UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — To guide the development of Penn State’s next strategic plan, the workgroups charged with advancing five key goals outlined by Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi have completed the first of five planned phases. Progress over the summer included an agile information gathering and analysis phase to provide an overview of the University’s current positioning across the president’s goal areas.  

“This process is meant to inspire continuous growth and innovation, and it’s absolutely critical to assess where we currently are to discover how we can capitalize on our strengths and take action to address our challenges,” Bendapudi said. “I want to thank the many individuals involved in this first phase for their time and dedication. As a result of this important work completed to-date, we are poised to begin our next phase.”  

Each goal group — in total, comprised of more than 80 individuals from across the University — analyzed data, consulted with peer institutions, and explored existing programs, units, and initiatives at Penn State to answer the following questions: 

• What is the state of Penn State in this goal area today?   
• What is the current state of Penn State’s key peers in this goal area?   
• What are the primary barriers and enablers to success in this goal area? 

As part of their work, each group developed preliminary strategy frameworks to scaffold the University’s next strategic plan, which will be guided by Bendapudi’s vision to hone Penn State’s purpose, increase agility, and fully harness opportunities and strengths for the future. Goal leads and co-leads presented their findings to the Board of Trustees and the Academic Leadership Council in late August. Since this work was completed in a short time frame and covered expansive University-wide topics, further data-gathering and analysis will be beneficial as these efforts continue to evolve and plans are set forth.  

Initial high-level key findings from the analysis phase for each of the initial five goals are detailed below. 

Enhance student success

This goal is focused on providing an abundance of opportunities to help students succeed inside and outside the classroom and preparing students for in-demand careers and to be highly employable after graduation.

The subgroup found that strengths resided in the University’s distinctive academic structure and geographic scope. In efforts to prepare students for their careers, the vast alumni network and ability to connect students with internships were considered highlights. In addition, expansive curricular, co-curricular and research engagement opportunities for students were deemed a competitive advantage. The subgroup also identified robust student support services as a strength to build upon, while noting that future opportunities to consider include helping students navigate the complex, expansive University environment; examining how key student-facing offices and services are resourced; and closing achievement gaps for underrepresented students.

Among enablers to success are the ability of students to easily find and access the wide breadth of opportunities at Penn State; the potential to maximize and streamline the use of existing technology systems; a focus on high-impact educational practices; and the existing sense of belonging in the student population. While the subgroup found that University Park was performing comparably to its peer institutions, deriving direct comparisons to peer institutions varied due to Penn State’s unique Commonwealth Campus structure and a lack of comparable data.

This work was led by Justin Schwartz, executive vice president and provost, and co-led by David M. Callejo Pérez, in his previous role as interim vice president for Commonwealth Campuses; Andrea Dowhower, interim vice president for Student Affairs; and Jeff Adams, interim vice provost and dean for Undergraduate Education. 

Grow interdisciplinary research excellence

This goal focuses on enhancing Penn State’s world-class research enterprise through interdisciplinary collaboration, scholarship and creative activity to tackle the most pressing challenges facing the commonwealth, nation and world.

The goal group reports that the University has an outstanding research reputation in multiple areas of science, engineering, business, humanities, the arts and social sciences, along with a strong infrastructure comprised of institutes, Applied Research Laboratory, Penn State Extension, over 200 research centers and 17,000 faculty across 24 campuses that facilitate collaborative research and position the University well for impacts that fulfill its land-grant mission. The University has many factors that can be utilized for future growth and impact, including a collaborative culture, strong institute model and seed funding mechanisms. A sizable number of national academy members, internationally renowned professors, awarded rising stars with leadership potential, and top-ranked departments also contribute to the distinguished reputation of the University’s research excellence. The goal group notes that Penn State should also capitalize on these community members for faculty recruitment, particularly through targeted hires of mid-career to senior faculty members who exemplify research excellence. In addition, developing leadership within faculty and professional research staff would help the University propel its research forward.

Among areas identified to address in future strategic planning are developing a research support infrastructure that enables growth; retains faculty; evaluates the current philanthropy structure; adequately supports translational work; encourages faculty leadership of large center grants; allows for research funding through college budgets; enables strategic hiring of mid-career and senior faculty; and addresses the age, condition, and quality of key facilities. Penn State is performing adequately amongst its peers in funding, papers published and citations, and is ahead in the acquisition of large center grants, both as leads and members.

This work was led by Andrew Read, interim senior vice president for research, and co-led by Schwartz and Kevin Black in his previous role as interim dean for the College of Medicine.  

Increase land-grant impact

This goal focuses on serving the needs of the commonwealth to promote economic development and research innovation, grow the workforce, and help local businesses, while providing a world-class education to students across the state. Additional focuses included ways to increase the number of advocates for Penn State within the Pennsylvania legislature and attain per-student funding equal to the per-student allocation for other state-owned or state-related universities.

