Today@Sam Article

Heritage Magazine: Behind The Strategy - Insights From SHSU's Chief Visionary

Dec. 11, 2024
SHSU Media Contact: Mikah Boyd

Since August 2021, Major General (ret.) David Glaser has served as Sam Houston State University’s chief strategy officer, bringing with him 36 years of distinguished military service. During his time in the Army, Glaser earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree, alongside a wealth of experience in military law enforcement, anti-terrorism, strategic planning and leadership.

Upon his arrival at SHSU, Glaser took the helm of the university’s strategic planning, guiding its development and implementation. This comprehensive plan focuses on four key priorities: prioritize student success and access, embody a culture of excellence, elevate the reputation and visibility of the university and expand and elevate SHSU’s service to the state and beyond. In this Q&A, Glaser offers a dive into the process and execution behind the university’s strategic initiatives.

WHY IS A STRATEGIC PLAN ESSENTIAL FOR A UNIVERSITY?

It is about providing a framework so the university can focus, prioritize and create synergistic effects. If not, you get people going in different directions. A lot of people had great stuff going forward but we weren’t all rowing the boat together so there was a lot of inefficiency taking place.

WHAT SPURRED THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLAN?

When researchers did an environmental scan, they had noted for years that there was going to be this demographic shortfall for people that were traditionally college students.

That population was going down across the board in the United States. There were other things that were taking place outside of our own environment indicating that the area was changing rapidly. All of these different things that were taking place required Sam Houston to have a vision for where we wanted to be and confirmation of who we are. Then, get everybody to move in the same direction.

HOW IS THE PLAN’S SUCCESS BEING MEASURED?

Our mission statement says we are student-centered and community engaged. Our vision statement says we aspire to make SHSU both the best value in higher education and the top regional public university in the state of Texas. Our stakeholders told us the most important things we must focus on to become this are enrollment, retention, completion and agility. Thus, success is being measured by increasing our enrollment to meet the needs of a growing Texas. Retention is all about elevating students by ensuring their academic success, personal development, career readiness and contributing positively to the broader community through economic and social impacts. Completion of a postsecondary degree, certificate or other credential is shown to improve students' social mobility. Studies show that obtaining a postsecondary credential of value is associated with social mobility, including higher levels of earnings, improved health and better job prospects both in the short term and over a graduate's lifetime. Thus, we are measuring ourselves over the next four years by meeting our goals in each area.

WHAT STEPS HAVE BEEN MADE IN LINE WITH THE PLAN AND WHAT COMES NEXT?

To date, there have been some major steps forward to align support for the plan. You see that in how the budget meetings have changed to include strategic plan briefings tied to enrollment, retention, completion and agility. It is also evident through Integrated Marketing Communications and their alignment to the four priorities and focused goals. The keep, stop, start survey we recently conducted helped us better see ourselves and make informed decisions. University Advancement, the Alumni Association and development teams have undergone a reorganization to align their work with the strategic plan and priorities.

What comes next – increasing our ability to use data to inform our decision making; further empowering a culture of innovation tied to student success and community engagement; expanding our efforts to tell people about our university, the tremendous faculty, facilities and all we have to offer to further strategic partnerships and, finally, celebrating success on an increasing basis.

To read the full version of Heritage Magazine - Fall 2024, follow this link.

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