fox__EDU 645_final paper

Running head: A STRATEGIC PLAN ANALYSIS 1
A Strategic Plan Analysis
Cheryl Fox
EDU 645.90
Dr. Gregory Nayor

A STRATEGIC PLAN ANALYSIS 2
A Strategic Plan Analysis
Strategic planning is a means for a university to establish major directions and is a way
for it to anticipate the future such that resources can be concentrated in a limited number of
major directions in order to maximize benefits to stakeholders (Paris, 2003). The purpose of this
paper is to take a look at the basic elements of a university strategic plan. It will provide a brief
overview of the University of Massachusetts at Boston (otherwise known as UMass Boston).
Next, it will specifically evaluate certain components of UMass Boston’s Fulfilling the Promise
2010-2025 Strategic Plan. Then, it will go on to compare the elements in UMass Boston’s plan to
the basic elements in any strategic plan previously discussed. Lastly, it will provide
recommendations for improving UMass Boston’s strategic plan.
Brief Overview of Institution
University of Massachusetts at Boston is a public research university founded by the
Massachusetts Legislature in 1964. It is the second university in the UMass system (UMass
Boston, History of UMass Boston, 2015). It offers 193 undergraduate, graduate, and certificate
programs through eleven colleges and graduate schools. In the Fall of 2014, it enrolled over
16,700 students, which was the largest freshmen class in its history. It enrolls students from over
140 countries. The research funding for the 2014 fiscal year was over $60 million. It has more
than 50 interdisciplinary research institutes and centers which bring faculty and students together
to pursue research, teaching, and service on many different topics of interest. UMass Boston’s
College of Nursing and Health Sciences is the ninth-largest nursing school in the country, and
four of UMass Boston’s graduate programs (nursing, rehabilitation counseling, clinical
psychology, and public affairs) ranked in the top 100 in U.S. News & World Report listings
(UMass Boston Office of Institutional Research and Policy Studies, 2015).

Key Elements of a Basic Strategic Plan
Strategic planning gives the university an opportunity to chart its own course and to focus
its own future (Paris, 2003). Ideally, staff, faculty and even students should be involved in the
construction of the university’s strategic plan, not just those in positions of higher academic
authority. This not only allows everyone to be cognizant of where the college is headed in the
future, but contributes to commitment of these stakeholders to implementation of the plan, since
each of these people (ideally) helped have a say in creating it (Paris, 2003). The process itself
should be set in place to help ensure that the budget dollars follow the constructed plan. Thus,
the estimated future budget should correlate with the projected strategic plan (Paris, 2003).
Since strategic planning is very sensitive to the external environment, it is likely to result in a
shift and/or refocusing in a university’s mission in light of actual or anticipated changes. This is
normal, and in fact expected (Paris, 2003). Goals and objectives created should be tied to the
university’s mission as well as a viable vision of the future (Martinez & Wolverton, 2009). The
final strategic plans constructed before the implementation phase should not be too broad or
general as this can give way to a university being, as what Martinez & Wolverton (2009) claim it
can be, “all things to all people” (p. 21). This type of plan risks having a lack of focus, and not
leading the university anywhere. Lastly, according to Hinton (2012), the implementation plan
should be clear and directive. In other words, it is important for everyone involved in the
strategic planning process to specify exactly what resources will be needed to carry out the
intended plan and then continue to modify and redefine the size of the need or the need itself as
the plan develops.
Evaluation of UMass Boston’s Strategic Plan
The university’s mission statement is the foundation of its strategic plan, since it serves as

the explanation for the existence of the organization (Hinton, 2012). If a university does not
know why it is currently doing something, it will make it that much more difficult to try and
figure out where it wants to go in the future and why. The mission statement itself needs to
essentially “say a lot” in as few words as possible. UMass Boston’s mission statement was
clearly already in place when the Strategic Planning Task Force appointed by the Chancellor
took a look at it in 2010 and decided to revise it so it would read the following:
The University of Massachusetts Boston is a public research university with a dynamic
culture of teaching and learning, and a special commitment to urban and global
engagement. Our vibrant, multicultural educational environment encourages our broadly
diverse campus community to thrive and succeed. Our distinguished scholarship,
dedicated teaching, and engaged public service are mutually reinforcing, creating new
knowledge while serving the public good of our city, our commonwealth, our nation, and
our world. (UMass Boston, Mission & Values, 2015)
This revised mission statement touches upon some important things, such as the fact that
it mentions that the university is a research institution. As far as strategic planning goes, the
university would want to have the best facilities and staff to allow for the best cutting-edge
research to happen. The mission statement also makes it clear that UMass Boston is committed
to urban engagement and multicultural education, which speaks to a certain demographic of
students that will be increasingly enrolling at the school, so it would want the best programs and
services for these incoming students. It is not only focused on research, but dedicated to
teaching as well, and thus interested in having top-notch faculty among its members. The
mission statement may not be lengthy, but it does convey quite a bit of meaning in regards to the

