Dear Colleagues,
Welcome back!
I hope you all enjoyed our fantastic – albeit dry – summer. I think many of us appreciated this week’s much-needed rain – it certainly hasn’t dampened the spirits of our eager students!
Before fall semester really takes off, I want to provide you with quick update on the status of our college’s continued efforts around strategic planning.
As you may recall from my previous letter on May 22, Voiland College successfully completed the drafting of its 2023-2028 Strategic Plan last semester, thanks to the dedicated contributions of our faculty, staff, and students. This milestone represents a significant achievement and sets the stage for our future success.
Our strategic planning work continues under the leadership of associate deans Krishnamoorthy Sivakumar, Haluk Beyenal, and Shelley Pressley, alongside Director of Facility Operations & Safety Dar Neunherz, Director of Development Bridget Pilcher, and Director of Administrative Services Denise Faerber. Together, they recently established four cross-disciplinary implementation teams that will play a crucial role in shaping our path forward.
These teams are tasked with crafting a comprehensive “road map” that will guide us towards achieving our goals in four critical areas identified in our strategic plan: Student Success and Belonging; Research, Creativity, and Engagement; Employee Development, Wellness, and Culture; and Infrastructure.
Each team has started cataloging the current strategies, tactics, and metrics within the college that contribute to our strategic planning goals. This exercise will help establish a clear baseline starting point and enable effective monitoring of our progress. Subsequently, the teams will collaborate to identify and recommend new strategies and tactics essential for successfully reaching our goals and objectives.
Throughout the upcoming academic year, each team will provide regular progress reports on these efforts, and we will develop opportunities for each of you to provide input on their work. Your feedback is vital to ensure that our strategic plan reflects the collective wisdom and values of our entire Voiland College community.
If you are interested in being more actively involved in this crucial endeavor, I encourage you to approach your supervisor or one of the task force leads to explore opportunities for participation.
I want to say a big thank you to everyone on our Task Force Implementation Teams for their hard work and dedication to this important effort. Together, we are helping shape the future of our college, and I am excited to see what that future brings!Lastly, for those of you on our Pullman campus, I encourage you to attend The Inside Scoop (formerly Ice Cream Social) this Thursday, August 24, from 2-4 pm. The event is a great way to start the new academic year with our students as well as meet old and new friends.
I hope to see you there!
Mary Rezac
Dean, Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture
Washington State University
Email: mary.rezac@wsu.edu
Phone: 509-335-5593