Planning Process

During the 2021-2022 academic year, the Ottawa University community is joining together to chart our collective vision for the coming five years. Through a broadly based and inclusive process, we will leverage the passion, creativity, expertise, and commitment of our faculty and staff, students, alumni, Board of Trustees, supporters, and community partners to develop an ambitious but attainable strategic plan. Our work will be guided by our institutional mission, spurred by the momentum of our growth and success, and inspired by the Ottawa Spirit.

Process and Timeline

Working with the Board of Trustees, the Executive Cabinet, and faculty leadership, President & CEO Bill Tsutsui formed a Strategic Planning Steering Committee in August 2021. The 21-member group is broadly representative of Ottawa University’s campuses, our key internal constituencies, and our connections to the larger world. 

Over the fall of 2021, the group immersed itself in data and other materials on where OU stands today, its points of strength, and the areas where attention and investment are required. It also surveyed the complex landscape of contemporary American higher education and identified opportunities as well as challenges going forward. At a day-long retreat in late September, the Steering Committee identified a list of six key topics that will provide focus to broader community conversations on the future of Ottawa University.

Following the retreat, the Steering Committee convened six Working Groups, smaller committees of individuals from across the institution, which are charged with diving deeper into these key topics. The working groups allow for greater participation in the process and are responsible for soliciting broad, grassroots engagement through focus groups, townhall meetings, listening sessions, surveys, and other means. The goal is to empower, inspire, and genuinely hear as many voices as possible, from as many corners of the OU as possible, on issues that matter for our future directions, the goals we are going to stretch for, and the hard choices we are going to have to tackle together.

Early in 2022, the Steering Committee will collect input from the Working Groups and the community, duly consider it, debate it, distill it, synthesize it, and ultimately bring it together into a document that will be our roadmap for the future, for how we invest our energies and our limited resources, for what we hope to be and how we hope to get there. The intention is to have a complete draft by late spring 2022 for final consideration by the Board at its June meeting, and with the anticipation that the evolving strategic plan will inform the budgeting process for the 2023 fiscal year.

Strategic Planning Steering Committee

The Steering Committee, chaired by the President & CEO, will drive the strategic planning process: collecting and studying data on Ottawa University and the future of American higher education; identifying key topics that will structure the planning process; seeking broad input from our campuses and communities through six Working Groups; analyzing, debating, and dreaming; and eventually distilling and drafting a compelling vision and plan for the next five years. 

Working Groups

The six Working Groups will include all the members of the Steering Committee as well as almost 30 additional faculty and staff members from our campuses (selected based on recommendations from the Steering Committee). Each Working Group will be led by two co-facilitators, one from the steering committee and one not; a member of the Executive Cabinet is assigned to each of the Working Groups, primarily in a support function. 

Each of the Working Groups will focus on one of the key topics for Ottawa University’s future as defined by the Steering Committee: Academic Futures, Affordability and Accessibility, Building Inward, Engaging Outward, One University, and The Student Experience. These topics will drive the activities of the Working Groups, which are tasked with engaging broadly with the OU community, building grassroots involvement, delving into issues of strategic importance, and exploring potential solutions and directions for the institution.

Speak Up and Be Heard

Ottawa University will only achieve its full potential as an institution and as a community if we all come together now to collaborate on the important work of planning. In January and early February of 2022, the Working Groups will seek input from all members of the Ottawa University family.  This is the time for everyone who cares about OU—faculty and staff, students, alums, and friends—to bring their voices, bright ideas, concerns, questions, experience, hopes, and dreams to the making of a five-year roadmap for Ottawa University. The plan will only be strong and successful if everyone contributes now to a collective vision for what this institution can (and will) be. Please take an active part in charting a path for the next chapter in the history of Ottawa University by participating in the events listed below, by submitting your suggestions through the anonymous feedback form, or by contacting any members of the Steering Committee or Working Groups. 

If you have any questions about the strategic planning process, please email PresidentCEO@ottawa.edu. Thank you for your investing in Ottawa University’s future.

 

Building on its foundation as a Christ-inspired community of grace and open inquiry, Ottawa University prepares professional and liberal arts graduates for lifetimes of personal significance, vocational fulfillment, and service to God and humanity.

Aaron Siebenthall, MA

Aaron Siebenthall, MA

Head Men's Basketball Coach, OUKS

Assistant Professor of Teacher Education

Director of Athletic Academic Development

Assistant Athletic Director for Community Relations

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Allen Reger

Allen Reger

FACILITATOR, Building Inward Working Group (Strategic Planning)

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Director of Finance Advising, OU Online

Bill Tsutsui, PhD

Bill Tsutsui, PhD

CHAIR, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

University President and CEO

Professor of History

Brittney Kellar

Brittney Kellar

Assistant Athletic Director, OUAZ

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Craig Kispert

Craig Kispert

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Danny Trent

Danny Trent

Vice Chair, Board of Trustees

Attorney, Perry & Trent LLC

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Dennis Tyner, PhD

Dennis Tyner, PhD

President, OUAZ

Professor of Science

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Destini Salas

Destini Salas

OUKS Undergraduate Student

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Donald Anderson

Donald Anderson

FACILITATOR, The Student Experience Working Group (Strategic Planning)

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Dean of Student Life and Services, OUKS

Frank Nainoa, MA

Frank Nainoa, MA

Academic Dean, OUAZ

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Janet Kincaid

Janet Kincaid

Vice Chair, Board of Trustees

Deputy Regional Director for the FDIC

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Janet Peters, JD

Janet Peters, JD

Vice President for Advancement

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Karen Ohnesorge, PhD

Karen Ohnesorge, PhD

FACILITATOR, Affordability and Accessibility Working Group (Strategic Planning)

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Dean, School of Arts and Sciences

Professor of English

Kristen Moore, PhD

Kristen Moore, PhD

Associate Professor of Business

Interim Academic Dean, OU-Online

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Lyn Wagner, MS, CPA

Lyn Wagner, MS, CPA

FACILITATOR, Academic Futures Working Group (Strategic Planning)

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Associate Professor of Accounting

Mike Hoover

Mike Hoover

FACILITATOR, Engaging Outward Working Group (Strategic Planning)

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Assistant Director of Economic Development, City of Surprise (AZ)

Nancy Wingert

Nancy Wingert

Executive Vice President, OU Online

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Reggies Wenyika, EdD

Reggies Wenyika, EdD

President, OUKS

Professor of Education and Religion

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Sydney Aea

Sydney Aea

OUAZ Undergraduate Student

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Terry Haines, EdD

Terry Haines, EdD

University Provost and Chief Academic Officer

Professor of Education

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Wynndee Lee

Wynndee Lee

FACILITATOR, One University Working Group (Strategic Planning)

Member, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Life Trustee, Board of Trustees

Director of Major Gifts, Ottawa University

Community Development Director, City of Ottawa (retired)

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