The Process

 What are the important dates and milestones we should know?

• For your planning purposes, we have developed abbreviated and detail timelines to assist you in meeting  milestones. You can find those here.
  • Drafts for Non-Academic Units are due on October 15th with the finalized plans due on July 8, 2022.
  • Drafts for Academic Unit and Regional Campuses are due on November 19th with the finalized plans due on July 8, 2022.

What happens if we don’t think we’ll be finished by those dates?

• There is flexibility with the draft deadline but very little flexibility with the submission of the final plan due date. If you need an alternative deadline for the full draft not to exceed a month, please contact Stavros Atsas at satsas@kent.edu directly. He will work with you on determining a date that works for the process and your specific unit’s needs. Once an alternative date is determined, you will be required to send a confirmation in writing to ensure that both parties have mutual understanding.

What would be a good first year goal? 

• The strategic planning guides are written in a way to help units at every level develop an effective plan. However, we understand that every unit is in different stages of this work. For those units who are fairly new to diversity, equity and inclusion strategizing, there may be areas that you already have some efforts focused. This might be a good first year goal. While working on that goal, your department may begin to work on building capacity through training and cross training of DEI work in your unit.
• Units that are more advanced to the process, great job on your progress to date. However, there is always more work to be done. It may be good for your unit to seek a goal that moves the work forward while focusing intently on systems, structures and practices beyond programming. A few generic examples of goals are:
  • Increase student retention from 79% to 82%.
  • Implement a plan to improve staff professional development, climate and belonging.
  • Review department policies for internship placements to ensure equitable access to internships.

What would be a good multi-year goal progression?

• Each unit will need to determine its exact goals, but each year should build upon the progress of the other. During your planning process, you should identify a few disparities and goals that you may consider in future years. Your team can use those as starting places for Years 3 and 4. In your full draft, units will select one goal for years 2, 3 and 4. However, after each year, units will have an opportunity to examine their goals for the following year to modify them, as needed.

What sort of check-ins with units will happen?

• We will offer two check-ins per semester to allow units to share their experiences, successes, best practices and areas of struggles. Invites will be sent to all unit leads who can share the invite with members of their team as they deem appropriate. Units can schedule their sessions should a need arise. Your unit can request this as needed by emailing Stavros Atsas at satsas@kent.edu.