Institutional Agenda

The Forward Momentum Agenda, like the Regaining Momentum Agenda previously, has its basis in the university’s institutional mission, vision, and values.

Mission:
We nurture a community where students grow intellectually, thrive socially, and live purposefully.

Vision:
To become the exemplar residential community, providing relevant educational experiences in and outside of the classroom.

VALUES

• Inclusivity - Making sure that everyone feels welcome here.
• Service - Committing to making a difference in the lives of others.
• Sustainability - Stewarding resources to foster a just community in ecological balance.

SUNY Oneonta’s mission, vision and values are built upon the institution’s commitment to academic excellence, an expectation of engagement in scholarship and creative activity, a pledge to inclusive, sustainable, and service-oriented communities and operations, and a dedication to a robust co-curricular student experience that underpins student learning.

While the core mission, values and vision remain at the heart of SUNY Oneonta, what enables the university community to achieve them are the actions that allow for innovation and advancement. Remaining relevant while maintaining its core will require the institution to be creative, flexible and step outside the margins of past practices.

This agenda of strategies that will guide the university’s actions from 2024 – 2026 is the next iteration of a plan to help SUNY Oneonta remain true to its mission, vision and values.

In Fall 2023, SUNY Oneonta began to plan for the next decade, which is anticipated to bring unprecedented change and unique opportunities to higher education.

Seeking the same inclusivity achieved during its Regaining Momentum Agenda, the university embarked on this strategic planning process through seven open sessions. These sessions invited campus and community stakeholders to respond to the following critical questions: “What does SUNY Oneonta have to look like to remain relevant as an institution of higher education in 2033?” and “Why does tomorrow have to look like today?” A broad swath of the university community participated in the dialogues.

The thoughts and ideas that emerged from the sessions formed 13 outcomes. These outcomes are intended to serve as long-term results that will distinguish SUNY Oneonta by 2033. These 10-year outcomes, which incorporate external and internal contexts and constituencies, will guide institutional planning in service to the mission. These 13 outcomes will, in simple terms, enable SUNY Oneonta to remain a relevant institution of higher education with stable enrollment, positive student outcomes, and financial stability a decade from now.

1. SUNY Oneonta will be a center of academic excellence that extends experiential learning opportunities to all students.
2. SUNY Oneonta will nurture a culture of holistic support for mental health and wellbeing.
3. SUNY Oneonta will be known for its unwavering commitment to advancing Equity through visible efforts to further Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice (DEISJ) principles that foster a welcoming campus community where every member experiences a genuine sense of belonging and thrives.
4. SUNY Oneonta will provide an exemplary residential experience while also offering varied educational pathways and opportunities that meet the needs of all students.
5. SUNY Oneonta will assure equitable access to higher education through a comprehensive support system that is responsive to students’ needs.
6. SUNY Oneonta will maintain flexible formats and degree delivery models that respond to the needs of all students.
7. SUNY Oneonta graduates will be globally engaged and civic-minded.
8. SUNY Oneonta will offer an educational experience augmented by technology and employ digital resources to make an efficient campus.
9. SUNY Oneonta will be a premier anchor institution that engages with regional entities to enhance local economic vibrancy and actively contribute to the region’s identity as a thriving cultural hub.
10. SUNY Oneonta will be a workplace that fosters employee retention through robust leadership and professional development.
11. SUNY Oneonta will clearly be an institution that visibly prioritizes climate stewardship and decarbonization via academic programming, scholarly commitment, operational programs, and facility development.
12. SUNY Oneonta will maintain synergy between enrollment and the institution’s fiscal stability.
13. SUNY Oneonta will have a physical plant that draws students, facilitates educational excellence, accelerates engagement, promotes efficiency, and fosters climate stewardship.

This Forward Momentum Agenda was developed over the Spring 2024 semester. The University Integrated Planning Council (UIPC) hosted the following opportunities for the campus community to contribute suggestions for projects, and programs designed to propel the university toward attaining the 10-year outcomes.

1. Seven university-wide open dialogue sessions
2. Sessions held by divisions or schools
3. Department or unit-level meetings
4. Open digital form for individual input
5. Open bulletin boards in public areas for passive, anonymous participation

Two hundred and eighty-eight initiative ideas were submitted through these forums. The ideas were, in turn, synthesized into 253 initiatives that were reviewed by members of the University Strategic Planning Committee, a subcommittee of the UIPC.

