organizations. The university will promote the involvement of faculty in national and international activities.
Cal Poly will provide the necessary support to ensure that faculty have the opportunity to achieve success in the scholarships identified below.

Faculty Professional Development

Excellence in teaching is the primary purpose of Cal Poly's faculty, and active participation in various types of scholarly activities is essential to meeting this goal. Cal Poly recognizes and endorses four types of scholarship as part of the expectations for faculty. A Carnegie Foundation report entitled Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professorate identifies these as the Scholarship of Teaching, the Scholarship of Discovery, the Scholarship of Integration, and the Scholarship of Application. Each of Cal Poly's faculty members must be active and proficient in the Scholarship of Teaching. While activity in the three remaining areas characterizes the career of a faculty member, at any given time it is likely that one area will receive greater emphasis than the others.

Cal Poly endorses the broad definitions of the four types of scholarship set forth in the Carnegie report. The following thoughts extracted from the Carnegie report summarize the mission of teaching and scholarship at Cal Poly.

The Scholarship of Teaching. As a scholarly enterprise, teaching begins with what the teacher knows. Those who teach must be well-informed and steeped in the knowledge of their fields. Teaching is also a dynamic endeavor which must bring students actively into the educational process.

Further, teaching, at its best, means not only transmitting. knowledge, but transforming and extending it as well. In the end, inspired teaching keeps scholarship alive and inspired scholarship keeps teaching alive. Without the teaching function, the continuity of knowledge will be broken and the store of human knowledge diminished.

2.1    Cal Poly shall continue to encourage its faculty members to be
       proficient and current in the subjects they teach.

2.2    Cal Poly shall continue to improve opportunities for each faculty
       member to be skilled in classroom or comparable modes of instruction
       and to have the most up-to-date means of information technology
       available.

  2.2.1    Cal Poly shall continue to place particular emphasis
           upon teaching methods that require students to take an
           active role in their own learning.

2.4    Cal Poly shall develop an on-going and effective program of
       conferences and'workshops on teaching and use of information
       technology to ensure the highest possible quality of instruction
       across the campus.

The Scholarship of Discovery comes closest to what is meant when academics speak of "research." This scholarship contributes not only to the stock of human knowledge, but also to the intellectual climate of. the University. Not just the outcomes, but the process, and especially the passion, give meaning to the effort.
The probing mind of the researcher is a vital asset to Cal Poly, the state, and the world. Scholarly investigation and/or creative activity, in all the disciplines, is at the very heart of academic life, and the pursuit of knowledge must be assiduously cultivated and defended. Disciplined, investigative efforts within the University should be strengthened, not diminished. Those engaged in the Scholarship of Discovery shall ask: What is known and what is yet to be discovered?

The Scholarship of Integration involves the serious, disciplined work of interpreting, drawing togetherf- and bringing new insight to bear on original research. This scholarship can involve doing research at the boundaries where fields of study converge, or it can involve the interpretation and fitting of one's own research--or the research of others--into larger intellectual patterns. Integration means making connections across the disciplines, placing the specialties in larger context, illuminating data in a revealing way, often educating nonspecialists, too. Those engaged in the Scholarship of Integration shall ask: What do the research findings mean and is it possible to interpret what has been discovered in ways. that provide a larger, more comprehensive understanding?

The Scholarship of Application involves using knowledge to solve problems. This scholarship is a dynamic process where new research discoveries are applied and where the applications themselves give rise to new intellectual understandings. This scholarly activity, which both applies and contributes to human knowledge, is particularly needed in a world in which huge, almost intractable problems call for the skills and insights of university faculties. Those engaged in the Scholarship of Application shall ask: How can knowledge be responsibly applied to consequential problems, and how can social, economic, and other problems define an agenda for scholarly investigation?

2.5    Consistent with its expectations, Cal Poly shall continue to improve
       its support for the Scholarships of Discovery, Integration, and
       Application. Such support shall include but not be limited to
       assigned time, - facilities, equipment, travel, and research
       assistance.

