In the Fall 2016 semester, Dean Jane Wong put out a call for faculty, staff, current students, and alumni to join a Strategic Planning Committee to draft a new strategic plan for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. Over 12 individuals agreed to serve; Dr. Glenn Steinberg, Professor and Chair of the English Department, and Dr. Winnifred Brown-Glaude, Associate Professor and Chair of the African American Studies Department, agreed to serve as co-Chairs of the Strategic Planning Committee.
The Committee met in plenary session in September 2016 and mapped out a plan on how to imagine and construct a Plan that aligns with TCNJ’s recently-adopted strategic plan, “TCNJ 2021: Bolder, Better, Brighter.”
The Committee developed questions for the larger community in the form of two surveys. The first short survey asked whether or not the HSS Strategic Planning Committee should use TCNJ’s recently adopted Strategic Priorities as a framework for HSS’s strategic plan. It also provided revised Mission and Vision Statements that align with TCNJ’s strategic plan. These questions were collated into a survey sent by e-mail to all faculty, staff, current students and alumni. Responses to the survey were sent back to the committee for their consideration. The Committee presented these results to the HSS School meeting in January 2017. A second and much longer survey addressed new HSS goals and strategies that align with the TCNJ Strategic Priorities. These results were also shared with the Committee. Responses to both surveys were overwhelmingly positive.
A series of public fora were held in February and April 2017 for faculty, staff, current students and alumni to share their concerns and thoughts about the proposed Strategic Plan. The Committee earlier met with department chairs, staff, and the HSS student advisory board to get as much input as possible in the early stages of drafting the plan.
The Strategic Planning Committee gathered in April 2017 to review all the comments received through the comment period fora and surveys. The Committee considered all the comments and suggestions and revised the Strategic Plan. The revised plan was then presented, once again, in April 2017 to the department chairs and the Dean for final comments. The Committee presented the final version of the Plan at the HSS department chairs retreat in May 2017 and the final copy was submitted to Dean Wong.
We are grateful to the following individuals for their time, energy, and dedication to this project and are especially grateful to those individuals who chaired subcommittees for this process, as noted below:
Faculty
Glenn Steinberg (Co-Chair), Professor and Chair, Department of English
Winnifred Brown-Glaude (Co-Chair), Associate Professor and Chair, Department of African American Studies
John Landreau, Professor, Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Pierre LeMorvan, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Religion and Classical Studies
Rebecca Li, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Staff
Chris Smith, Department of Criminology
Students
Daniel Almberg, Senior, History and Self Design Double Major
Nicole Athan, Senior, Sociology Major
Jody Friedman, Senior, Cognitive Science and Philosophy Double Major
Kelly Dalton, Junior, Pre-Law Major
Alumni
Heba Jahama, TCNJ Records and Registration
Noelle Petruzelli-Marino, Prudential Financial