current state of the university and is also a great starting point for this university’s strategic plan.
The values statements are separate from the mission statement, but also play a valuable
part in the strategic planning process. The value statements explain what the institution stands
for and the way in which it intends to conduct its overall activities (Hinton, 2012). These were
also rewritten by the Task Force. They are: inquiry, creativity, and discovery; transformation;
diversity and inclusion; and engagement (UMass Boston, Vision Statement and Mission and
Values Statement, 2011). UMass Boston seeks to helps students realize their potential by
nurturing respect for all differences, and being an institution dedicated to open and critical
inquiry. They address social issues and contribute not only to the local community, but to the
global one as well. In their strategic planning, they strive to work with this basic foundational
value system and expand on this model.
If the mission statement conveys a university’s current state, its vision statement
describes what it intends to become (Hinton, 2012). UMass Boston’s vision statement mentions
graduating greater number of alumni who are educated, creative, and compassionate citizens and
leaders. It wants to pursue and conduct research that helps its students to be able to create new
knowledge that the world requires. Additionally, it wants to maintain a strong commitment to
educating modest-income and first-generation students, since UMass Boston is the only public
university in Boston (UMass Boston, Vision Statement, 2015). The Chancellor and Provost
summed up the vision statement in five major goals for the Task Force to work with: advance
student success and development; enrich and expand academic programs and research; improve
the learning, teaching, and working environment; establish a financial resources model consistent
with the university’s vision statement; and develop an infrastructure supportive of the preceding
goals (UMass Boston, Strategic Planning 2010-2025, 2015). The Task Force’s final report

highlighted four specific goals and gave sixteen recommendations (objectives) for the
university’s Implementation Team to consider. One of the critical objectives set forth by the Task
Force was a Master Plan with a 25-year time frame that addressed goal three (improve the
learning, teaching, and working environment). Not only did it support the mission, but it segued
nicely into the vision. It consists of the construction of additional academic buildings to support
future enrollment increases, more residential housing for students, more parking, open space and
landscape improvements, as well as new athletic facilities (UMass Boston Master Plan
Subcommittee, 2010). The university asked for input on the Master Plan not only from members
of the university, but members of the community as well (UMass Boston, 25-Year Campus
Master Plan, 2015). This says a lot about a university, since it means it really cares about input
from many sources.
The strategic planning process then moved to the Implementation Design Team which
consisted of faculty, staff, and students (UMass Boston, Implementation Design Team
Workgroups, 2011). It expanded the objectives set forth by the Task Force and set to work on
how these objectives would be implemented. Some of the objectives consisted of things such as:
increase the graduation rates of freshmen and transfer students; develop new graduate programs;
construct new academic buildings; and raise the proportion of full-time non-tenure-stream
faculty (UMass Boston Implementation Design Team, 2011).
Analysis
Throughout the strategic planning process for Fulfilling the Promise 2010-2025 at UMass
Boston, faculty, staff, and students were constantly involved throughout the whole process. The
community was even asked to provide input in the Master Plan, since roads and walkways would
be affected in the downtown area of Boston. Many stakeholders would be affected by the

strategic plan and the more input the university received, the better these people would feel when
the changes were made, since these would be the exact people who had a say in making those
changes come to life.
A strategic plan should correlate with a budgetary analysis. UMass Boston did just that.
They published a projected detailed analysis of most of the plan-related expenses and revenues
associated with the plans proposed by the Implementation Team in their Fulfilling the Promise
2010-2025 report. The majority of the objectives are clearly outlined in the budget (i.e. one can
see the cost of the implementation of new graduate programs and construction of new academic
buildings) and therefore the budget correlates nicely with the strategic plan proposed (UMass
Boston, Detailed Projections of Most Plan-Related Expenses and Revenues, 2011).
Clearly, there are not only demographic shifts imminent, but UMass Boston wants to be
on the cutting-edge of research, so changes are happening every day. It is healthy for a
university to respond to these external environmental changes by changing its mission – as did
occur here at this university. Rather than remain stagnant, change is welcomed, and it was
necessary in order for UMass Boston to remain ahead and be an educational leader in the
community. The five goals set forth by the Chancellor and Provost proved in line with the
university’s mission. The objectives generated by the Task Force tied the university’s mission to
the vision, such that the objectives helped to reinforce what is not only currently important to the
university, but will be in the future (focus on research, increased enrollment, changing
demographics, and increase in services for freshmen to decrease attrition rates, for example).
Lastly, the end of the strategic plan set forth by the Implementation Team was extremely
thorough and specific. It was very clear and indicated the exact resources needed to carry out the
particular objective discussed. For example, the UMass Boston Administrative and Physical