2.6    Cal Poly shall recognize and support professional activities to the
       disciplines (such as holding office, editing journals, reviewing
       books and participating in professional meetings) and service to the
       university and larger community (such as serving on committees and
       activity in community groups and activities).

Excellence in support of students and faculty is the primary goal of Cal Poly's staff, and participation in activities that lead to professional growth and achievement is essential to meeting this goal. Professional growth and achievement includes continuing education related to a staff member's current position as well as education and training for future careers. Professional growth and achievement may entail different activities for different staff members and may include opportunities to increase their awareness of, and participation in, projects locally, nationally, and internationally.

In a university, it is appropriate for all members of the campus community to have the opportunity to seek further learning.

3.1    Cal Poly's staff members shall have the opportunity to pursue
       additional education and training whether in pursuit of a degree,
       certification, or personal lifelong learning.

Staff members must have available to them the tools necessary for professional growth and achievement. This shall include the opportunity to enhance skills in their current fields, to be exposed to recent developments in technology and information, and to acquire additional education.

An important part of professional growth and achievement, especially on a campus as relatively isolated as Cal Poly, is participation in professional organizations and opportunities to attend professional conferences.

3.2    Cal Poly's staff shall be encouraged to be proficient and current
       in their professions in order to provide the highest quality
       support to students, faculty, and the university at large. In
       support of this, Cal Poly shall continue to improve and update
       the work environment.

3.3    Cal Poly's staff shall be encouraged to belong to appropriate local,
       state, and national professional organizations.

3.4    Staff professional growth and achievement shall be recognized by
       the university.

3.5    Cal Poly shall institute revised performance evaluation standards
       that set fair and high standards for performance of staff members.
       These performance standards shall take into consideration the stated
       expectations for professional growth and achievement and recognize
       staff members who endeavor to meet those expectations.

3.6    Consistent with its expectations, Cal Poly shall encourage staff
       participation in the Scholarships of Discovery, Integration, and
       Application. Such staff support should include, but not be limited
       to, active involvement in domestic and/or international projects and
       research.
 

The experience of students directly relates to their satisfaction and the prospect that they will persist with their.academic programs to graduation. Student satisfaction at Cal Poly is enhanced by the ambiance of a small university setting, low student-faculty ratios, and the continuing commitment to provide a motivated, technologically current as well as globally-based learning environment. The university must continue to support and promote student satisfaction through early affiliation with specific advising programs, respect for the rights of the individual, access to student services, and opportunities to participate in activities that develop the whole person.

4.1    Cal Poly's administrative, academic, and student services programs
       shall promote student retention, success, and graduation in a
       timely manner.

4.2    Cal Poly's administrative processes affecting students shall be
       efficient, effective, and oriented toward service.

4.3    Cal Poly shall provide services, such as library and information
       services, computing, and audio-visual services, that improve the
       learning environment.

4.4    Cal Poly shall administer regularly a systematic survey of student
       attitudes toward academic, administrative, and support services.

            4.4.1     Cal Poly shall establish and implement a thorough
                 approach to investigating the reasons why students
                 choose to discontinue study at Cal Poly.

4.5    Cal Poly shall provide a campus environment where the rights of
       each member of the university community are respected.

            4.5.1    The Cal Poly community shall strive to be free of all
                forms of harassment.

       4.5.2    Campus policies for handling harassment complaints will
                comply with state and federal law.

4.6    Cal Poly shall provide an environment in which social, co-curricular,
       and multi-cultural programs motivate students, faculty, and staff to
       work, participate, and socialize together.

       4.6.1     Cal Poly shall maintain programs to recognize and
                 integrate the social and educational interests of
                 international students.
 

