As the College of New Rochelle celebrated the enthusiastic reaccreditation review from Middle States in April of 2012, the President of the College, Judith Huntington, announced that a college-wide strategic planning process would commence in August of 2012 and would lead the entire college community through a collaborative planning process ending in June 2013.  This collaborative and inclusive process will best define, assess and respond to the trends and sustainable changes in higher education.  At the completion of this year-long strategic planning process, the College will have a clear vision of its vibrant future within the ever evolving world of higher education.

In early May, 2012, President Huntington invited a team of College members to join the Strategic Planning Task Force.  The Task Force is comprised of 60% of the College’s faculty and other academic administrators who would lead the planning process. It has two co-chairs, Susan Acampora, Associate Professor, Gill Library and Kristine Southard, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs.  Each member of the Strategic Planning Task Force received a copy of the text, “Collaborative Strategic Planning in Higher Education”, a planning resource written by Patrick Sanaghan.  

Patrick (Pat) Sanaghan was named the Strategic Planning Task Force consultant for this year-long planning process and met with the Task Force members on August 22 and 23, 2012 to facilitate training sessions in which Task Force members could learn interactive design processes to be truly collaborative and inclusive in the data gathering phase.  In these training sessions, College stakeholders were defined and Task Force working groups were created.  

The College’s Strategic Planning Task Force then began the next phase, “Data Gathering and Engagement”.