To display these initiatives more succinctly, they were further summarized into 50 strategic areas of focus and categorized across five strategic pillars.

Strategic Pillars

1. Academic Excellence & Equity
2. Student Success
3. Advancing our Community
4. Institutional Relevance
5. A University of the Community

Academic excellence, the cornerstone of the university’s mission, begins with SUNY Oneonta’s accomplished faculty, engaged students and vibrant educational programs and experiences. SUNY Oneonta seeks to build on its strong foundations as a university that provides equitable opportunity by enhancing our dynamic and diverse academic environment and ensuring equitable student learning outcomes. SUNY Oneonta commits to strategically developing and growing academic programs that meet the needs of our students, promoting innovative pedagogy, investing in opportunities for scholarship and professional development, encouraging innovative teaching and learning practices, and engaging students with an increasing emphasis on experiential learning, active learning and service learning.

Strategic Objectives

• Extend programs that provide students with opportunities to receive fundamental academic support, emphasizing core academic skills such as mathematics, writing and reading.
• Broaden the assistance available to students through academic support services.
• Develop programs, financing and partnerships committed to allowing all SUNY Oneonta students to complete at least one experiential learning opportunity before graduating. These opportunities include internships, departmental applied learning programs, service learning, short-term and other hands-on projects, and searchable digital platforms to assist in identifying opportunities.
• Continue to support, encourage and incentivize academic departments and Deans to develop new degrees, majors, minors and micro-credentials – creating an academic portfolio that is dynamic and relevant for students of the future.
• Grow existing and establish new graduate degree programs that enhance the institution’s academic reputation institution and expand opportunities for our existing and new students.
• Employ the Extended & Community Learning (ExCL) Center as a catalyst to broaden the university’s continuing education and academic enrichment portfolio, expand the number of students enrolled in early college experiences, and build new university-offered workforce micro-credentials.
• Implement programs that internationalize the university by increasing the number of international students enrolled at SUNY Oneonta and the number of faculty-led international learning opportunities.
• Integrate inclusive pedagogy that works to provide equitable access to all learning opportunities through extended and consistent faculty and staff development.
• Engage new and existing students by offering key strategic degree programs in more flexible and accommodating formats, such as fully online, hybrid, hybrid-flexible (hyflex), and alternatives to the 15-week semester structure.
• Enhance the existing research and creative activity grant program that supports faculty/staff research and creative endeavors, and strengthen support for long-term portfolio development and integration into the institution’s strategic priorities.
• Align the Milne Library’s assets and academic contributions with institutional efforts to increase retention, enrollment, and graduation by centering the library in all student learning.
• Position the Faculty Center to support and scale up new assessment and pedagogy strategies, including experiential learning, alternative grading, use of AI in teaching, growth of open educational resources and design thinking principles.
• Enhance civic education for engaged citizenship among students through initiatives aimed at fostering a deeper understanding of civic responsibilities, democratic principles and active participation in civic affairs through service-learning activities, community journalism, public art, public scholarship and extended volunteer programs.
• Ensure facilities are attractive, accessible, and conducive to future needs and to the teaching, learning, scholarship, and work that occur in them through a focus on digital technologies, inclusive design principles, public art projects and creating new spaces for applied learning, public engagement and academic innovation.

Student success has been at the core of SUNY Oneonta’s 135-year history and is key to the university’s future. Student success fuels the passion of faculty and staff to serve in higher education. Students succeed when the university community devotes its energies to continuously improving student experiences in and out of the classroom. Data-informed practices will fuel new opportunities for SUNY Oneonta students. The university will demonstrate its commitment to student success by providing holistic experiences, innovative engagement and, begin before students arrive and continue after their graduation. The university community will enrich the lives of our students by intensely focusing on student mental health and wellbeing, a diverse and inclusive student body that helps all feel that they belong, ensuring students build skills for success after graduation, enhancing the quality of student life, and identifying new and creative programs and policies that facilitate student success.

