Commitment to Engaging Our Community: Progress to Date
This page will be periodically updated with our progress on the strategic plan priorities.
Commitment to Engaging Our Community
| Strategies and Actions | Owner / Status | Update |
|---|---|---|
| Strategy: Ensure that our core values govern constituent interactions with the university, everywhere they occur, so that all community members feel supported and appreciated. | ||
| Action: Ensure all employees know our core values and incorporate them into annual reviews and goal setting. | Ploeckelman/Leitzke Ongoing |
New Faculty/Staff Orientation around values; CREATE brown bags; instituting a new annual review based on values (2022) |
| Action: Complete a biennial cultural assessment to identify strengths and opportunities. | Ploeckelman/Meyer Ongoing |
Culture Surveys were facilitated in 2019 and 2021; data has been aggregated, shared, and key actions have been identified. |
| Action: Articulate and publicize our position and plan on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. | Mitchell Ongoing |
DEIB Strategic Plan, Institutional Statement, and Definitions have been developed. In fall of 2022, we launched DEIB website. |
| Action: Engage the community in fully implementing our culture through seminars, workshops, retreats or other deliberate training sessions. | Ploeckelman/Mitchell/Leitzke Ongoing |
HR onboarding sessions and supervisor training; DEIB Training; CREATE brown bags on values; design thinking workshops; CREATE hosts various seminars, workshops, etc.; Academic Town Halls (6/year); President's Forums (2/year) (2023) |
| Action: Continuously reinforce and sustain culture with language, traditions, celebrations, visuals on campus, and events that align with our shared values. |
Mitchell/Thachenkary Ongoing |
Kickoff celebration for faculty and staff; welcome week; MLK Day of Service; Memorial Bike Ride; Empty Bowls; HR End of Year in May; DEIB; President's Learning Series (2023) |
| Strategy: Increase opportunities for meaningful and significant student, faculty and staff interactions. | ||
| Action: Provide physical and digital spaces and opportunities that allow for and promote faculty, staff and student collaborations in curricular and co-curricular experiences and also with faculty and staff at other universities. | Williams/Mitchell/Valley/Leitzke Ongoing |
Various spaces continue to be designed and developed across campus to increase collaboration, including: the CREATE Institute; the Cove; Diercks Hall; Viets Tower; Kern Center; STEM Center; Spitzer Dining Commons; the Game Room (2023); additional women's locker rooms in the Kern Center and Viets Field (2023); and the new Athletic Field for Women's Softball (2023). Acquired 310 E Knapp property. |
| Action: Enhance purposeful extra- and co-curricular opportunities to strengthen our community on campus and online. | Mitchell/Valley/Leitzke Ongoing | CREATE provides the place and space for organic collaboration; Student organizations space, including NSBE; launch of the American Family Scholars Program; Carter Academy; Women's Sports Teams Expansion; updated and renovated residence hall spaces. Added the Student Game Room near the Spitzer Dining Commons. |
| Action: Utilize virtual environments to convene people across units and throughout the university in ways that promote communication and collaboration, including expanded presidential forums and similar events. |
Williams/Thachenkary/Leitzke Ongoing |
Advanced virtual learning through the use of Microsoft Teams; Implementation of Canvas; Academic Town Halls and Presidential Forums (simulcasting, live interactive forum); Internal Portal for faculty/staff/students. The Web and Interactive Steering Committee (WISC) sets the direction and policies for the University’s website and the web and interactive operating environment based on best practices. WISC will continually look at opportunities to communicate relevant information to appropriate audiences and take input from key stakeholders including faculty, staff and students. |
| Strategy: Increase awareness of MSOE throughout the communities we serve. | ||
| Action: Complete an analysis to determine key audiences to meet awareness objectives including those related to academics, recruitment, athletics, community and corporate engagement, alumni relations, and career connections. | Thachenkary Ongoing |
A marketing awareness survey was completed with students to establish a baseline. Will use results to measure against and determine how we are going to communicate. |
| Action: Engage marketing and public relations staff to develop a reinvigorated and comprehensive marketing plan to support our strategic priorities. | Thachenkary Ongoing |
Created a Marketing and Community Engagement Plan Roadmap |
| Action: Engage and invite the broader MSOE community to participate in telling the MSOE story and being “brand champions/ambassadors.” | Thachenkary Ongoing |
Utilized Brand Camp - key distinguishers for alumni; data, metrics, experience, tools, etc. Finalized brand manual with MSOE positioning statement, key messages and visual identity. |
| Action: Launch, maintain and continually enhance the MSOE website. |
Thachenkary |
Enhancements for 2022-23 included DEIB strategic plan content, Raider Shop website, CREATE website, academic program webpage updates and online events calendar. |