Infrastructure Support Workgroup (2011) specified the need for more support in Graduate
Admissions. In particular, the group was concerned mainly with three areas: the application and
review process; appropriate staffing; and physical space. These three things ideally would need
to be worked on to maximize Graduate Admissions’ efficiency. The group did not just write to
“improve Graduate Admissions”. It gave exact resources that should be changed.
Recommendations
UMass Boston’s Fulfilling the Promise 2010-2025 Strategic Plan is extremely thorough,
transparent, and specific. It follows a traditional roadmap for strategic plan creation and
implementation. The only thing the author feels that may need to be changed is to expand on the
budget (expenses and revenues) a bit more to correlate with the objectives, since the majority of
the objectives are listed here, but not all. This may serve to either increase or decrease the
expenses and revenues.
Summary
UMass Boston’s current strategic plan is a model for the planning process. It has
included faculty, staff, and students in the planning stages and has asked for input from many
sources. Clear goals were defined, and objectives were generated with the original mission and
vision in mind, but these were changed (as is often the case when strategic planning occurs and
reacts to environmental changes – which is not a negative thing). Objectives were then handed
off to an implementation team and this team looked over the objectives further to scan deeper for
how to bring these objectives to light. A budget was created to correlate with the objectives, the
majority of which are present on the budget. The implementation team has specified the exact
resources needed to improve areas of the university to help meet the university’s vision. Now,
it is just a matter of carrying out the plans.

References
Hinton, K. E. (2012). A Practical Guide to Strategic Planning in Higher Education. Retrieved
from
http://oira.cortland.edu/webpage/planningandassessmentresources/planningresources/SC
PGuideonPlanning.pdf
Martinez, M. & Wolverton, M. (2009). Innovative strategy making in higher
education. Charlotte, N.C.: Information Age Publishing.
Paris, K. A. (2003). Strategic Planning in the University. Retrieved from
http://oira.cortland.edu/webpage/planningandassessmentresources/planningresources/Stra
tegicPlanningintheUniversity.pdf
UMass Boston. (2015). 25-Year Campus Master Plan. Retrieved from
https://www.umb.edu/the_university/masterplan
UMass Boston. (2011). Detailed Projections of Most Plan-Related Expenses and Revenues.
Retrieved from
https://www.umb.edu/editor_uploads/images/university/Strategic%20Plan%20Appendix
%20F.pdf
UMass Boston. (2015). History of UMass Boston. Retrieved from
https://www.umb.edu/the_university/history
UMass Boston. (2011). Implementation Design Team Workgroups. Retrieved from
%20C.pdf
UMass Boston. (2015). Mission & Values. Retrieved from
https://www.umb.edu/the_university/mission_values

UMass Boston. (2015). Strategic Planning 2010-2025. Retrieved from
https://www.umb.edu/the_university/strategicplan
UMass Boston. (2015). Vision Statement. Retrieved from
https://www.umb.edu/the_university/vision
UMass Boston. (2011). Vision Statement and Mission and Values Statement. Retrieved from
%20B.pdf
UMass Boston Administrative and Physical Infrastructure Support Workgroup. (2011).
Administrative and Physical Infrastructure Support Workgroup Report. Retrieved from
https://www.umb.edu/editor_uploads/images/university/Administrative%20and%20Physi
cal%20Infrastructure%20Support%20Workgroup%20Report.pdf
UMass Boston Implementation Design Team. (2011). Fulfilling the Promise: The Report of the
University of Massachusetts Boston Strategic Planning Implementation Design Team.
Retrieved from
https://www.umb.edu/editor_uploads/images/university/Fulfilling%20the%20Promise%2
09-26-11.pdf
UMass Boston Master Plan Subcommittee. (2010). Final Report of the Master Plan
Subcommittee for the Chancellor’s Strategic Planning Task Force. Retrieved from
https://www.umb.edu/editor_uploads/images/university/04-8-12-
10_Master_Plan_Subcommittee_Final_Report_June_16_2010.pdf
UMass Boston Office of Institutional Research and Policy Studies. (2015). Facts & Figures.
Retrieved from https://www.umb.edu/the_university/facts

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