By Tyler White | Staff Writer
The strategic planning group is finishing up their final listening sessions this week, which have allowed Baylor students, staff and faculty to share and voice their concerns and suggestions for the university. The data from the listening sessions will be used in their upcoming deliberation process to formulate a new strategic plan for Baylor.
Kevin Villegas, dean of intercultural engagement and division of student life initiatives, said the purpose of the listening sessions was to hear as many voices from Baylor as possible. He said these sessions are part of the overall listening process, which also includes the strategic planning input survey and the white paper submissions.
“The listening process has been going well, because the idea of the listening process is to listen to as many voices as possible for people who are in the Baylor community, Baylor family, and so this has given us an opportunity to do that, and we’ve tried our best to be as flexible,” Villegas said.
He said the listening process will allow the strategic planning group to come together and discuss common themes and concerns across Baylor’s campus to understand what needs to improve. He said the group is looking forward to working together to hear the voices of Baylor and help prepare the university for growth over the next few years.
“I think it is safe to say that people who are part of the Baylor family really care deeply about our Christian mission, and I think that is a distinctive that everyone celebrates and wants to make sure stays intact, and I don’t think that’s a surprise to anybody if you’re part of this community,” Villegas said. “So I think that’s a positive and something that we’ll see emerge in the data.”
Tiffany Hogue, Chief of Staff to the Baylor President, said the listening process has been open to everyone at Baylor to hear as many voices as they can to ensure all of Baylor is taken into account. She said she’s excited to see the answers to the four questions of the listening process and how they will guide the deliberation and decision-making over the next few months.
“It’s exciting to know that this is kind of a grassroots moment where we’re really saying that we need to hear from all voices, and whether that is a voice from someone who is here on campus every day or who is an [alumnus] and who thinks, ‘I care a lot about Baylor, and we need more of this in the world,’” Hogue said. “So it’s a chance for that alone to share those thoughts, which I think has a positive influence. I hope people feel seen and heard in the process right now and feel like their ideas were really valued in the plan that we write.”
Hogue said as the strategic planning group moves from the listening process to the deliberation process, they will continue to keep in mind all voices from Baylor and ensure the concerns are being discussed equally between the group and the president’s council. She said the group, with its diversity, will be able to positively work together for the betterment of the university by helping form a new strategic plan.
“We worked hard to create a group that was small enough to be effective but represented enough diversity across disciplinary lines, across all kinds of other groups to really try to demonstrate through the [strategic planning group] the diverse voices in the Baylor family, and I anticipate we’re going to work very well together writing the plan,” Hogue said. “I think we all felt honored to get to work together to do this job.”
Villegas said that as he anticipates the deliberation process, he expects the data to speak for itself from the listening process and that the group will be able to discuss and find ways to improve the atmosphere of the university. He said he trusts the process they’ve been able to create and hopes this process will continue to work as they begin to formulate a new strategic plan.
“I’m a firm believer, and I think many are, of [having] a good process and then [trusting] the process, and I think we have a really good process here,” Villegas said. “So I think in trusting the process, the good process that we have, I think, what will emerge are the things that people genuinely care about.”
