More than 80 different people from across the College are actively participating in the strategic planning process as a committee or work group member.
The project sponsor team coordinated with other College of Medicine leaders to identify individuals. The intent was to have members who represent a broad and diverse range of experience, roles, identities, and perspectives.
Members from each campus and stakeholder group (e.g., learner, faculty, staff, etc.) were chosen to ensure balance throughout the process.
The Steering Committee is primarily comprised of senior leaders within the College of Medicine and the broader University; Operations Committee and work group members have varying levels of experience and include medical students and other learners.
Membership for these committees and work groups was updated throughout the planning process (based on feedback) to ensure balanced representation.
Based on extensive internal and external scans of UI COM through interviews, data analysis, and committee meetings, seven areas were identified as common themes of emphasis for the strategic planning process.
The seven areas selected aim to comprehensively address the most important concerns for UI COM’s future.
Broader and more intersecting issues that cut across work groups or that apply to more than one type of stakeholder (e.g., intercampus connectedness, facility maintenance) are being addressed by the Operations and Steering Committees.
In the initial data gathering phase of the project, our external consultants conducted numerous interviews with different individuals and groups. Over 75 people provided input through this approach.
You have multiple additional options to provide your input on the strategic planning process: (1) submit general feedback via the UI COM strategic planning website, (2) provide feedback that is specific to a certain topic to a work group chair or member, and/or (3) attend community forums to voice your opinion.
If you have taken these steps but feel you need an additional avenue to provide feedback, please reach out to the project sponsor team (Todd Van Neck and Beth Wrona Murphy) to determine a solution. Our ultimate goal is to ensure every piece of feedback is heard.
No, as of the beginning of July the key elements for the strategic plan have not been finalized.
All work groups have drafted recommendations for goals, outcomes, and initiatives and are continuing to revise the content based partly on community feedback.
The Operations and Steering Committees next will provide their feedback to the work groups, who will then re-engage with the broader UI COM community to share their recommended goals, outcomes, and initiatives.
The work groups will continue revising this content until Fall 2019. We encourage all to offer feedback as early as possible, so we can better understand where to allocate our planning efforts.
The Operations Committee will be conducting a prioritization exercise that will consider five criteria: (1) reputation and recognition, (2) contribution to sustainability, (3) alignment with UI, UIC, and UI Health, (4) multiple campuses/one college, and (5) diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Additional consideration will be given to the perceived difficulty of implementing each goal.
The final selection and phasing of goals will be an inclusive process that will not be limited to just the Operations and Steering Committees. Additional community forums will be held in the Fall to vet the identified goals and strategies before the strategic plan is finalized
Leaders or representatives of all the UIC health science colleges have been interviewed as part of the strategic planning process.
Inter-professional coordination has been emphasized throughout the strategic planning process and is likely an emerging goal for one or more of the work groups.
No, additional community forums will be conducted in late Summer or early Fall where participants will get to view and provide input on draft strategic plan documents.
As part of the information-gathering process, extensive interviews and data analyses were completed to better understand relevant elements from regional campus strategic plans and the UIC strategic plan. We are currently working to align and incorporate these concurrent planning efforts into the UI COM strategic plan.
The UI COM strategic planning team is also working closely with the UI Health strategic planning team to ensure close coordination.
UI COM developed a five-year strategic plan in 2005 and reviewed and revised it in 2007 and 2010 to provide updates on the outcomes and next steps.
A set of overarching goals and initiatives was then created in 2012 to guide efforts over the next five years (2013-2017).
Yes, a focus area created as a result of the goals submitted by work groups to project leadership is named “Operational Effectiveness.”
This Operational Effectiveness focus area seeks to reduce bureaucracy and streamline processes to enable learners, faculty, and staff to work more effectively.
The last phase of the project will focus on understanding necessary resource allocations, determining key milestones, identifying success measures, and developing the communications and implementation approach for the strategic plan.
Our intent is to create a fully achievable plan that we will refer to on an ongoing basis and one that will guide our college for years to come.