Strategic Planning Process

The Division of Student Affairs (DSA) recently enhanced their strategic and operational (tactical) planning processes to ensure a more streamlined and cohesive approach among all division departments.  The DSA has long adhered to a continual improvement process that ensured all services and programs were evaluating their operations, the extent to which they served students, and planning for the improvement of each unit.  However, the process they followed in creating their Strategic Plan for the DSA that supports both the UTB/TSC Strategic Plan 2008-2012 and the UT System Strategic Plan 2006-2015 better aligned each DSA Unit with both Institutional Goals and Strategic Directions as well as UT System Goals, outcome targets and performance measures. 

The DSA held a strategic planning workshop that presented all institutional goals and strategic directions to all DSA department heads.  Each department reviewed their own annual goals and objectives and determined which Institutional Goal and Strategic Direction their efforts and activities best supported.  There were a wide variety of departmental goals yielding activities and work being conducted that supported all five Institutional Goals and each of the supporting strategic directions.  The divisional goals were also reviewed, with the entire group determining which DSA goals also best supported the institutional goals and strategic directions.  The group then categorized themes and activities common to several DSA areas to create a more general objective that encompassed the work at the division level (i.e., the development of partnerships that provide scholarship support for Athletics, Chess Team Members, Housing Students, Collegian staff).  Those goals and performance measures identified from the UT System Strategic Plan 2006-2015 that were relevant to the work of the DSA were included in the plan as either new independent activities or objectives, or in many cases, as outcomes measures that the UT System is striving to achieve.  Each of the activities and goals presented to support each strategic direction were further defined by performance indicators specifying the expected outcome against which each would be measured.  Specific evaluation and data collection methods, persons responsible, and timelines for completion of goal implementation were discussed and identified.  The use of results allowed the DSA to gauge the impact of each strategic activity on the campus, the students, or the programs and services offered.  

The DSA Strategic Plan integrated the various individual goals, activities and initiatives into a unified plan that helps map out the most relevant and priority objectives needed to support and ensure the realization of both divisional, institutional, and UT System vision and intent for the next several years.