OPAIR’s planning team leads strategic plan development and implementation across all University budget units. As part of this work, the planning team facilitates the strategic plan seed grant process and reporting; supports University-wide strategic plan signature initiatives, including One Penn State 2025; and coordinates the strategic plan oversight, executive, and steering committees in conjunction with the Executive Vice President and Provost.
The team works together to provide accurate, meaningful data that empowers the University community to make informed decisions that support a successful institution of higher education. For the past three summers, the planning team has worked with the Provost’s Office and the Bellisario College of Communications to hire up to 10 student interns from across the University.
These students look across strategic plan efforts, such as unit strategic plans annual reports and strategic plan seed grants to tell stories of accomplishments from Penn State from their perspective as students. In the annual report due each year, units are asked to share stories of impact through the work of their strategic plans. Thanks to the efforts of Penn State Behrend’s communications team and these student interns, OPAIR was given first-hand insight from a student author on the flourishing of Behrend’s ‘Six Weeks’ initiative, which focuses on providing struggling first-year students with the outreach they need to succeed in their initial weeks on campus. By identifying, contacting, and supporting these students in the most critical weeks of their college career, Penn State Behrend has facilitated another great leap toward universal academic success.
Read more about Behrend’s ‘Six Weeks’ initiative.