Strategic Objectives

• Enhance existing university mental health support services with a wide-ranging, comprehensive array of interventions focusing on prevention, expanded accessibility, diversified support options, increased awareness and education, strengthened collaboration, and robust crisis response systems.
• Continue to nurture the strategic growth of student support programs with particular focuses on academic advising, peer mentoring, family engagement, and residential learning initiatives - allowing all students to benefit from relationships that will augment their educational experience.
• Continue to build upon the university’s commitment to equity, diversity and excellence in serving all populations that are underrepresented in higher education by:
  • adding an equity lens to all success initiatives with the aim of closing gaps in retention and graduation rates among student subgroups and
  • recognizing the changing demographics of the university, state and country, taking advantage of the existing support available to institutions which become Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI)
• Continuously assess the extended orientation programs for first-year students to ensure that emerging issues relevant to incoming students are integrated into both academic and co-curricular programming to foster a sense of belonging and an awareness of academic success.
• Deploy a multifaceted wellness program that encompasses physical, mental, emotional, and social aspects of wellbeing, offering a diverse range of activities, resources, and services to support the holistic health of students with a focus on promoting healthy lifestyle choices; developing a sense of community; integrating wellness into academic and residential life; and utilizing technology and innovation.
• Develop communication campaigns, social media marketing, and activities that focus on:
  • creating a sense of belonging among key student populations, especially those from marginalized groups;
  • highlighting the value of and the expectations of a university degree and encourage positive and beneficial academic practices and behaviors (such as class attendance); and
  • reinforcing student safety through awareness of Title IX programs, bias response interventions, and other student safety programs that enable students to always know where to seek help and support.
• Fully deploy the university’s existing technologies, including emerging artificial intelligence, to support student success initiatives, with a focus on an early warning system and direct student communication.
• Assemble a program/system that facilitates students’ exposure and exploration of the university’s broad range of academic programs as well as their discovery of interdisciplinary learning and varied educational pathways – an academic “GPS.”
• Build support systems for nontraditional students that will ensure equitable access to education by responding to the diverse needs and circumstances of nontraditional students through tailored support services, recognition of prior learning, an inclusive learning and social environment, and customized career readiness support.
• Organize the university’s career development services and experiential learning opportunities so that they are integrated across the curriculum and easily linked with student academic and career goals.

Cultivating a thriving campus community where students, staff, and faculty feel a sense of belonging and experience opportunities for connection and growth is vital to SUNY Oneonta’s future success. This is where everything connects. The university cares, respects and supports its diverse community through mindful integration of inclusion and equity principles across all priority areas. SUNY Oneonta will foster a respectful and collaborative campus culture that embraces wellness and growth so that students and employees can thrive and are able to support the mission, vision and values. Creating vibrant community-building events and opportunities to foster a sense of belonging and interconnectedness will benefit the student experience and enhance employee hiring, onboarding and experiences.

Strategic Objectives

• Develop and deploy a multifaceted wellness program encompassing physical, mental, emotional, and social aspects of wellbeing. Offer a diverse range of activities, resources, and services to support the holistic health of faculty and staff focusing on prevention, healthy lifestyle choices, mental health and trauma within working settings, a sense of community, and utilizing technology and innovation.
• Develop a plan to engage all employees through leadership development, mentoring opportunities, and mechanisms for professional development. These should include micro-credentials with a special focus on interpersonal communication, artificial intelligence, customer service, supervision/management and leadership.
• Broaden opportunities for student/faculty/staff interactions that engender a sense of belonging and purpose for all university community members.
• Design and host events that celebrate, recognize and financially support scholarly accomplishments, program excellence, employee expertise and the value of campus staff roles.
• Continue to build upon the university’s commitment to equity, diversity, and excellence in serving all populations by supporting and celebrating multilingualism through the hiring, onboarding, and professional development of our faculty and staff. Ensure materials are available in more than one language.
• Establish continuity systems that will ensure smooth transitions of institutional initiatives during leadership changes by implementing succession planning strategies, process documentation, and providing comprehensive training to incoming leaders.
• Build upon existing programming and continue to strategically grow meaningful connections between students and alumni that enrich the educational experience, support career development, and foster a lifelong commitment to the university community.
• Continue to create a positive and supportive work environment where employees feel valued, engaged, and empowered to contribute their best efforts toward the university's mission and vision by:
  • utilizing an efficient recruitment process, application tracking, and candidate evaluation;
  • prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion in hiring practices to foster a more inclusive and representative workforce;
  • creating a system to help facilitate partner job placement;
  • developing comprehensive onboarding programs that introduce new hires to the university's culture, policies, and procedures, as well as their specific roles and responsibilities;
  • promoting employee wellbeing through permitted flexible work arrangements, wellness programs, spousal job search support, and other support services, such as the services of the Bugbee Child Care Center;
  • expanding recognition and reward systems to acknowledge and celebrate employee achievements, civic contributions, and milestones; and
  • continuing to grow faculty and staff affinity programs to assist in creating a sense of belonging and establish spaces, such as a designated lounge space for Military Veterans.

