By Renata Opoczynski, assistant provost for Undergraduate Student Success
The Student Success Executive Advisory Committee (SSEAC) was established as part of the network of committees designed to support the implementation of the MSU Strategic Plan in fall of 2021. Co-sponsored by Interim Provost Thomas Jeitschko and Executive Vice President of Administration Vennie Gore, and convened and led by me, Associate Provost for Undergraduate Student Success Renata Opoczynski, and Chief of Staff for Student Life and Engagement Erin Carter, this group provides oversight and management of the implementation of the student success strategic plan theme. This committee is inclusive of all student success work including those for graduate, professional, undergraduate, and lifelong students.
The role of this group is to ensure the successful implementation of the student success theme from the strategic plan including reviewing and prioritizing on-going initiatives and activities and aligning them toward shared commitments for student success. The committee also works to create alignment across work happening on campus and identifying gaps and barriers in order to make recommendations to the executive sponsors.
As part of a planned refresh of the Strategic Plan, Bill Beekman, vice president for strategic initiatives, has asked each implementation team alongside the Strategic Plan Implementation Work Group and the Strategic Plan Implementation Steering Committee to work on reviewing and refreshing the Strategic Plan. Currently, the SSEAC group is advising us in preparation for the March working group retreat.
We were tasked with reviewing and reframing our goals and objectives, celebrating progress to date and identifying barriers to success, identifying opportunities to work more closely together across themes, conducting an environmental scan, and identifying opportunities to incorporate the presidential priorities and directions.
At our last meeting we explored what is working and what is not now that we are three years into implementation, opportunities for alignment between student success and the other themes, and feedback on goals and outcomes in the plan. It was a robust and helpful conversation, and we appreciate the thoughts and perspectives shared from the committee.
At our next meeting we will dive deeper into our theme and focus on reviewing our goals, objectives, strategies, and metrics. We will continue the conversation around opportunities for alignment and de-siloing our work and anything new that needs to be considered for addition to the Strategic Plan. Finally, we will think about how we incorporate the presidential priorities into the Strategic Plan.
If you have thoughts or ideas related to the refresh of the student success theme in the strategic plan, Erin Carter and I welcome your thoughts via email or Teams!