Strategic Planning: Invitation for Input

04/11/2023

Dear Stony Brook Community,

In the months since our strategic planning forums in the fall, the Provost’s Office has engaged with leaders across the university and the REACH Committee to reflect on feedback our community shared and to move toward finalizing elements of the plan. I have several updates to share and I am eager to invite the community to again provide your input.

Last fall, these forums were one of my favorite events. Several hundred of you signed up to attend, and you shared thoughtful and meaningful feedback to help us continue shaping our vision, values, and priorities. These elements of the plan were the product of tremendous work on the part of our REACH Visioning Committee, who spent months reviewing and refining volumes of input gathered from the community last spring.

What came through first and foremost in our October forums is that we are a community who cares deeply about this university. Many of you shared your aspirations for Stony Brook to continue advancing as a premier public flagship university and world-class academic health center. We also heard clearly your concerns about challenges that we must address in order to make progress.

Now, we are ready to share with our community a refined version of our vision and values, and begin to transition toward a focus on priorities, initiatives, and metrics. You’ll find a survey in this message to share your input, as well as an invitation to join us at a community forum on strategic planning.

Strategic planning committee: Early in the spring semester, we convened a strategic planning committee made up of members of the REACH Visioning Committee as well as additional members drawn from volunteers from the October forums. 

We have also selected two co-chairs: Jennie Williams, Associate Professor of Family, Population, and Preventive Medicine in the Renaissance School of Medicine, and Tom Manuel, Director of the Young Artist Jazz Program and Jazz Artist in Residence in the Department of Music in the College of Arts and Sciences. Jennie and Tom have been involved since the first stages of strategic planning, as original members of the REACH Committee. I am grateful to the two of them and all of our committee members for their leadership in ensuring the plan reflects the diverse opportunities and needs across our institution.

Community feedback: Working with the committee and university leadership, we’ve made progress in solidifying our vision and values, and organizing around key priorities. We invite you to share your feedback on the refined vision and values in a brief survey, which you can complete by clicking here. Your input will be critical to help us assess how well these elements align with your aspirations for Stony Brook. The survey will remain open through end of day Sunday, April 23. 

Strategic planning forums: We will host forums later this month to engage the community again in our next steps on strategic planning. We will encourage your ideation around priorities and related initiatives that will advance us toward our overarching vision. We will host our strategic planning forums on two dates, one to be hosted in-person and the other virtual. 

• Thursday, April 27, 3 to 5 p.m., Union Ballroom
• Friday, April 28, 9 to 11 a.m., via Zoom

Please click here to RSVP for either session.

I look forward to your continued engagement and appreciate your input on our path ahead. 

Sincerely,
Carl

Carl Lejuez
Provost and Executive Vice President