Stephen F. Austin State University

Dear SFA community,

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! The winter break will be here very soon and I want to wish each of you a joyous holiday season and a Happy New Year! We will kick off 2022 with a renewed commitment to affirming our mission, vision and goals, by refreshing both our strategic plan and our own consciousness of it. We also want specific actions to grow from the plan.

A strategic plan’s value is greater than the guiding document it produces – of even more value is the process of coming together and learning about ourselves and setting a course for the future. Over the past few years, the higher education landscape has changed dramatically. As we look to the future, therefore, we must develop responses to various inquiries about identity, such as - Who are we? Who do we serve? and How do we want to stay the same or change? These responses will become the foundation for a revised SFA strategic plan.

What follows is an approximate timeline:

• In January, we will distribute a survey for the purpose of collecting responses to inquiries about our identity and aspirations.
• In February, we will analyze and share the findings with the campus community.
• In March and April, we will further synthesize findings and conversations about the survey results.
• Before the end of the spring semester, we will introduce to the campus a draft statement to direct more detailed action plans.
• During the summer, university leadership will work with staff and available students and faculty to further refine the statement and to draft corresponding division-specific action plans.
• Full consultation over the resulting strategic plan will be carried out formally through a process similar to the Academic Affairs' four-step process (4SP), with a completion timeline of December 2022.

In parallel to the strategic planning process and following consultative steps similar to those employed for the revised strategic plan, a strategic enrollment plan (SEP) will be developed around our strategic plan. A SEP will position institutional resources – academic, athletic, fiscal, student affairs and services, technology and enrollment – to best ensure SFA’s enrollment goals and fiscal health.

I look forward to your participation in shaping our future. We need your voice!

Thank you and Axe ‘em!

Scott A. Gordon, President