SKIDMORE COLLEGE

OPERATING CODE
INSTITUTIONAL PLANNING COMMITTEE

Function:

To engage in strategic, tactical, and environmental planning for educational, financial, and co-curricular affairs.

To work closely with on campus planning committees and groups (CEPP, FPPC, ACC, Executive Committee of SGA, etc.), President's Staff, and the Long-Range Planning Committee of the Board on creating long-range strategic plans for the college.

To monitor and assess institutional progress toward meeting the goals that have been identified.

To provide a forum in which key planning groups (CEPP, FPPC, ACC, Executive Committee of SGA, President's Staff, etc.) can communicate with each other and coordinate their planning initiatives. The chair or member of each planning group represented on IPC shall report the year's agenda of that group to IPC early in the fall and provide IPC with periodic updates as appropriate to assure planning coordination.

To communicate institutional planning objectives and progress to the campus community; to receive ideas and opinion about those objectives from the campus community.

To work with the various on-campus planning committees and groups to assure clear and effective articulation between the overall institutional plan and the activities of different areas within the campus.

Through the Subcommittee on Campus Environment (CEC), which reports to IPC, to monitor overall campus planning, and to make recommendations in this area to President's Staff and other relevant campus bodies.

Membership:

The members of IPC include the President; the Dean of the Faculty; the Vice President for Business Affairs; the Vice President for Development and Alumni Affairs; the chairs of CEPP, FPPC, and a faculty representative from ACC, as well as two additional faculty elected for staggered four-year terms, one of whom is tenured the other not; two students selected by SGA for staggered two-year terms; the President of SGA; the Director of Institutional Research; and, as staff, the Assistant to the President.

Guests: In addition to these official and voting members, the following may be invited to attend specific meetings of IPC in order to enhance communication among key constituencies and to provide important information on key areas: the chair of the Board's Committee on Long-Range Planning; the Deans of Enrollment Management, Special Programs, and Student Affairs; the Director of Financial Planning and Budgeting; the chairs of relevant faculty committees, such as IRC; and other faculty, students, and administrators as needed. Such visitors do not vote on matters coming before the committee.

Operating Procedures:

In accordance with the Faculty Handbook, the President chairs IPC; in his/her absence, the Dean of the Faculty serves as chair pro tem. Agendas are distributed in advance of the meetings.

Use of subcommittees: IPC may appoint ad hoc and standing subcommittees to consider specific issues and report back to the larger group, and to monitor special areas of interest, such as campus development. Ordinarily, a regular member of IPC will chair such a subcommittee and will serve as liaison to the whole committee.

Taking of minutes: Minutes are kept of each meeting, and circulated to all members of the committee. At the end of the year a complete set of minutes, along with the annual report, and any updates to the operating code, is deposited in the Dean of the Faculty's office.

Each constituency represented on IPC should receive regular reports (one each semester, if appropriate) on the issues before the committee, recognizing that some such issues need to be discussed and recorded in confidence until they are resolved. Ordinarily the President or one of the elected faculty members will report to the faculty, the President will report to his or her staff, the SGA President will report to the SGA Executive Committee and to Student Senate, and the President will report to the trustees.

IPC holds open meetings for the campus community when appropriate, and distributes reports through electronic and paper mail.

The members of IPC normally attend the May meeting of the Long-Range Planning Committee of the Board of Trustees.

New members of IPC, who will join the committee in September, will receive copies of this operating code, the preceding year's annual report, the minutes of the preceding year's meetings, and any important documents produced in the preceding year which will be discussed again in the current year.

Meetings should be scheduled to maximize the attendance of elected faculty and student members, with special efforts to provide those members with a sense of IPC "institutional memory."

4/1/98