Visioning Process

Background

This story began last August 2017 when Dean Helitzer was tasked by President Michael Crow and Provost Mark Searle to lead a visioning process for the College of Health Solutions. There were several questions that the president and provost wanted the visioning process to address:

• What is the unique identity of CHS?
• What should our focus be?
• Do we need to reorganize in some way to accomplish our new mission?
• How can we most effectively eliminate the isolated silos and unify our faculty, staff and students around the new mission?

Download the Visioning Document

Phase I: Defining the Vision

 Completed in December 2017

We were directed to accomplish this visioning process by December 1, 2017 to keep us on track toward implementing the new vision over the 2018-2019 academic year. After more than 40 meetings and input from almost 300 stakeholders, we were able to answer those questions: our unique identity is to be the translator and facilitator of scientific health-related discovery into practice. Our focus is to identify and implement solutions to the most pressing health problems of our state and our nation.

The President and the Provost applauded our initial vision and directed the Dean to lead the development of processes and procedures to take us from vision to design and then to implementation. The highlight of the Dean's meeting with President Crow and Provost Searle was that they said that what we were proposing was the most innovative college prototype they had ever seen.

Deliverables

• Establish our unique identity and vision - Completed (Download the Visioning Document)

Phase II: Defining the Structure

 Completed in March 2018

We were humbly reminded that “the devil is in the details” and that we had to demonstrate that we understood the breadth and complexity of what we were trying to achieve. President Crow and Provost Searle told us that undertaking our proposal would be no small feat. Among other tasks, we had to recommend a budget, solidify a new and expanded structure, and develop new operational procedures. One hundred and twenty (120) committee and subcommittee meetings later, we did it! Our hard work and commitment to our new vision has enabled us to design the nuts and bolts of a new and functional College of Health Solutions. 

Deliverables

• Recommend budget - Completed
• Solidify a new and expanded structure - Completed
• Develop new operational procedures - Completed

Phase III: Implementation

 Completed in the 2018-2019 fiscal year)

In order to efficiently roll out our new structure over the next year, the Executive Visioning Team and College Leadership will be mapping out what will happen in the year ahead. Much work remains to be done. Processes that the committees developed in Phase II will be vetted and tested. We want to be able to maintain the integrity of the process we started in the fall: getting feedback from our stakeholders and incorporating that feedback into the next version. Input continues to be gathered from the leaders of the institution, from the President, the Provost, the Provost's deputies, our external (community) stakeholders, and the Deans, and faculty and staff who want to join with us to make a difference in health outcomes.

Deliverables

• Receive formal approval to disestablish academic units from the University Senate - Completed (Motions to disestablish academic units passed on August 27, 2018)
• Receive formal approval to disestablish academic units from the Arizona Board of Regents - Completed (Request to disestablish academic units approved unanimously on Sept. 28, 2018)
• Finalize and implement new translational team processes - Complete 
• Finalize and Implement new affinity network processes - Complete 
• Finalize and Implement new faculty procedures - Complete