Diversity enhances the quality of life and education for all members of the Cal Poly community and enriches the social and professional climate both on and off campus. The concept of diversity assumes recognition and respect for differences in age, country of origin, creed, economic background, ethnicity, gender,physical ability, race, and sexual orientation. The development and maintenance of an integrated multicultural campus is the responsibility of all members of the Cal Poly community. Achieving educational equity within a diverse student body will require programs in outreach, recruitment, retention, career planning, and the promotion of timely graduation with special emphasis on reflecting the diversity among CSU eligible students within the state. Cal Poly commits to meeting the proportion of eligible underrepresented individuals by job category in appropriate recruiting areas. To achieve a truly integrated multicultural campus, members of the faculty, staff, and student body must participate in academic and cultural programs that promote the sensitivity, understanding, and appreciation necessary for the successful attainment of this ideal.

5.1    All members of the Cal Poly community shall work cooperatively
       to achieve an integrated multicultural, multi-racial, and
       multinational campus in which the educational and professional
       opportunities for the, student body, faculty, and staff are enhanced.

5.2    The composition of the Cal Poly community shall reasonably reflect
       the cultural diversity of those Californians qualified for enrollment
       or employment at Cal Poly.

  5.2.1    Cal Poly shall initiate or maintain programs to
           increase the number of qualified student applicants,
           attract and retain students of high caliber, and
           increase the diversity of the student population in
           accordance with the campus enrollment management plan.

  5.2.2.   Cal Poly shall establish effective outreach programs to
           increase the number of underrepresented students,
           faculty,and staff members and participate to the
           fullest extent possible in CSU programs for increasing
           faculty, staff, and student diversity. In addition, Cal
           Poly will have programs that promote the personal and
           professional success of underrepresented members of the
           university community.

5.4    Cal Poly shall value diversity and promote mutual respect and
       interaction among all individuals. Cal Poly shall identify and
       support effective programs for educating Cal Poly faculty and
       staff members, students, and off-campus local constituencies in
       cultural diversity and for encouraging an integrated, diverse
       community within the university.

5.5    Cal Poly shall create academic and cultural programs to demonstrate
       to the campus and the community the contributions of culturally
       diverse groups.

5.6    Cal Poly shall continue to support academic and cultural programs
       to assist members of the campus community in developing global
       competencies.

5.7    Cal Poly shall initiate, maintain, and support programs to increase
       the participation of students, faculty, and staff in international
       endeavors.
 

Effective university governance depends on a shared sense of responsibility and commitment to the university's educational mission. Collegiality encourages the participation of all constituencies in the decision-making process and creates a work environment that builds cooperation, mutual respect and high morale, and helps achieve the university's goals.

6.1    Cal Poly shall clearly identify, evaluate, and communicate its
       governance structure, including its agents and their roles and
       responsibilities, and adopt a structure that includes all
       constituencies.

  6.1.1    Cal Poly's governance structure shall implement shared
           decision making. This involves fostering mutual respect
           and a set of values that regards the members of the
           various university constituencies as essential for the
           success of the academic enterprise.

6.3    Cal Poly shall evaluate and enhance its roles, relationships, and
       responsibilities with the CSU Board of Trustees and with the
       Chancellor's Office.

6.4    Cal Poly shall determine the role of other authoritative structures
       such as the California Postsecondary Education Commission, employee
       organizations, the governor's office, and the state legislature in
       its operations, and its responsibility to those structures.
 

Constant improvement in quality is essential to Cal Poly's success in achieving its goals. To accomplish this, facilities frequently need to be altered or added. However, qualitative increases cannot be sustained without money, material, and people to nourish them, and growth beyond adequate resources leads to a deterioration of quality. The university must continually balance size and resources and must develop the additional resources that excellence requires.

7.1     Cal Poly shall continue its commitment to planned changes in
        institutional size.

        7.1.1    Cal Poly shall not undertake any growth without
                 adequate facilities,and supporting resources.

        7.1.2    Campus ambiance shall be improved by ensuring that
                 new facilities are consistent with a master plan for the
                 physical improvement of the campus.

7.2    Cal Poly shall explore alternative educational models and
       technologies to enhance the quality and quantity of the services
       it provides to its students and other constituencies, including
       business and industry.

