UNG Town Hall Meeting

UNG holds community meetings to plan university's future

The University of North Georgia will hold a series of town hall
meetings, one on each of the university's four campuses, for alumni and
community members to provide input on plans for the future of the university.
The meetings are scheduled March 3-10.

"Our university has a major impact on the economy,
workforce and culture of this region, and we need to be both responsive and
proactive in meeting the needs of the state, this region and the country,"
said UNG President Bonita C. Jacobs. "As we seek to provide a high-quality
education to our students and serve the northeast Georgia region, it is vital
that our faculty, staff and students and the members of the community have
opportunities to provide their input and share their opinions."

UNG's Strategic Planning Steering Committee, a broad-based
representation of about 60 faculty, staff and students from the university's
four campuses, was formed last fall to guide the university through the current
phase of the strategic planning process, "Engaging UNG: Planning for
Excellence." Strategic planning is a collaborative process through which
the university community develops a shared vision of its future and goals.

The committee is co-chaired by Dr. J.B. Sharma, professor
and assistant department head of physics, and Dr. Andrew J. Leavitt, vice
president for university advancement and professor of chemistry.

Town hall meetings are an important part of the strategic
planning process for UNG to ensure that alumni and the community, in addition
to university faculty, staff and students, have opportunities to learn about
and comment on the work of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee. In
addition to the town hall meetings, comments also can be submitted via the strategic planning
website.

Leavitt is leading the efforts to engage alumni, donors and
the community and noted that members of the committee also will solicit
feedback from their specific constituencies.

"A strategic plan without community input is only half
a plan," Leavitt said. "Gathering input from people outside of the
university will be critical for the committee to develop a strategic plan that
best serves the university and our communities."

Community meetings are scheduled as follows and typically last
about an hour:

·        
Dahlonega: Monday, March 3, 6 p.m. in Hoag Auditorium

·        
Gainesville: Tuesday, March 4, 6 p.m. in Continuing Education/Performing Arts 108

·        
Cumming: Thursday, March 6, 6 p.m. in room 125

·        
Oconee: Monday, March 10, 6 p.m. in the Student Resource Center room 522

Click
here for campus maps and directions to all four campuses. Also, plans are
in development for an online town hall meeting that would provide opportunities
for alumni to participate, regardless of their geographic location. Details on
this event will be announced soon.

Similar meetings are being held for faculty, staff and
students throughout the semester, Sharma said, as the committee is dedicated to
giving people "ownership" of the strategic plan.

"We will be sure that the conversation reaches out to
every nook and cranny," Sharma said. "If there is a personal buy-in
at every level, it will translate into success over the long term, so it is
very important that people have a sense that they spoke up and were
heard."

The committee, which will continue meeting throughout the
semester, will split into various subcommittees and work on focusing the
strategic themes identified in this fall's visioning process into an initial
draft of the strategic plan.

As the committee drafts elements of the plan, it will vet
concepts by presenting ideas to "sounding boards" of campus and
community constituents and through the strategic planning website. The steering
committee will submit a strategic plan to Dr. Patricia Donat, provost and
senior vice president for academic affairs, by April 30. The next step will be
identifying an implementation committee who will begin putting UNG's strategic
plan into action.