In a higher education marketplace rich with options, SUNY Oneonta must define itself or be defined by others. The university community must seek to advance the value of the SUNY Oneonta experience and unite its communities around powerful expressions of its core values. This will be accomplished by expanding the personal and strategic relationships forged within the campus community and the strategic positioning of the compelling distinctions that make the SUNY Oneonta experience exceptional. SUNY Oneonta will demonstrate its commitment to the advancement of the university by investing in the people, places, and programs that make the institution distinct.

Strategic Objectives

• Capitalize on the university’s strategic advantage in the area of “university advancement," and leverage its success to support the university's priorities by:
  • growing philanthropic support through strategic resource development;
  • engaging alumni to maintain a strong connection with the institution;
  • fostering internal and external strategic partnerships; and
  • focusing on relationship stewardship.
• Determine and adopt campus-wide digital and technology products that will enhance campus operations in areas
  • such as project management, collaborative budgeting, streamlined workflow processes, procurement and institutional assessment outcomes.
• Maintain the university’s digital transformation by establishing a data governance framework, creating a software inventory and incorporating software into institutional professional development.
• Purposefully integrate the institution’s commitment to sustainability, environmental protection and climate stewardship by increasing its use of renewable energy, energy-efficient appliances, ecological landscaping, comprehensive approaches to waste reduction and overall communication of its sustainability efforts.
• Continue to implement the Facilities Master Plan to generate physically accessible facilities that are attractive and conducive to the teaching, learning, scholarship, work, and community building that occur within them. Key items include:
  • instructional and research labs;
  • complete or partial renovations of buildings;
  • upgrade of fitness areas; and
  • upgrade permanent and emergency electrical systems.
• Invest in classroom and instructional technology – with an emphasis on green technology – that will future-proof the university, including incorporating distance and online learning platforms, personalized learning experiences and virtual and augmented reality into the physical classroom — along with creating flexible workspaces that enable the facilitation of collaboration, creativity, innovation, and interdisciplinarity.
• Create a plan and reserve financial resources for the maintenance and regular replacement of scientific instruments and equipment, ensuring functional facilities that support effective applied learning and academic excellence.
• Continue to support and strategically broaden the role of the University Retention Council in its work to develop and/or strengthen a purposefully designed array of retention initiatives, including the strategic areas of focus under the Student Success pillar.
• Continue to update the enrollment plan to align admissions efforts with institutional goals. Attract, select, and enroll a diverse and talented student body that will contribute positively to the academic community, excel in their studies and make meaningful contributions to society upon graduation. Maintain a specific focus on supporting transfer students, international recruitment and graduate enrollment.
• Examine the relevance of the university’s mission, vision and values as the university’s plans are implemented.
• Continually manage the university’s marketing and communication strategies to effectively communicate its value proposition, engage stakeholders, build relationships, and achieve its strategic goals and objectives in alignment with its mission and vision.

SUNY Oneonta must create a culture of outreach and engagement through innovative teaching and scholarship and valuing engagement with local communities and regional partners. By applying academic and professional expertise to collaborations with community stakeholders, the university will improve the quality of life for the communities it serves.

SUNY Oneonta will demonstrate its commitment to local communities and the region by actively seeking out strategic opportunities that provide direct benefits to the residents of Otsego County and strengthen the university’s efforts related to academic and student success. Engagement in our local region allows the institution to use its skills and resources to mutually benefit the university and our community partners. Outreach and engagement through enhanced communication and deeper relationships will promote an improved quality of life for all community members. SUNY Oneonta’s commitment to enhancing efforts to promote sustainable and demonstrable leadership and service to local communities and the region should be positively recognized on a national level.

