Annual Operating Plan Objectives 2017-2018

Elevate the academic profile of the University

2017-2018 University Academic Profile Objectives: 

• Educate Point Park Community about Shared Governance. Explain what Shared Governance is and is not.
• Incorporate "best practices" for policies and procedures within Academic Affairs.
• Establish a strong University foundation for excellence through missions, structures, and leadership for each school and Point Park Online.
• Increase Faculty to support areas of strategic growth.
• Grow and develop key programs to attract intellectually and professionally motivated students.
• Elevate stature of, and engagement with, the Point Park News Service for students and faculty.
• Develop the Center for Media Innovation to attract talented students, faculty, and professionals.
• Review and establish standards of assessment of student learning for all academic programs and the core (including graduate-level and online).
• Maintain full University Accreditation as well as accreditation for all discipline-specific programs.
• Provide opportunities and support for faculty and student research.
• Improve retention and graduation rates.
• Develop a consistent framework and protocols for advisory councils to ensure that all programs are high quality, relevant, and responsive to changing demographics and learning outcomes.
• Support high-impact practices in all academic programs.

Expand high quality online and hybrid programs to provide a Point Park education to populations underserved by the University's on-ground program

2017-2018 Online and Hybrid Objectives: 

• Establish clear, consistent university-wide policies, procedures, and best practices for online education, including appropriate compliance with various state and international laws and regulations (e.g. Ensuring Point Park University complies with regulations to have online offerings in all 50 states).
• Expand and further develop high-quality online and hybrid programs for underserved populations.
• Develop and provide an effective and engaging virtual learning ecosystem.

Create opportunities for innovative, integrated learning

2017-2018 Innovative, Integrated Learning Objectives: 

• Assess and improve the student learning environment.
• Ensure that every undergraduate student participates in interdisciplinary collaboration and/or programming
• Develop the Pittsburgh Playhouse by creating a Center for Entertainment Management to build interdisciplinary synergies for academic programming and practice, and to involve stakeholders from throughout the entertainment industry.

Elevate the regional and national profile of faculty

2017-2018 Faculty Profile Objectives: 

• Enhance faculty development by promoting and supporting the teacher-scholar/teacher-artist model of faculty excellence.

Promote Inclusive Excellence as a cultural and academic value

2017-2018 Inclusive Excellence Objectives: 

• Increase the diversity of our faculty and staff to reflect our evolving society and our student body's diverse cultural fabric.

Implement and practice the tenants of shared governance across University operations

2017-2018 Shared Governance Objectives: 

• Educate Point Park Community about Shared Governance. Explain what Shared Governance is and is not.
• Assess the inclusiveness of all program learning outcomes.

Connect every student with at least one meaningful experiential learning opportunity each year

2017-2018 Experiential Learning Opportunities Objectives:

• Implement cooperative education across the University

Develop a sense of community and pride throughout the University

2017-2018 University Community and Pride Objectives:

• Formally recognize and promote student staff and faculty achievements within and outside the Point Park University community.

Promote the connection between the liberal arts foundation and preparation for careers now and
throughout the lives of Point Park students.

2017-2018 Liberal Arts Foundation and Career Prep Connection Objectives:

• Utilize senior capstone projects to demonstrate the integration of the liberal arts core with the career preparation of the major.
• Promote core curriculum learning outcomes and competencies as signature components of the Point Park student experience.
• Centralize all internship, co-ops, and FT/PT placement transactions are coordinated through HandShake.

Foster a culture of respect, civility, and inclusivity in the Point Park community for all students,
staff, faculty, alumni, and administrators

Assure the highest quality of life on campus.

2017-2018 Quality of Campus Life Objectives:

• Use a relationship with food services vendors to improve student dining options.
• Provide safety and security programs that will enhance the situational awareness of our community while on campus and off.

Develop and implement an ongoing, rolling three-year strategic enrollment plan that ties directly
to a rolling three-year financial plan that clearly demonstrates the operational vitality of the
University and generates enough resources to reinvest in the University according to the Strategic Plan.

2017-2018 Strategic Enrollment Plan Objectives:

• Establish the following targets: traditional undergraduate, transfer, graduate, non-traditional, online, retention.
• Refine recruitment plans for part-time and transfer students to avoid melt.
• Develop strategies to identify potential graduate students and target recruitment efforts.
• Develop strategies to identify and recruit targeted international student demographics.
• Increase prospective student engagement throughout the recruitment cycle by effectively using the web, social media, and marketing partnerships.
• Develop a master Communication Flow Chart for COPA recruitment.
• Establish and deploy an online marketing and recruitment strategy for the Cinema Arts Program.
• Develop a recruitment-based network with the top, region-based high schools that offer opportunities in performing and visual arts studies in order to increase our local applicant pool by establishing a professional, working relationship with their constituents.
• Use financial aid to secure targeted prospective students identified through enrollment management strategy.

Leverage the University's brand to promote being on the cutting edge of innovation in
communications, media, technology, business, and the arts, inside and outside of the classroom.

