During the past decade, the competition in higher education for high-quality students, public support and private resources has intensified. This trend will continue. Over time we have “positioned” North Carolina A&T State University so that it is appropriately competitive as we responded to opportunities that serve our students and our community.

It is now time to move beyond positioning and develop institutional foresight that will form the core of a proactive planning process. Our institutional activity so far has centered on five themes: 1) the interactive university, 2) student success, 3) resource diversification and expansion, 4) information technology, and 5) globalization. It is now time to implement a process that will allow us to create a shared vision. A dynamic university never stops generating enthusiastic efforts to achieve its mission. The future belongs to those institutions that have foresight, energy, creativity, wisdom and the courage to understand that destiny is not a matter of chance, but a matter of choice and the will to achieve.

As we look to the future, we must have high ambitions. We must be intent listeners to one another as well as to the external community in order to elicit the genuine values that we are willing to live up to and hold as our standard. Identification of institutional distinctiveness will drive the process. We must also translate these values into actions, and we must realize that optimism about our future cannot be transformed into vital actions without deliberate effort.

During the next several months, the Futures Planning and Resource Council will be central to the process of advising the Chancellor in planning our future. Council members will provide important leadership for strategic institution-wide thinking. The Council, together with campus colleagues, students, alumni, and community friends, will consider future challenges and opportunities. We must anticipate to our advantage the major changes, trends, socio-economic and technological movements, i.e., “driving forces” that will affect North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in the next three to five years. Now is the time to capture the opportunities to build on our rich tradition and current momentum.

Specifically, the charge to the Council is engaging the process of strategic visioning is:

Advise the Chancellor

Think boldly

Ensure campus-wide participation/communication

Study the facts/data

Maintain a university-wide perspective

These actions are essential to facilitate continuity of the strategic visioning process. I am confident that our efforts will result in a plan of constant, purposeful innovation to ensure that North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University meets the challenges of the future.