Villanova University

April 18, 2002

           Near the close of its March 2001 report following its visit to the Villanova University campus, the Evaluation Team representing the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools offers an endorsement of one of the unique, innovative features of Villanova's Self-Study report.  Specifically, the Team states:

           The team also wishes to acknowledge the extent to which the self‑study document is itself potentially a powerful instrument for change. The visiting team urges and expects Villanova to follow through with the process the Steering Committee outlined on page ii of the Executive Summary, involving the creation of an Implementation Team to review the more than 150 recommendations provided at the end of study sections as well as the visiting team's recommendations and suggestions. It is important that this Implementation Team be fully enfranchised and supported in its vital task.

  Continuing the Team writes:

             The visiting team commends Villanova on its "culture of planning." Very few institutions have moved as devotedly or as expeditiously as Villanova to establish a culture of strategic planning and implementation. The results thus far are apparent throughout the University and the self‑study, not only in notable outcomes, but also in organization, processes, and structures. They attest to increasingly effective and expeditious coordination to put plans into action. They inspire confidence on the part of this team that Villanova is well positioned to sustain the cycles of change and renewal that will be essential to educational vitality in the years ahead.

             Clearly, the Evaluation Team had picked up on a theme that permeated Villanova's Self-Study report; namely, that the University recognized that the Self-Study process itself provided an opportunity to continue to foster strategic planning across the institution and that the University community fully intended to follow through on the many recommendations proffered in its Self-Study report.  Specifically, the report included the following three paragraphs:

             An innovative feature will be the creation of an Implementation Team at the end of the Self-Study process to monitor the implementation of recommendations made by each of the various Task Forces and the Middle State’s Visiting Evaluation Team. This is imperative if the findings of the Self-Study are to become part of Villanova’s mainstream strategic planning process. This is particularly essential because the Self-Study Report, Transforming Minds and Hearts, did not filter individual Task Force recommendations nor test them for feasibility and desirability from a general University perspective. Instead, to reinforce freedom of investigation and enhance creativity, a priori conditions and criteria were not imposed on the Task Forces. However, to move forward systematically from recommendations to actions, from proposals and proffers, to policies and procedures, the Self-Study recommendations must be carefully reviewed by appropriate decision making bodies. To insure this, the Steering Committee has adopted the following process.

          An Implementation Team will be established after Villanova receives the Visiting Team’s Report. This Implementation Team will be charged with reviewing the recommendations from the Visiting Team as well as each Task Force and referring them to the appropriate decision making body. The Implementation Team will then continue to assess whether and how recommendations are actualized. As a first step it is anticipated that the Implementation Team will sort all recommendations into two categories: (1) strategic and (2) operational.

          Strategic recommendations will be referred to the University Planning and Budget Committee (UPBC) for evaluation and disposition, including the allocation of funding where designated. Operational recommendations will be referred to the appropriate academic, administrative or support departments. A number of recommendations will no doubt be "cross-functional" involving multiple departments and as such will be conveyed to the appropriate body for evaluation and disposition. Purely academic recommendations, which cross-cut several colleges and/or departments, will be channeled to the Council of Deans and the VPAA while administrative recommendations will likely be referred to the Villanova Quality Improvement Cross-Functional Committee.

           Over the last decade, "strategic implementation" has become a prominent feature in strategic planning models. This emphasis is aimed at better assuring that plans culminate in action. At Villanova, the Self-Study is an “imperative” component of our strategic planning process. In order to provide for systematic assessment and enactment of the many recommendations that emerged from our Self-Study process, an effective organizational mechanism is essential. At Villanova, that mechanism is the Implementation Team, a group of 16 colleagues from various departments who will confirm that each recommendation is thoughtfully reviewed and, if appropriate, adopted.