| Strategy: Increase community engagement to foster deeper connections between MSOE and educational, corporate and community organizations in ways that maximize attendance and impact. | ||
| Action: Explore additional opportunities for attracting and engaging PLTW students from Wisconsin and beyond. | Baumgartner/Valley/Taylor/Bergen Ongoing |
Identified STEM weekends where we engage PLTW students with current students. Currently MSOE mails to all PLTW classrooms nationally and have a PLTW scholarship. Exploring additional opportunities with the organization, including a Summer Summit for rising Juniors and Seniors. We will host our first MSOE Explore Summit for PLTW students. We have over 100 students from around the Midwest region joining us on campus, July 17-21 where they will not only engage our faculty and staff, but also, participate in industry tours of key MSOE partners, including Direct Supply (2023). |
| Action: Create a “pathway into MSOE” for area high schools to broaden and deepen their relationships with the university. | Sabel/Meyer/Ross/Taylor Ongoing |
Beyond existing engagements with CREATE and the STEM Center, a team has been assembled to explore the development of an Academic Partnership with local high schools to drive student retention and success. |
| Action: Explore additional educational partnerships with area colleges and universities. | Leitzke/Baumgartner Ongoing |
Developing articulation agreements with strategic partners |
| Action: Expand and deepen engagement with the community surrounding the MSOE campus. | Thachenkary/Baumgartner/Mitchell Ongoing |
Strategic outreach to key elected leaders with invitations to campus to meet Dr. Walz and engage with MSOE including Governor, Senators, Congressional representatives, state legislators and Aldermen.. Additionally, continued work to develop community partnerships and engagement with key partners that include MMAC, Visit MKE, Rotary MKE, Eastown, Milwaukee Bucks, Discovery World, and others. |
| Strategy: Increase alumni involvement to better connect them with one another and with MSOE through in-person and virtual events. | ||
| Action: Conduct an alumni engagement survey to understand current engagement, barriers and opportunities—particularly for recent alumni—and repeat the survey on an annual basis. | Snow Ongoing |
Responded to alumni engagement survey; conversion to different database; Streamlined giving process; build out of staff members; audit of website. |
| Action: Strengthen engagement with the Alumni Association. | Snow/Mitchell Ongoing |
Created Alumni Board in 2019 - increase staffing to support the Alumni Association; hired a director for Alumni Relations and Annual Giving and Assistant Director of Alumni Relations; searching for a second Assistant Director of Alumni Relations; updated Alumni Relations Website and Alumni E-News; continuing to adjust the corporate board structure - ramping up - bi-laws have been updated; including diversity; relaunching MSOE Homecoming in October 2023; and adding the 10th anniversary reunion for Summer in the City |
| Action: Support and enable a commitment to lifelong learning and preparedness of our alumni through robust professional education offerings and career counseling in person and online that serve their expressed needs and the demands of a continuously changing market. | Barratt/Bergen/Valley/Baumgartner/Burdue Ongoing |
A team has been formed to identify opportunities within the space of Professional Education; the group inventoried all opportunities for non-credit, Professional Education at MSOE (2023). |
| Action: Reinvigorate the alumni relations plan. |
Snow Completed |
By-laws and constitution for the MSOE Alumni Assoc. approved. Reevaluated alumni chapter programs. (Evaluation of alumni in our regions, first region identified is Green Bay). Explored creation of affinity groups (veterans, nursing, NSBE). Explored alumni travel programs. |
| Strategy: Ensure satisfaction of our internal and external stakeholders in their interactions with MSOE. | ||
| Action: Conduct an internal audit to review current communications among internal and external stakeholders and evaluate staffing needs to foster effective internal and external communications. |
Thachenkary/Burdue |
Internal communications audit completed in Fall 2022. |
| Action: Research and implement best practices for a portal for disseminating communication across campus to stakeholders. |
Thachenkary/Burdue |
Rolling out an internal comms plan in phases based on audit, starting with Raider Round-up e-news (2023) going out to MSOE community once a week and development of improved campus events calendar. |
| Action: Evaluate the need for an events planner position to coordinate internal and external special events to ensure a positive and inclusive experience whether online or in person. |
Thachenkary/Valley |
Coordinator of Residence Life Operations has been hired to support the internal operational aspects of this goal. |
| Action: Work with the administration, faculty and staff to maximize the impact of the Career Connections Center for alumni, students and corporate partners. |
Baumgartner/Way |
Strategic Plan Develop; hosted the largest Career Fair ever at MSOE in September 2022 - 68% of students the undergraduate student population participated in the event; hired a part-time corporate funded Career Coach (2023). |