Dear CT State Community,
We are excited to announce the launch of CT State’s inaugural, comprehensive, college-wide strategic planning process. This process will help provide clear direction through a series of engagements that create space to articulate our shared priorities and vision as we progress as a singly accredited institution embracing the ‘one college, many communities’ model.
Strategic planning officially begins this fall, by establishing clear expectations for the college, the steering committee, and sharing more information on the progress of our institution. We will launch a college-wide engagement event in the spring that is led by our peers that will ultimately help inform the strategic plan’s development.
To help communicate and keep you informed of our steps and goals, we have prepared a dedicated strategic planning website informed by discussions with college governance, campus presidents and colleagues across our institution, to help ensure full transparency throughout the process. This is a working webpage that will continue to be updated. There you’ll find our planning vision, strategic anchors, values and an overview of the timeline that we’re anticipating. The anchors and values are designed to help keep us grounded through planning, keeping in mind a few of our critical areas to pay attention to. Regular updates on strategic planning will also be shared on the website.
To ensure broad representation through planning, we are announcing an exciting opportunity to help facilitate and lead the college’s work in developing its inaugural strategic plan. Below, you’ll find more information to nominate yourself or another qualified colleague to join the Strategic Planning Steering Committee that will help guide the process, connect planning to campus operations and student experiences, and serve as ambassadors of engagement across our 12 campuses and statewide community.
Call for Strategic Planning Steering Committee Nominations
The employees’ voice is critical in helping to identify our strategic priorities for the future. We invite faculty and staff — both longtime colleagues and those new to CT State — to nominate yourself or a talented colleague for the Steering Committee by completing this short survey. Nominations will remain open until Wednesday, October 22. Committee membership will reflect diversity across the college, disciplines and governance, ensuring broad representation of all our campuses, bargaining units, faculty, staff and administration, as well as the student voice.
The time commitment will be three hours per week from Spring through Fall 2026. In alignment with collective bargaining agreements, faculty will receive associated release time or additional responsibility equivalence. Staff will receive reassigned time as the priority, followed by comp time, and, if neither is available, associated compensation to account for these additional responsibilities. We do anticipate one or two meetings this fall with the steering committee to plan for full, college-wide engagement in the spring. Applicable compensation will be given for any fall meeting of the committee.
The college is seeking active, engaged committee members who will serve as strong links between college-wide planning and campus-level engagement. Members will be expected to participate in meetings and activities, contribute to data review and analysis of surveys, research and environmental scans, act as champions and liaisons to their home campuses to ensure two-way communication, facilitate stakeholder engagement to incorporate diverse perspectives and collaborate with colleagues from all campuses as ambassadors of the process.
Co-chairs of the steering committee will be identified and announced once the full roster is released following selection. We invite the College Senate to offer nominations for a co-chair for the president’s review. The co-chair will be given release equivalent to six hours per week.
For all interested committee members, please be mindful of your current workload commitments. Supervisor approval will be needed to participate in the steering committee.
Coming Soon: Call for Strategic Planning Presidential Fellows
We’re thrilled to preview the Strategic Planning Presidential Fellows program, an exclusive leadership development opportunity that's part of CT State’s expanded Presidential Fellows initiative. The Strategic Planning Presidential Fellows program will select one faculty member and one staff member to play a key role in shaping CT State’s next strategic plan. Fellows will serve as ex officio members of the strategic planning steering committee.
Fellows will gain hands-on leadership experience translating college-wide goals into actionable strategies, coordinating campus engagement, communicating college-wide and helping align our work with CT State’s mission and vision. More information on how to apply to become a strategic planning presidential fellow will be announced next week.
In Closing
I look forward to doing this work alongside you. Participating in strategic planning is a great way to learn the institution through a data-informed lens and create a roadmap for long-term growth and stability and to help leave your mark on Connecticut’s most important mission: affordable, high-quality, and accessible education.
I hope many of you will consider participating in strategic planning to help shape the future of Connecticut’s largest institution of public higher education. Your time and talents are greatly appreciated (and needed!), and we are committed to making this process inclusive and participatory.
As a reminder, I have my virtual office hours tomorrow. I’d be happy to address any questions you may have. I’ll also be giving a bit more information on our planning process, too.
Sincerely,
Christina Royal, Ph.D.
Interim President