In an effort to make Destination 2010 run more smoothly, administrators chose to transform the old Council for University Planning into a new planning body ?” the Strategic Planning Council.

“The Strategic Planning Council is a lot smaller than CUP and will focus more on coordination,” said Ric Brown, provost and vice president for academic affairs and chair of the new planning council.

According to Brown, the old university planning council was active for about 15 years and had approximately 35 members.

“It was a bureaucratic process,” Brown said.

There are 14 members of the new planning council, including Angel Barajas, president of Associated Students Inc., and Lori Varlotta, the vice president of Student Affairs.

Another reason for the change had to do with the future goals of the university. The first strategic plan for preparing the university for the 21st century was adopted in 1994. The last revision of the old council’s strategic plan was back in 1998. The former plan was not consistent with Destination 2010.

The Destination 2010 plan is similar to the standards of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges ?” the accrediting commission for universities ?” but it could use some improvement, according to Mike Lee, associate vice president for academic affairs.Members of the Strategic Planning Council agree that this new committee will serve the campus better.

The Director of the Office of Institutional Research Sutee Sujitparapitaya said the new council is more flexible.

“With this smaller group, all of the players are fully participant – results can occur in a more timely manner,” Sujitparapitaya said.

The council’s main purpose, according to its Web site, is “to review and to make recommendations to the president regarding planning and action priorities at the university level.”

Brown said the planning council needs to look at how to best align the current strategic plan of Destination 2010 with the Western Association of Schools’ standard goals.Currently, the council is working on the strategic plan of Sacramento State by 2007. In the spring of 2007, Sac State will be up for review of reaccreditation by the Western Association of Schools.

In the council’s second meeting of the semester Friday, the members met to discuss the goals of the university and how best to revise the strategic plan to meet the association’s standards.

The goals of academic programs, campus life and community engagement need to be clear and attainable for the western association’s review, Lee said.

“Destination 2010 is kind of alive, but the structure is not really clear,” Varlotta said.In the meeting, the council held an overall consensus that Destination 2010’s plan is the mainstay of Sac State’s goals. They also agreed to review the structure of the plan before the council comes to a vote on the main goal outline Feb. 10.

“If you were to go outside,seven out of 10 students will say that Destination 2010 is the ‘guiding’ document,” Brown said. “They may not know what it is, but they have heard of it.”

Brown also said to the council that the college’s strategic plan needs to address issues such as capping student enrollment, building more housing, improving student services and academics and encouraging faculty presence.

According to Michael Fitzgerald, a communications professor and faculty senate member, another issue that the new planning council should address is a plan for when funding is low.

“With Gov. Schwarzenegger, the election year and the budget being in good standing, we are OK. But what about when the money doesn’t come in?” Fitzgerald said.

Jamie Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]