Mearns: Plan Draws on Ball State Legacy
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe president of Ball State University says a recently-released strategic plan aims to guide the university through its next century. Ball State is celebrating its centennial in 2019 and Geoffrey Mearns says the plan, Destination 2040: Our Flight Path, has been a year in the making. The strategic plan outlines five long-term goals to be completed by 2040, with several "imperatives" the university wants to execute by 2024.
In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, Mearns said the plan was an important opportunity to celebrate the university’s past, but he doesn’t want to rest on those achievements.
"We want to continue to build on the legacy of 100 years of impact on the lives of other people and so it’s important for us to plan how to fulfill the great potential that we believe we have at our university," said Mearns. "This plan provides that strategic framework to ensure that we will have a bright future in our second century."
The five long-term goals include:
- Undergraduate Excellence and Innovation
- Graduate Education and Lifetime Learning
- Community Engagement and Impact
- Scholarship and Societal Impact
- Institutional and Inclusive Excellence
Mearns says some of the strategic imperatives for 2024 will help the university make measurable progress toward the long-term goals. Some of those imperatives include providing more proactive advising to incoming freshmen to connect their interests and passions to a particular academic program, as well as providing a mentor or coach for every graduate to be a valuable resource throughout their lives.
You can view the full strategic plan in detail below:
Mearns said the plan was an important opportunity to celebrate the university’s past, but he doesn’t want to rest on those achievements.