Standard 2: Planning and Evaluation

Dartmouth's capacity for strategic planning is evident in the self-conscious and fundamental shift in educational emphasis it has undertaken in recent decades. Without forsaking its commitment to providing an excellent undergraduate education, Dartmouth has increasingly directed resources toward becoming a research university of the character of its sister Ivy League institutions. Dartmouth's success in managing such a costly shift testifies to its capacity to direct large financial investments towards institutional goals. It has done so effectively, maintaining both financial equilibrium and a collectively held sense of educational purpose. This success is the clearest, most persuasive evidence of the success of its commitment to strategic planning. Thus we are confident that Dartmouth meets all six criteria of NEASC's standard for planning and evaluation.

Dartmouth's planning process has been, until very recently, decentralized and collegial. It is decentralized in the sense that the institution primarily devolves responsibility downward to the operational offices responsible for administration and implementation, e.g., academic planning, budgeting, and student life. The academic deans of Arts and Sciences and the professional schools also appear to retain individual planning responsibilities. These planning and budget processes are integrated through the President's Executive Council and the smaller Budget Group.

Dartmouth has also demonstrated its ability to bring these various planning efforts together to create strategic plans. Its Planning Steering Report of 1990, updated in 1992, continues to be the effective translation of its mission statement into institutional priorities. Also in the early 1990s, Dartmouth created five priorities that continue to inform budget decision-making today. These include the protection of core academic functions and programs, tenure-track faculty positions, need-moot admissions, competitive compensation, and improvement of academic facilities. The Campus Master Plan has also been periodically updated, most recently in 1999.

Strategic emphasis now focuses on student life issues. The single institution-wide process addressing these issues, the Student Life Initiative, is aimed at ameliorating what seems an institutional paradox. Dartmouth's graduating seniors express great satisfaction with their sense of campus community. Yet, they also characterize the academic culture as less intellectual, less vigorously creative than it could be. It is to Dartmouth's credit that administrators, faculty, and students alike are all committed to understanding and redressing this paradox.

Dartmouth has recently made excellent appointments to the critical positions of Provost and Director of Institutional Research. Overall planning is increasingly becoming the responsibility of the Provost's office. We believe that this shift is a good one, and we would encourage continued movement in this direction. We also approve Dartmouth's engagement of the respected consulting firm, Cambridge Associates, to help improve its financial planning models. These initiatives will help address four major planning challenges:

• ensuring that strategic planning and budget goals drive policy choices, large and small;
• projecting and assessing cost pressures and financial equilibrium for at least a decade forward;
• bringing better comparative institutional data to bear on the institution's assessment of its academic and financial priorities; and
• preparing a new and comprehensive strategic plan for Dartmouth's next major campaign.