The Office of the President at Mississippi State University is currently taking input on the university’s Strategic Plan—State of Excellence 2019-2025 from anyone with an MSU login until midnight Feb. 28.
The MSU community can provide input by filling out an online survey, and results will be reviewed by the President’s Committee on Planning. The survey consists of seven text fields and five survey items. The text fields are not required to fill out, but the five survey items must be completed in order to submit. Participants must select ‘submit’ for responses to be considered.
The MSU Strategic Plan is a plan consisting of the university’s vision, mission, core values, overarching goal and strategic goals for the decade. Jason Lueg, assistant vice president for Academic Affairs Intern, explained the function the plan will serve for the university.
“Once we’re done, it will be made available on the website,” Lueg said. “So, people are invited as a part of this process to be familiar with it, so they can see how they can contribute to it. Also, it’s going to be made available to all the colleges and units, and they can reflect on it, as they are invited to develop their own strategic plans.”
Lueg explained the Strategic Plan is not just a general direction the university strives for, but the plan is also a flexible guide for colleges, departments and individuals to help achieve the listed goals.
According to Lueg, the construction, implementation and success of the plan depends on everyone in the MSU community.
“That’s why this process of getting all the input on the front end is, so that it’s as reflective of as many people so they can find themselves in the plan,” Lueg said. “That’s what makes it implemented.”
Timothy Chamblee, assistant vice president and director of the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness (OIRE), elaborated by saying whether or not people can see themselves contributing to the plan is an important factor in determining the goals of the plan.
“If people look at a part of the plan and say, ‘We’re not fitting in,’ then that’s an area that needs revamping,” Chamblee said.
Lueg, a professor of marketing, expressed the importance and value of input for the Strategic Plan.
“I really encourage students to provide their input. It’s just as valid as any other group on this campus,” Lueg said.
According to Lueg in a town hall meeting, the plan’s strategic goals can be summarized by the university’s official seal. The first three goals directly refer to the seal. The first goal is about teaching and learning, the second about research and creativity, and the third about outreach and community engagement. Lueg explained in a town hall meeting the fourth and fifth goals, about diversity, global perspective, institutional culture and environment, support the first three goals.
One of the core values listed in the Strategic Plan is also community engagement. Meggan Franks, interim director of the Office of Student Leadership and Community Engagement (SLCE), the Center for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL) and the Maroon Volunteer Center, explained what community engagement means.
“(MSU) defined community engagement as a collaboration between MSU and a partnering community for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity, while fulfilling MSU’s mission of scholarly teaching, research and service,” Franks said.
Franks said all goals in the plan could be implemented through community engagement.
“There are three areas community engagement lives in: you’ve got teaching, you’ve got service, you’ve got research,” Franks said. “What our programs do is, we take students out of this traditional classroom role, and we place them with an external community partner.”
Franks gave an example of community-engaged learning and teaching that her office approves and facilitates. She said the MSU School of Architecture sent students to design a home for a Habitat for Humanity family.
Examples like this can be found throughout a variety of majors and colleges. Franks spoke to the benefits of community engagement like teamwork, learning, communication skills and bettering the world.
“Our students are learning quite a bit, they get to work with a real person,” Franks said. “It’s a different style of learning where you get to experience real work.”
SLCE, CCEL and the Maroon Volunteer Center are the center of community engagement at MSU and maintain MSU’s Carnegie Community Engagement Classification. MSU is the only in-state institution holding this classification, which is one of the many ways MSU, OIRE and external stakeholders measure the success of the university’s Strategic Plan.
According to Chamblee, OIRE uses several different measurements to determine the effectiveness of the Strategic Plan. These include classifications, ranking systems and accreditation bodies.
“What we do is assimilate all that information to provide the updates to say, ‘Are we moving forward?’” Chamblee said. “Without accreditation, it’s hard to exist … Accreditation is the key to our being able to operate as an institution.”
According to Lueg, the effectiveness of the Strategic Plan relies on the whole MSU community to implement the goals.
“The more they (students, faculty and staff) see themselves in the plan,” Lueg said, “by their daily activities, they’re implementing and executing the plan, so that it becomes a living document.”
Franks gave advice for students looking to contribute to the plan through community engagement. 
“When you get asked for feedback, do it,” Franks said. “If you have an idea, set up an appointment with a dean, director or faculty member… If you ask to meet with a dean, they’ll meet with you. Tell them, ‘Here are things I didn’t get to participate in that I feel like would help my learning experience.’”
Lueg echoed this sentiment, urging undergraduate students to seek out opportunities to do research as well.
“Get to know your professors; get to know the graduate students,” Lueg said. “Talk to your instructors, get to know them. Find out what research are they engaged in and (ask) ‘is there any way you can assist?’”
Franks said students can also look for “C” or a “CEL” in front of course codes. This means the course is a Community Engaged Learning course.
If faculty have an interest in contributing to the Strategic Plan through community-engaged learning, research or service, Franks and the Center for Community Engaged Learning will help them through the process and make sure a proposed idea comes to fruition.
For now, Lueg and the President’s Committee on Planning are focused on receiving feedback from the survey. All feedback will be examined over spring break, and a final draft of the Strategic Plan will be made.
“We want to thank all the input we’ve had,” Lueg said. “Their opinions matter, and they’re valid, and their input is appreciated.”