CSUN Sets Goals for Vanguards of Leaders

Addressing about 200 Cal State Northridge faculty, staff, students and administrators on Friday morning, President Blenda J. Wilson unveiled the first draft of a document that will chart the college’s future over the next five years.

“We will be a high-performing, model university in which student achievement levels are among the highest of peer universities of comparable size and mission,” Wilson read from her vision statement, a strategic planning tool that seeks to focus CSUN’s energies and resources in the remainder of the 20th century.

“Our graduates will be the vanguards of leaders for the next century--committed to sustaining a democracy in which diverse people share the full benefits of citizenship,” Wilson wrote, “proficient in applying technology to wise purposes, and dedicated to securing a humane world community and protecting the Earth for future generations.”

The occasion was CSUN’s third strategic planning retreat, a daylong conference that drew participants from all across campus to identify issues “that the university has to deal with over the next three to five years,” management professor Gerard L. Rossy said.

The morning began with a videotaped clip of President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 speech urging Americans to land a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s.

Wilson joked that the late president was a tough act to follow but she urged her staff to apply the same energy to improving CSUN.

“We have to change as an institution,” she said. “We need to keep making sure that we do better in getting our students through this university.”

After Wilson’s address, participants broke into groups to create a list of strategic issues that will guide CSUN’s budgetary and policy decisions beginning this fall.

Over the next several months, the vision statement will likely be modified based on input from students, faculty and staff.