This spring, Farmingdale State College (FSC) unveiled its “Eight for Twenty-Eight” strategic plan for the next five years and beyond. The result of a year-long inclusive process, the plan identifies eight strategic goals to guide the College from 2023 to 2028. With nearly 40 measurable objectives, the plan offers a vision for better serving current and future students, faculty, staff, and the region. The process, led by FSC’s Committee on Planning and Resource Allocation (CPRA), engaged every level of the College community, from the President’s Cabinet to the faculty, the staff, the student body, and the College Council.
“This plan is both aspirational and assessable. It reflects the many ways Farmingdale is evolving with the rapid growth and development of our distinctive and distinguished student body, while providing a road map for how to best navigate the next five years,” said Dr. John S. Nader, president of Farmingdale State College. “In the past few years we have added new degree programs in emerging fields in business, computer science, health care, and energy; funded honors scholarship programs in all four of our schools; secured funding for a new building devoted to the computer sciences; and received a Carnegie Community Engagement Classification. Our progress has been remarkable and we aspire to even greater success.”
FSC’s College-wide goals prioritize its commitment to academic excellence, student success, and fostering a culture of inclusion and civic responsibility. Our plan synthesizes the findings and recommendations from various groups currently working to implement strategies and actions that position Farmingdale for the challenges ahead. The plan reinforces the College’s deep and long-standing dedication to student success, while embracing new goals and a broad vision that reflects the changing and increasingly competitive higher education environment.
“This was an intensive process, as we prioritized gathering, analyzing, and incorporating input from the entire campus community,” said Kathy Machin, senior assistant librarian and chair of the CPRA. “From the feedback we received throughout the process, it became clear that our goals and objectives, and our path forward, would be structured around facilitating and ensuring student success at every stage of their FSC experience.”
Highlighting recent successes, FSC is embracing new opportunities and raising its profile in several emerging areas. Among them are attracting professional staff by actively recruiting FSC alumni and investing in mentorship and advancement opportunities for existing faculty and staff. To further promote the use of renewable energy and sustainable practices, the College is developing new academic programs to serve increasing workforce demands and identifying renewable sources for campus energy needs. In addition, FSC is redefining its core commitment to student success and the student experience by introducing programs that speak to its highly diverse student population, and increasing its focus on non-academic, holistic support services designed to nurture the complete student.
The plan centers on the future while retaining themes that are vital to the sustained success of the College, including recruiting new full-time faculty and launching new academic programs consistent with the College’s mission.
A highly inclusive process was managed by the CPRA, comprising diverse stakeholders across the campus community. The committee initiated an environmental scan using a SWOT analysis to help the College identify challenges on the horizon. They engaged stakeholder groups and key College-wide committees in the development of broad goals and objectives for the institutional strategic plan and provided feedback to those groups.
To gain feedback and share progress, the CPRA held two campus-wide town hall meetings to establish a dialog and engage the campus community. In addition, two campus-wide surveys were conducted during the process to elicit input on draft plans.
College officials were commended for monitoring progress and addressing the goals of the earlier/previous plan.
The Cabinet and the CPRA will adopt performance indicators and action items linked to each of the strategic goals and the corresponding objectives to document implementation of the plan. A progress review will take place semi-annually.
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