Strategic Objectives

• Continue strategically expanding the university’s regional leadership through established collaborations and key partnerships with local and regional research centers, healthcare systems, human service organizations and educational institutions.
• Create opportunities for business development and innovation at SUNY Oneonta to attract funding and contribute to the economic growth of the City of Oneonta and the surrounding region.
• Incentivize faculty and staff involvement in local community development, planning and policymaking.
• Continue to develop the Regional Innovation Council, which will allow SUNY Oneonta to address comprehensive community issues such as workforce development, housing needs and economic development.
• Employ the ExCL Center programming as a catalyst for the university to serve as a proponent for community and regional solutions, including creating off-campus space for art shows, theater, dance, music, and multi-media performances; film screenings; public lectures and cultural events; and exhibits from the Science Discovery Center.
• Work with regional partners and leverage existing and new programs in the arts to purposefully market SUNY Oneonta as a regional cultural hub.
• Enhance and develop long-term sustainability plans for department-based initiatives that leverage experiential learning with community development. Focus on programs like the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program and the SUNY Institute for Local News student journalism initiative.
• Promote SUNY Oneonta as a destination for outdoor activities that can contribute to local and regional tourism.

During the Fall 2023 semester, the institution began a strategic planning process that invited the campus and community stakeholders to respond to the following critical questions:

What does SUNY Oneonta have to look like to remain relevant as an institution of higher education in 2033?

Why does tomorrow have to look like yesterday?

A broad swath of the university community participated in open “strategic visioning” sessions, submitted ideas online, and evaluated related strategic planning and industry information to help us answer those questions. The time and effort exhibited by the participants is commendable. The thoughts and ideas that emerged from the visioning process form the foundation of 13 long-term outcomes.

1. SUNY Oneonta will be a center of academic excellence that extends experiential learning opportunities to all students.
2. SUNY Oneonta will nurture a culture of holistic support for mental health and wellbeing.
3. SUNY Oneonta will be known for its unwavering commitment to advancing Equity through visible efforts to further Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice (DEISJ) principles that foster a welcoming campus community where every member experiences a genuine sense of belonging and thrives.
4. SUNY Oneonta will provide an exemplary residential experience while also offering varied educational pathways and opportunities that meet the needs of all students.
5. SUNY Oneonta will assure equitable access to higher education through a comprehensive support system that is responsive to students’ needs.
6. SUNY Oneonta will maintain flexible formats and degree delivery models that respond to the needs of all students.
7. SUNY Oneonta graduates will be globally engaged and civic-minded.
8. SUNY Oneonta will offer an educational experience augmented by technology and employ digital resources to make an efficient campus.
9. SUNY Oneonta will be a premier anchor institution that engages with regional entities to enhance local economic vibrancy and actively contribute to the region’s identity as a thriving cultural hub.
10. SUNY Oneonta will be a workplace that fosters employee retention through robust leadership and professional development.
11. SUNY Oneonta will clearly be an institution that visibly prioritizes climate stewardship and decarbonization via academic programming, scholarly commitment, operational programs, and facility development.
12. SUNY Oneonta will maintain synergy between enrollment and the institution’s fiscal stability.
13. SUNY Oneonta will have a physical plant that draws students, facilitates educational excellence, accelerates engagement, promotes efficiency, and fosters climate stewardship.

During the Spring 2024 semester, seven campus-wide strategic planning dialogue sessions were held. The first two sessions allowed the campus community to provide feedback on the draft themes and goals developed out of the strategic visioning exercise. Then, five sessions were held for the university community to share ideas about initiatives, projects, programs, etc. that will help us achieve the 10-year strategic outcomes. Whiteboards were placed around campus to offer an opportunity to engage creatively with the process of submitting ideas of projects/programs/initiatives that will help us try to achieve the long-term outcomes.

After the strategic planning sessions, a draft of the 2024 – 2026 institutional agenda was prepared by the University Integrated Planning Council and presented to the university community. The Forward Momentum Agenda was approved by the President and endorsed by the University Senate in May 2024.

Whiteboards were placed around campus to offer an opportunity to engage creatively with the process of submitting ideas of projects/programs/initiatives that will help us try to achieve the long-term goals. All students and employees were encouraged to leave a sticky note with their concept (for a new innovation or an existing program) or build on ideas left by other university community members!