2017-2018 University Innovation Brand Objectives:

• Deliver a clear, consistent brand messaging to elevate recognition, nationally and internationally

Adopt models of resource development and constituent engagement that align and support the
University's strategic initiatives

2017-2018 Resource Development and Constituent Engagement Objectives:

• Build a culture of philanthropy through the tenets of informing, engaging, investing, appreciation, and stewardship of all University constituencies.
• Starting in FY16 shifted to comprehensive fundraising strategies that incorporate a modular approach focused on "big" thematic opportunities that are bold, enterprising, innovative, and interdisciplinary.
• Conduct internal multi-faceted feasibility assessment of incorporating data analysis and predictive modeling of University constituencies' giving capacity and inclination. The goal is to project the potential to raise significant dollars for priority initiatives, including growing the permanent endowment.
• Invest in a new fundraising database (w/conversion and annual maintenance costs), assess usage of current technology and software systems (Crescendo/Alumni App), and explore innovative social media fundraising platforms (i.e. crowd rise) and constituent engagement and management systems (i.e. modules).
• Reframe fundraising messaging and solicitation strategies for the new Pittsburgh Playhouse from a brick-and-mortar campaign to a focus on innovative, programmatic, educational, and emerging industry-based initiatives. Develop the Center for Entertainment Management plan and identify programmatic opportunities for fundraising. Goal = $20-25 million (potential CEM naming opportunity).
• Establish a permanent general endowment that donors can contribute directly to for future financial stability to withstand budget constraints and high tuition discounting.
• Project and measure annual baseline revenue through growing the comprehensive annual fund program monetarily by 4-6% and participation rate by .5%-1% annually over five years.

Grow the Board Designated Reserve Fund by 35 percent

Implement integrated strategies and systems designed to increase workplace productivity by
developing improved processes for attracting, developing, retaining, and utilizing people with the
required skills and aptitude to meet the University's current and future needs.

2017-2018 Workplace Productivity Objectives:

• Purposefully plan for the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to achieve the University's Strategic plan through competency development and internal skill enhancement focused on building abilities and leadership aptitude for current employees.
• Cultivate an environment of awareness, mutual respect, and understanding in a workplace that is reflective of our diverse society.
• Acknowledge, honor, encourage, and support individuals and teams who are committed to the University's mission, vision, and values and who contribute, through behaviors and actions, to forwarding the mission.
• Generate clear, effective, and efficient communication with and among all internal stakeholders. Ensure timely crossover between internal and external communications.

Build the technological infrastructure to enhance our instructional and administrative needs.

2017-2018 Technological Infrastructure Objectives:

• Select and Implement Ticketing System for New Pittsburgh Playhouse.
• Implement enterprise-wide online records management software for records currently stored at ACCESS in support of the University's records retention policy. Implementation will include coordination of training and help desk support.
• Develop a system-wide technology infrastructure that includes internal programming capabilities to support the website and mobile-friendly/responsively designed applications, information and data sharing across the University, and automation of all business processes using the best available current and future technology.
• Inventory security cameras on campus and determine if obsolete.

Improve utilization of facilities and space

2017-2018 Facilities and Space Utilization Objectives:

• To enhance the overall experience for students, faculty, and staff and to increase efficiencies of Building usage.

Develop a strategic planning assessment strategy to align resources with the plan

Optimize the efficient use of University resources across all levels of operations

Create opportunities for field studies to complement doctoral-level coursework

2017-2018 Doctoral-level Field Studies Objectives:

• Develop Cinema Department and University Centers (CEM/CMI) development.
• Utilize our facilities to engage campus communities.

Leverage partnerships with the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, government agencies to create relevant and impactful dissertation thesis project opportunities.

Utilize our facilities and programs to engage campus communities to advance our mission

2017-2018 Campus Communities Engagement Objectives:

• Engage the region by expanding on the Academic Village to serve as an incubator for the community, our students, and our faculty.

Emphasize the University's mission and focus on community engagement by attaining the "elective" Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement

2017-2018 Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement Objectives:

• Provide documentation of our collaboration with the community, and our use of processes that enrich our scholarship, curriculum, and impact on the community.
• Create applied and translational scholarship opportunities to support university-community partnerships and initiatives.

Establish influential and impactful constituent outreach and engagement.

2017-2018 Constituent Outreach and Engagement Objectives:

• Expand community access to Point Park resources including intellectual, practical, and human capital.

Strategic engagement with our alumni.

2017-2018 Alumni Engagement Objectives:

• Identify the diverse needs of Point Park alumni throughout the alumni lifecycle.
• Identify opportunities where alumni can lead and support campus initiatives and build appropriate infrastructure to recruit, manage and steward alumni engagement and volunteer opportunities.
• Support the work of the Point Park University Alumni Board of Directors as leaders of the alumni community and with their efforts to promote engagement.
• Deliver value-added, substantive, and engaging programming that strengthens the relationship between alumni and Point Park.
• Upgrade alumni/fundraising database and alumni management infrastructure in order to use alumni data to drive operational plans.