BETWEEN THE LINES

Preparing ODU For the Next Five Years
By Steve Daniel, Editor

I recall hearing, a few years ago, an alumnus offer the following take on committee meetings: “When all was said and done, more was said than done.” He told it as a joke, but I’m sure many of us have experienced sitting on committees, whether in the workplace or elsewhere, and wondering what was being accomplished – and later, what, if anything, was decided.

A lot of committee work has been going on recently at Old Dominion under the heading of Enrollment Management, with more to come in development of the university’s 2010-14 Strategic Plan. Given the current economic climate, it is clear that members of the campus community are taking their roles with these planning groups very seriously as they help prepare the university to weather whatever storms may lie ahead, while we continue on the path outlined by our brand promise: forward-focused thinking, real-world results.

In the increasingly competitive world of higher education, it is important to know not only who you are, but where you want to go and how you’re going to get there. Provost Carol Simpson, who heads the strategic planning effort, notes that the following themes will be emphasized in the process: ODU’s position as a major metropolitan university in the southeastern U.S.; strategic partnerships that we can make with other institutions and businesses; and the building of a student-centered culture on campus.

The latter theme is one that has been at the core of the Enrollment Management study, which acting President John R. Broderick put in motion to develop a comprehensive approach for integrating all of the university’s programs, practices, policies and planning to achieve optimal enrollment and growth. Alice McAdory, associate vice president for enrollment management, and Marty Sharpe, vice provost for planning and institutional effectiveness, have headed the study and offer the following explanation of why it is needed: “Old Dominion has changed dramatically over the last few years. Our enrollment has increased, we have new academic programs, the campus has been transformed, there are new athletic programs and a marching band, and ODU is fast becoming a residential campus. Now is precisely the time to plan for the future.” The Enrollment Management committee findings, in fact, will provide valuable information as the university prepares its next five-year Strategic Plan.

The reason for taking stock periodically is to determine what course corrections might be necessary to make as the university pursues previously established goals and develops new ones. One goal from the last Strategic Plan – that of becoming one of the country’s Top 100 public research universities – is still being actively pursued. Although it’s too soon to tell when we might hit the Top 100 mark, the latest R&D expenditures data released by the National Science Foundation show that ODU attained Top 100 rankings in 13 academic areas for 2007-08. We also improved from 71st to 68th in total expenditures for institutions without a medical school. These numbers are promising, according to Mohammad Karim, vice president for research, who notes that the following areas, in particular, have experienced success of late: modeling, simulation and visualization; energy; bioelectrics; oceanography; accelerator physics; nanoparticles and molecular biology.