At our Fall, 2004 convocation, I announced the launch of FIT’s second strategic planning process, one which will allow us to collectively explore key questions of institutional identity and frame a vision of the FIT of tomorrow.

Much of our recent growth, and many of our achievements, stem from the college’s first plan. Many of you were active participants in that endeavor. You may recall that the needs we identified together were fundamental, and in the end, we reshaped FIT’s direction and priorities. At the same time, we provided the basic improvements that were so critically needed throughout the college.

Now, as we celebrate FIT at 60, we have the opportunity, the capacity---and indeed, the obligation---to look beyond those internally-focused basic needs and imagine our place in the world at large. Where will we be---who will we be---10, 25 or even 60 years from today. What is FIT’s story for tomorrow?

These are both exciting and demanding questions, and it is you to whom we turn in our search for answers. As I said at convocation, this will be a highly participatory process that values all voices and reaches for a common consensus. To help guide us, we engaged an organization called The Learning Alliance for Higher Education. Members of this organization attended convocation and many of you met them in subsequent school or committee meetings.

The Learning Alliance (TLA) is a consortium of nationally known researchers and consultants from public policy centers and universities. Founded by the University of Pennsylvania, it is the successor to the Pew Higher Education Roundtable and provides research and leadership support services---with a specialty in strategic planning---to two- and four-year colleges and universities throughout the country.

Over the course of the next year, many of you will come to know TLA team members Bob Zemsky, Trish Burch, Ann Duffield, Jim Galbally, Joan Girgus, Bill Massy and Susan Shaman, who will be on campus intermittently in their roles as researchers and facilitators.

In preplanning sessions with TLA over the summer, we established a process whose key elements I would like to share with you here:

Susan Shaman, a statistical analyst, is currently working with our own institutional research office on campus, to do a comprehensive analysis of all FIT data as well as an assessment of national trends and how they relate to our college. This will provide the entire community with a common set of clear, up-to-date facts about the college from which we all can work. Indeed, using this information, Mr. Zemsky will prepare a report analyzing our current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

A steering committee, which will have college-wide representation, will first develop a tentative set of aspirational goals to act as both touchstones and catalysts for the next level of community discussion. The committee, which is now in formation, will hold its initial meeting in October.

These goals will become the source of dialogue at two round table meetings in December, whose approximately 80 participants will include members of the faculty, administration, staff, board of trustees and the Educational Foundation for the Fashion Industries. Each round table discussion will consist of about 40 people, and each will be facilitated by Bob Zemsky. These round tables, which will mine the shared experience, knowledge, dreams and wisdom of the FIT community, are at the core of the process. It is here that the aspirational goals---and other themes and ideas that emerge from TLA interviews and meetings--- will be explored, reimagined and further developed and refined, forming a common galvanizing vision.

In the spring semester, a group of task forces and, where appropriate, standing college committees will meet to develop the initiatives, related tasks and metrics that can realize these goals. Taken as a whole, these initiatives will become the “action plan,” the substantive base of the overall strategic plan.

Assessed by the steering committee, the initiatives will be presented for review and refinement at a concluding set of round table meetings---to be held in early May, and attended by the original round table participants. During the summer, Mr. Zemsky will prepare a final, synthesizing document which describes our vision for FIT’s future---along with the goals, initiatives and tasks we agreed upon over the year.

Throughout the year, we will report our progress to the community at large through a variety of communication vehicles, including memos, our Website and e-newsletter.

At the Fall, 2005 convocation, I will share this strategic plan with you. However, we have much work to do, and in a short, concentrated period of time, before we reach that point. I look forward with great enthusiasm to your many contributions as we work together in the coming year to define FIT’s future with this new strategic plan.