The goal group determined that Penn State currently makes significant impacts within the commonwealth and supports its land-grant mission with several offices and units dedicated to fueling economic development, building networks with the business community, increasing advocacy in the legislature, and increasing state appropriations to equal footing with its peer institutions. In general, Penn State is performing on par with its key peers. Some institutions currently have strengths to emulate, such as a centralized office to drive economic development and significantly higher per-student funding from the commonwealth. There are also several areas where Penn State is ahead of its peer institutions, including building relationships with the business community and its unique coordinated, grassroots advocacy efforts within the commonwealth’s legislature. While impacts are currently being made, the group found the University should consider aligning and mobilizing its resources in new ways to expand these impacts and to develop longer term community partnerships.

Among opportunities to consider in future planning are a need for greater coordination among offices and initiatives to connect efforts at Commonwealth Campuses, Extension and Outreach. The geographic breadth of the Commonwealth Campuses is a true community asset and existing efforts driven by these campuses and Extension could provide foundations for expanded impact. Other enablers include the expertise and resources available to create a coordinated strategy for long-termpartnerships; passion and size of the Penn State community; its existing impact throughout its campuses; tangible economic benefits to the commonwealth; and preexisting relationships with elected officials.

This work was led by Larry Terry, vice president for Outreach, and co-led by Zack Moore, vice president for Government and Community Relations, and Rachel Pell, vice president for Strategic Communications. 

Foster diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging

This goal is focused on advancing DEIB across Penn State’s campuses so faculty, staff and students can fully realize their potential in an environment of inclusive excellence.

The goal group’s information-gathering aligned with Bendapudi’s DEIB goals to establish baseline metrics for DEIB; increase recruitment of underrepresented students, faculty and staff; close gaps in graduation rates across backgrounds and identities; enable robust and supportive communities; and create equitableprofessional development and advancement opportunities for staff. While Penn State is in an average position compared to its key peers in several markers, there is a need within higher education to advance DEIB on campuses through enhanced resources and purposeful action.

The goal group identified enablers and barriers, which include a need for a University-wide strategy with defined goals and accountability; increased financial aid for underrepresented students; additional investments in academic advising to support students of all identities; a process to examine policies, procedures and practices that can address systemic barriers; and enhancement of mentorship, professional development and promotion opportunities for faculty. When considering professional development for staff efforts, the University should consider how to align the current infrastructure of initiatives led and resourced by individual units; how to use current tools that may be underutilized; and how to develop University-level policies that provide guidelines for participation.

This work was led by Marcus Whitehurst, vice provost for Educational Equity, and co-led by Pat Kraft, vice president for Intercollegiate Athletics, and Jennifer Wilkes, vice president for Human Resources. 

Transform internal operations

This goal is focused on reimagining new ways of working to make Penn State easy to navigate for all students, faculty and staff; identifying opportunities to better serve students; and focusing on effective and efficient fiscal stewardship as a modern university.

According to the goal group, the University is stewarding financial resources effectively and efficiently by balancing the institutional budget; implementing the new budget allocation model to support institutional and leadership needs; and working effectively in a shared governance model. Penn State is aligned with peer institutions that have also adopted activity-based budget models and initiatives to support employee retention and engagement. Areas for improvement were identified as enhancing communication; creating a culture and systems for continuous improvement; and transforming or retiring outdated systems to empower leaders and employees to make data-informed decisions.

Several enablers were identified to further this goal such as strategic funds designated in the data-driven budget model to invest in new revenue streams; an aligned leadership team highly motivated to tackle these issues; dedication to communication and transparency throughout the process to increase trust; and a commitment to improving and creating new accountability mechanisms for administrators.

This work was led by Michael Wade Smith, senior vice president and chief of staff, and co-led by Kathy Bieschke, vice provost for faculty affairs, and Sara Thorndike, senior vice president for Finance and Business.  

Future phases and next steps 

Also, this summer, Bendapudi introduced an additional presidential goal focused on transforming health through academic and clinical synergy, which will also complete the phase one process. Led by Karen Kim, dean of the College of Medicine, this goal will drive advancements in patient care, data-informed community and public health, and innovative medical education and research to serve the region, the commonwealth and society in unparalleled ways. Colleges, campuses, interdisciplinary research institutes and allied health programs across the University will collaborate to achieve this goal and to lead transformational impact and innovation in health promotion and disease prevention. 

Throughout the next five years, the additional four vision phases will focus on:  

• Completing a comprehensive strategic planning exercise beginning this fall;  
• Developing unit, college and campus plans that align with broad institutional plans;  
• Implementing both institutional and unit, college and campus plans; and   
• Continuously evaluating and recalibrating plans and efforts based on progress and outcomes.   

Each phase in the five-phase approach is designed to build upon the previous one, enabling the University to adapt to the changing needs of the Penn State community and the world at large. Workgroup membership will change throughout the next phases to infuse new expertise and perspectives across each goal, and phase two will include representation from every major unit, college and campus across the institution.  

In August, Schwartz and Smith discussed the next steps around the strategic planning process during a meeting of the Academic Leadership Council. Phase two is planned to begin this fall with a University-wide strategic planning exercise that will use insights garnered in phase one to drive next steps.  

Opportunities for stakeholder participation are expected and progress will continue to be periodically shared with the University community, including information on future engagement opportunities.