Colleen Grahek

Contributing Writer

The new 2025-2028 East Stroudsburg University Strategic Plan was just approved at the latest Council of Trustees meeting. The new strategic plan, consulted by President Kenneth Long, aims to challenge educators and students on how to create a community of belonging and technological advancements in a changing world.

For over a year, Strategic Planning Co-Chairs, Artress White and Michael Sachs, collaborated with President Long to create the “ESU: Creating Opportunities through Community, Engagement & Belonging” plan. President Long states, according to his introduction in the strategic plan, that as the campus continues to adapt to a post-pandemic world, it will lay out the groundwork for developing a more modern approach for educators and their students.

According to Long, the plan will focus on four key goals and how they will be used to achieve the overall goal of an accepting and progressive community.  They are as follows: Develop a culture of student success; Foster a community of belonging; Optimize information technology; Create an engaged and motivated workplace. More detail below:

1.) Developing a culture of student success:

• Implement a data-informed retention plan to help create a sustainable learning environment for each student’s academic needs.
• Implement a plan for improving the transfer process for students and improving relationships with transfer partners.
• Improve a process for undergraduate and graduate students to create their own schedules based on their needs.
• Provide a more involved relationship between the academic advisors and their advisees throughout the whole education cycle.
• Create a professional developmental program for faculty to allow students to experience a range of different course types outside of traditional lecture halls.
• Recognizing the bridge between teaching and researching for success in the classroom.

2.) Foster a community of belonging:

• Create an environment of equal opportunity for all students to establish a sense of belonging.
• Support recruitment, retention, progression and completion efforts.
• Prepare the educators to meet the demands of an increasingly inclusive student population.

3.) Optimize information technology:

• Improve electronic-based learning technology.
• Embrace new technologies and encourage more IT-related services.
• Continue to develop and improve technological resources for faculty use in the classroom.

4.) Create an engaged and motivated workplace:

• Develop a culture of excellence and well-being that allows the employees to feel appreciated, valued and supported. This would result in an increasingly higher retention rate and enhanced performance.
• Provide an inclusive and easy-to-understand campus orientation program that would help new employees feel more welcome and ease integration into the campus society.
• Develop easily detailed manuals and guidebooks for employees and Department Chairs.
• Ensure that concerning and intolerable behavior will be reported and handled to allow a safer and more inclusive work environment.
• Enhance recruitment efficiency by reducing the amount of time requirement needed for the hiring process of non-faculty and coaching positions. This would also help fill in positions within a quicker amount of time.

According to Marcy L. Cetnar, executive associate to President Long, there were no public comments made during the meeting.

The recorded minutes will be posted after pending approval at the next Council of Trustees meeting scheduled to take place on March 20, 2025.