by Marc Fredson
A committee comprised of students, faculty, staff and leadership from across the UCSF School of Dentistry has been meeting since April to craft a new strategic plan for the school. “The plan will guide the entire school’s efforts through 2020 and will focus our attention on those areas in which we want to truly excel,” says John D.B. Featherstone, dean.
The strategic planning process, currently nearing completion, is based upon 18 months of gathering information from faculty, staff and students, including a series of three leadership retreats, 14 meetings with clinical and research faculty and staff, a Faculty Council meeting and a faculty update session. It has been led by Dennis Reker, a retired Intel executive who now donates his time and skills in strategic planning to the non-profit sector.
The charge of the strategic planning committee is to produce a strategic plan for the School of Dentistry that is based upon the extensive input gathered from the school community and that is strongly aligned with and supports UCSF-wide and UCSF Health strategic priorities. The final plan will:
- Establish a clear and focused direction for the school, including goals, objectives and specific measurements of success
- Identify unique qualities that differentiate the School of Dentistry from top-ranked peers, and outline methods to further solidify our leadership position in the areas of patient care, education and discovery
- Promote job satisfaction by giving every team member a clear sense of how his or her role supports the overall success of the school
Thus far, the strategic planning committee has reviewed the school’s vision, mission and values, as well as the strategic priorities in the categories of:
- Patients/Health
- Discovery
- Education
- People
- Business
- Global Oral Health
The draft strategic plan will be discussed at the school’s semi-annual leadership retreat on July 29, and will then be made available for comment to all faculty, staff and students. Input will be collated and reviewed, and incorporated into a final version. The final plan will be presented at the full faculty meeting on Oct. 3, 2015 and will then be published and implemented.
A crucial part of implementation will involve quarterly review of progress toward the plan, and a formal review and update in 2018.
“This document will be our touchstone for the next five years,” says Dean Featherstone. “We are getting close to the finish line in creating this document, and to the beginning of a focused and fabulous new chapter for the UCSF School of Dentistry.”
2015-2020 UCSF School of Dentistry
Strategic Planning Committee Members
- Diane Barber
- Brian Bast
- Jake Blackshear
- Sheila Brear
- Brian Carr
- Benjamin Chaffee
- John Featherstone
- Fritz Finzen
- Marc Fredson
- Mehran Hossaini
- Mark Kirkland
- Ophir Klein
- Tom Lang
- Mona Nejad
- Johnathan Nobles
- Maria Orellana
- Dorothy Perry
- Dennis Reker
- Peter Sargent
- Susan Schultz
- Caroline Shiboski
- George Taylor
- Joseph Youssef