Self-study submitted to NEASC, September 2011 - Castleton State ...

Castleton State CollegeChapter 2: Planning and EvaluationChapter 2Planning and EvaluationDescriptionCastleton has intentionally and successfully prepared for demographic shifts taking place inVermont and across the Northeast region. While in the last decade many colleges embraced theparadigm of on-line course “delivery,” Castleton made a thoroughly considered decision to go ina different direction. Building on its student-centered, relation-based commitments, the collegedecided to enlarge its residential footprint and develop programs and facilities that would make itfar less of a “suitcase campus” and more a complete collegiate community. The decision-makingprocess involved every constituency of the college and, in particular, an atypically high level ofparticipation by students, as represented by the Student Government Association.The college’s planning and evaluation activities are decentralized, employing a variety ofprocesses that involve almost all constituencies in one way or another. As a member of theVermont State Colleges system, Castleton develops its own plans within the scope of the VSC’soverall strategic plan, approved by the VSC Board of Trustees in September 2008. The college’sresponse in 1997 to an earlier version of VSC’s academic program review policy has served as a“blueprint” for Castleton’s development since then and a basis for the planning and evaluationprocesses outlined below.The main planning entity at the college is the president’s Cabinet, which meets weekly duringthe academic year. The Cabinet consists of the president and eight deans and directorsrepresenting the administrative areas of Academic Affairs, Business Affairs, Communication,Development, Enrollment, Human Resources, and Student Life. The role of the Cabinet exists ontwo levels: (1) operational, in its focus on day-to-day matters of managing the business of thecollege, and (2) strategic, in its consideration of the internal and external opportunities andchallenges that might ultimately influence the college’s future course. In the latter role, duringthe 2003-2004 academic year, the group led the college in an extensive planning process inwhich the institution’s internal constituencies, with the help of external consultants, developed afacilities Master Plan, the objectives of which were to:4