Learning Resources

Abstract: At Stockton University, demographic and economic challenges have compelled us to interpret our liberal arts heritage for a changing, multi-cultural world. A good strategic plan is inclusive, collaborative, and sustains a school's distinctiveness. Our presentation will explain how to guide an integrated campus change effort while preserving and enhancing institutional values. Effective strategic planning is as much about process as content. This session will explain how the intentional development of both can facilitate a meaningful, achievable plan that drives organizational change.

Abstract: Stockton University grew its 2017 freshman class by 32 percent (375 students) by implementing a systems approach to enrollment management. We will present the strategic and collaborative methods to our success and share how Stockton’s Chief Planning Office played an important role in breaking down common silos that impeded efforts to collaborate, innovate, and succeed. We will discuss the statistical tools, operational improvements, and leadership techniques put in place to support Stockton’s growth, including new weekly reports and cross-divisional planning efforts.

Abstract: The architects and planners of a new college or university enjoy a singular opportunity: the ability to start from scratch, unencumbered by existing buildings, entrenched administrative and faculty empires, or the traditions and prejudices normally encountered in an existing institution. Conversely, there are handicaps. Speed usually is mandatory. Classroom seats and/or dormitory beds must be provided immediately for initial enrollment levels. But specialized facilities must be planned with ultimate enrollments in mind. Even more than in existing institutions, change in the uses to which the new facilities will be put must be assumed. In perhaps the most sophisticated repsonse to these challenges to date, the planners of Stockton State College in New Jersey turned to the use of systems building, fast-track planning, and construction management to produce a 1,000-student, first phase campus in 20 months. More significantly, an elaborate set of phased or incremental plans was developed to permit orderly growth to an ultimate enrollment of 7,500. The resulting facilities described in this article emerged with a chameleon-like ability to change in function as, phase by phase, the new campus was developed.