Approach

Iteration in Response to Opportunity

“Universities are not immune to the need for metamorphosis, but change must be sustainable, inclusive, born from within and above all else – relevant to society as a whole.” Dr. Melik Peter Khoury, President/CEO Unity Environmental University.

As a national leader in environmental education and social mobility, Unity Environmental University is always finding ways to more fully serve the nation and live up to the best of American tradition: the commitment of service to the whole world.

At Unity we understand that being an audience-centric institution goes beyond scheduling around the learners we have, providing service to the learners we have, and offering programs that better fit the learners who already come. To truly be an audience-centric institution we must challenge ourselves to engage with new audiences, explore new opportunities and build new partnerships, making the impossible possible.

Unity Environmental University must represent not just America, but the world.

Responsive By Design

The planning-doing cycle created in the Unity Environmental University Strategic Plan is more efficient and responsive to the larger industry, environment, and market context by its design. Prioritization and decision-making are facilitated through the use of several guidelines and tools.

Mission Achievement. The Unity Environmental University Strategic Plan is designed with mission fulfillment at its very heart. Goals are directly and explicitly tied to fully maintaining the status of America’s Environmental University. Service to students and other audiences is prioritized while fulfilling the environmental and educational mission. Everything else is secondary by design.

An Iterative Approach. The Unity Environmental University Strategic Plan uses an iterative approach to strategic plan development and management. The overarching framework is designed for the University to grow over the next several years but avoids establishing particular initiatives as high-level priorities. Ongoing redevelopment of the plan itself is incorporated into the design.

One of the failures of traditional strategic planning in the current environment is that plans project several years out, yet trends emerge, opportunities arise, and disruption occurs in real time. Unity Environmental University’s Strategic Plan is designed as a framework that will allow for change, and not just in minor adjustments to new initiatives.