Self-Study Design - Howard University, Graduate School

Standard 2: Planning, Resource Allocation, and Institutional Renewal
• Chair: Professor William Spriggs, Economics
Scope of Work and Objectives.
This scope of work will govern the collection or creation of plans that assess such areas as
community relations, annual budgeting process, capital needs, enrollment, academic excellence,
technological adeptness, unit-level resource allocation, and financial planning process. Howard’s
approach for meeting Standard 2 will be informed by the Mission statement and goals of the
University and the current Strategic Framework for Action. The work group will determine to
what extent the University has adequate processes to plan to accomplish its mission and goals
and how well the University aligns its activities at all levels (for example, technology, facility
use, academic, and human resources) through a planning process. The work group will also
determine how those plans then lead to a process by which assessments can be made.
Major Research Questions.
1. Does the University have a strategic plan, and what is the process by which the plan is
developed, including:
• Which stakeholders are involved in creating the plan?
• What insures its alignment with the University mission?
• Does the plan lead to outcomes that can be, and are, assessed?
2. How does the strategic plan then lead to subsequent planning exercises by different units
(those academic units that report directly to the Provost or Senior Vice President for
Health Sciences and those administrative offices that report directly to a senior vice
president of the University) to guide the units’ actions?
3. What is the extent to which the University’s strategic plan and subsequent revisions are
driven by assessment data?
4. How are technology needs coordinated to accomplish goals in the strategic plan and
assessed and updated in accordance with changing needs?
5. What is the plan for facility use and upkeep, in the coordination of facility usage and the
plan for addressing facility usage within the context of the institutional mission and
priorities?
6. What is the University’s academic plan, and the assessment of such plans? What is the
academic unit planning process, and the enrollment management planning process and
how are these decisions made to assure the adequate resources are in place to accomplish
each within the context of the University’s mission and goals?
7. How is the University’s human resource planning process aligned with its strategic plan,
including consideration of such matters as personnel succession of key leaders, faculty
retention and retirements?
8. Is the current University budget adequately aligned with its mission and academic
priorities?
Standard 3: Institutional Resources
• Chair: Dean Beatrice Adderley-Kelly, Pharmacy, Nursing, and Allied Health Sciences
16