       7.2.1    Cal Poly shall consider alternatives to the university's
                current quarter system.

       7.2.2    Cal Poly shall explore new technologies and new off-campus
                study programs that offer the potential to increase the
                quality and quantity of the education and services it
                provides.

7.3    Cal Poly's planning for institutional size shall reinforce the
       campus' goals for quality and diversity.

            7.3.1    Cal Poly shall determine and maintain a beneficial balance
                in the mix of international students enrolled.

7.4    Cal Poly shall continue to develop and expand auxiliary services
       such as the Cal Poly Foundation enterprises to enhance the quality
       and quantity of support services and programs delivered to the campus
       community.

7.5    Cal Poly shall consult with the City and County of San Luis Obispo
       and participate in public forums in planning for and mitigating the
       impact of changes in institutional size.

7.6    Cal Poly shall actively seek all appropriate sources of financial and
       material support, expanding its efforts to take advantage of untapped
       existing opportunities and to create new ones.

7.7    Cal Poly shall consider its human resources as part of any
       evaluation of resources--especially when considering the adequacy
       of resources to support increases in enrollment.

7.8    Cal Poly's physical environment and services shall continually be
       improved by creative planning that emphasizes a comprehensive,
       humanistic environmental awareness.
 

Cal Poly has a multitude of relationships with many and varied groups. Its image is similarly multifaceted, depending on the quality of each relationship. While Cal Poly's reputation is enviable, it is neither perfect nor permanent. Active, open, and honest relations are the foundation of a positive image and build understanding, lasting good will, and support for the university's programs and goals. Cal Poly should continue to build and maintain relations and an image that reflect the highest integrity and help the university achieve its goals.
 

8.1    Cal Poly shall continue to develop a comprehensive program of active
       relations with the university's diverse constituencies and audiences
       to ensure effective, efficient, positive and mutually satisfying
       relationships, including those relationships within the local,
       national, and international communities.

        8.1.1    Cal Poly shall treat its personnel as full partners in the
                 university's endeavors, fully recognizing the value and
                 importance of both faculty and staff, and shall be guided
                 by a commitment to fostering a community spirit on the
                 campus.

        8.1.2    Cal Poly shall ensure the coordination of its various
                 relations programs.

        8.1.3    Cal Poly shall ensure that all pertinent information about
                 the university is effectively communicated to the
                 university community, the general public, and to
                 appropriate news media.

        8.1.4    Cal Poly shall be a good neighbor and enhance the
                 university's positive impact by emphasizing open
                 communication with the city and county and addressing
                 concerns of the local community.

        8.1.5    Cal Poly shall strive to increase parent and alumni
                 participation in campus life and activities in order
                 to build a stronger base of support as well as pride
                 and satisfaction among both current and former students.

        8.1.6    Cal Poly shall consider business, industry, and private
                 donors to be partners with the university, and shall
                 strive to develop mutually satisfying relationships and
                 a climate that will maintain and increase the level of
                 support.

        8.1.7    Cal Poly shall continue to evaluate and address changes
                 in its relationship with the state government and other
                 levels of government as appropriate.

        8.1.8    Cal Poly shall foster a spirit that embraces and
                 celebrates the cultural diversity of all peoples and
                 especially of its campus constituents.

8.2     Cal Poly shall strive to enhance the university's image among all
        of its audiences and constituent groups, local, national, and
        international.

        8.2.1    Cal Poly shall seek a clear understanding of the
                 university's different audiences and the different
                 attitudes and images they have regarding the university.

        8.2.2    Cal Poly shall accurately reflect in its communications
                 the university's mission and goals, a vision of its
                 future, the quality of its human resources and programs,
                 the realities of campus life, and a concern for the
                 university's long-standing reputation built on honesty
                 and integrity.

8.3    Cal Poly shall publicize its strategic planning effort and its
strategic goals immediately upon adoption of the Strategic Plan.