A summary of our findings from our Idea Summit

March 10, 2022

Dear Provost Office Community,
 
We had a very successful Idea Summit around our academic strategic planning implementation efforts and we wanted to share with you our findings and next steps. During our time together, those in attendance prioritized the ideas and interest areas submitted to our Idea Submission Survey by narrowing down, or combining, similar ideas. Commitments were made among working groups to transition these prioritized ideas into formal proposals that will be submitted to the Office of the Provost by April 11.

How to get involved:

Whether you attended the February Idea Summit or not, you can still be a part of the academic strategic implementation process. Involvement can range from spectator, to being a part of a working group, or leading the submission of a proposal.

No matter the type of engagement, this is the first iteration of this competitive process. Some proposals are ready to be submitted and others are still in development. This proposal cycle will be repeated every two years and will be open to all to engage with again.
 
You can review the prioritized list of ideas that came out of our Idea Summit. Only the ideas that were selected by the working groups to move toward a proposal are listed on our website. This does not preclude anyone from submitting a proposal as an individual or working group. Please email academicstrategicplan@msu.edu to request any updates to existing information or new ideas to be placed on the list.

Next Steps:

The next steps for our implementation process include:

Determine how you want to get involved:

• Connect with a chairperson, author, or co-author that is listed on our website to get involved with an existing group. Determine, as a group, if you want to submit a proposal. Jump right to “building your proposal.”
• Email academicstrategicplan@msu.edu an interest area idea title, chair, and co-authors for the proposal you would like to develop if you do not see something similar on our website already. Determine, as a group, if you want to submit a proposal. Jump right to “building your proposal.”

Building your proposal:

As you begin to work through your proposal using the mandatory three-page proposal template, please remember that we are looking for proposals that meet one or more of the following criteria:

• Campus-wide
• High impact
• Foundational
• Inclusive of outreach, engagement, and extension efforts
• In pursuit of bold new opportunities
• A revamp of existing projects/processes
• Inclusive of multiple units, colleges or departments

The proposal review process is going to be a competitive process and reviewed by a submission committee. More details on the rubric will be placed on the website and sent in future communications. The work we are doing on this now will impact the future and legacy of MSU.

Office hours:

We invite you to participate in two upcoming office hours to meet with our advisory committee if you have any questions about building a proposal for our Proposal Summit. During this time, you can:

• Ask questions
• Make connections with others
• Invite those who you know have similar interests around our ideas that may turn into a proposal to participate in our efforts, if they are interested.

Please join us:

• March 17, 2022 from 11 – noon
• March 24, 2022 from 11 – noon

Email us at academicstrategicplan@msu.edu to request to join by March 16 and 23 respectively. Participants will then be sent a calendar hold and Zoom link.

Proposal due date:

Proposals are due April 11 by 11:59 p.m. (EST) via a Qualtrics link that will be distributed to the provost community closer to the due date.

The Proposal Summit:

• Our Proposal Summit will be held virtually on April 14, 2022 from 9 a.m. - noon. During our time together, we will meet as a group to go over a short welcome and introduction to the day. Following that, we will breakout into rooms, specific to each Strategic Plan theme, or pillar.
• Anyone who has submitted a proposal will then have an opportunity to present a five-minute presentation to the campus community on their proposal. Some strategic pillars will have more presentations than others.
• Registration information will be sent out in the coming weeks. In the meantime, please save this date and time on your calendars: April 14 from 9 a.m. - noon.
   

We can’t thank you enough for the interest, participation, and conversations we’ve had thus far. If you have any questions about our process, please do not hesitate to reach out to academicstrategicplan@msu.edu.
 
Sincerely,
 
-The Academic Strategic Planning Implementation Team