Task Force One: Competitive Positioning

A note from the chair,

We hope you will find the information provided here useful. The report and presentation to the board was the collective work of the task force and represents our interpretation of the information reviewed as it relates to Augustana's competitive outlook.

The trends and truths were fairly easy to identify and in our various discussions with stakeholders there seemed to be broad acknowledgement of the challenges we face as an industry and a college. The themes identified represent our best guess about what can be done to strengthen our competitive standing.

The members of the task force left these themes broad intentionally; we resisted the temptation to recommend a course of action or a plan. However, the task force did feel strongly that these themes do connect very directly to strengthening Augustana's competitive standing and can serve as a useful guide for the creative work to be accomplished by other task forces involved in strategic planning.

Because the strategic planning process is an iterative process we leave open the possibility that we've missed some important information or trends related to our competitive standing, which is why we've shared a number of resources as part of this site so you can review them on your own and draw your own conclusions.

Please feel free to share any alternative assessments of Augustana's competitive standing based on your review of the information provided with me so I can share it with the Strategic Planning Steering Committee. You may email me at wkentbarnds@augustana.edu.

W. Kent Barnds
Executive Vice President and Vice President, Enrollment, Communication & Planning

The charge: Augustana President Steve Bahls invited the members of Task Force One to participate on March 10, 2013. He asked them to: "Assess the competitive position of Augustana College and its readiness to take advantage of opportunities and address challenges. Your task force should answer the following fundamental questions: What is our value proposition and how strong is it? Is our internal assessment of value consistent with public perception? How are we distinctive from other liberal arts colleges? Are there effective programs or practices that we should consider?" (Complete document)

Deadline: Task Force One was asked to deliver a preliminary report and overview of the college’s standing on May 9 to the college board of trustees.

Board presentation (Powerpoint)

Trends, Truths and Themes (document)

Task Force One members

W. Kent Barnds, vice president of enrollment, communication and planning; Task Force One chair
Scott Cason, assistant vice president of communication and marketing
Meghan Cooley, director of recruitment communications
Leslie DuPree, director of web services and new media
Robert Elfline, assistant professor of music
David English, chief financial officer; vice president for finance and administration
Mark Salisbury, assistant dean; director of assessment and institutional research
David Snowball, professor of communication studies
Pam Trotter, professor of chemistry
Chris Vaughan, assistant vice president and chief information officer
Mike Zapolski, director of athletics

Meetings

Task Force One members met on March 15, March 25, April 3, April 12, April 19, April 26 and May 3

Outreach

April 9: Faculty, staff and administrators were invited to participate in focus group meetings. (Document)

April 12: Focus group of faculty (facilitated by Rob Elfline and Leslie DuPree). Themes: "Be more direct" and "Tell us what we can do about this?"

April 13: "Invitation to a serious conversation" sent to faculty, staff and administrators with an invitation to engage in conversations and check the work of the task force (facilitated by Leslie DuPree, Rob Elfline and David Snowball) Key questions: Are our preliminary findings correct? Have we missed trends or truths? Is our case and are our materials persuasive? What should be refined? (Document)

Related materials:

Resources

April 15: Open meeting to discuss preliminary report, 4-5 p.m.

April 16: Open meeting to discuss preliminary report, 11:30 to 12:30 p.m.

April 16: Conference call with members of the Board of Trustees, 4-5 p.m.

April 18: Open meeting to discuss preliminary report, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Key themes: "This is scary;" "The truths and trends get it right, what now?" "Can you provide examples of the themes you suggest?"

April 28: Preliminary report shared with the president's cabinet

May 9: Task force report to board of trustees and campus stakeholders