Definition of Thematic Terms

General Accomplishments in the Last Decade

Formulating a New Set of Resource Objectives

Developing a Cohesive and Coherent Resource Plan

Next Steps

Conclusions

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Part of resource management is quality decision-making as it relates to planning. Once a decision has been made, does the university assess the quality of its decisions and planning, and if it does, does it learn from its assessment? How do we know if we’re doing the right type of assessment — one that gives us the feedback we need to make necessary modifications (or none)? What is the best process for acquiring and managing the all-important resources supporting the educational endeavor? In a sense, much of the past decade at Cal Poly Pomona has been spent seeking the answers to these questions. The 1990 WASC report spoke to leadership and the quality of decisions with respect to the university culture. This theme will explore these issues. Section A defines resources. Following sections discuss planning and the assessment of planning, enrollment growth and the problems and progress associated with Cal Poly Pomona’s current strategy, the leadership culture at Cal Poly Pomona (with reference to faculty as well as administration), and how it affects resource management and enhancement. Section E closes this theme with several observations and some possible remedies and recommendations. (more...)

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What constitutes resources at Cal Poly Pomona?

Resources include those material assets on which the university draws to perform its mission and also the intellectual, social, cultural, and spiritual resources emanating from the human capital of our staff, students, faculty and administrators, without which no educating or operating would take place.

The fiscal resources of the university are support from the State of California, other government agencies, and private support, including gifts, grants and contracts. The State of California is the major source of funding for the CSU in general. Funds are allocated to a campus based on the number of FTES, or full time equivalent students. In addition, general obligation bonds are sold by the State, based upon voter support, for capital improvements consisting of new construction and renovation projects. These funds, although limited in amount, are allocated based upon system-wide priorities and campus need.. (more...)

The economic climate of the 1990s and the consequent loss of State tax revenue coupled with the decline in student enrollment led to a significant loss of revenue for the university. The budget for the university absent any other factors is enrollment driven. The economic climate of the country and especially of the State has improved steadily since the mid-1990s. The improved tax revenue has allowed the State to increase the funding to the CSU including Cal Poly Pomona. At the same time, enrollment has steadily increased, almost to its pre-recession high, which has improved the funding base. The university has almost regained its 1990 financial condition.

A major area in the university’s progress is in private funding. Several of the college based advancement programs have achieved spectacular successes. The Collins School of Hotel and Restaurant Management development officer and their Industry Advising Council raised the funds needed for all new capital improvements, which include a new building. The College of Engineering effort in fund raising was utilized to leverage CSU support for state funding of approximately two thirds of the costs to replace outdated engineering laboratory facilities with a new building and equipment. The College of Science is in the process of raising funds and in-kind gifts for 50% of the equipment for the new Bio-Technology Building, which will provide infrastructure support for the first, and currently only, major in Bio-Technology within the CSU while updating infrastructure in the College of Science. (more...)

One area in which Cal Poly Pomona has been actively engaged in extended, long-range planning is the campus physical master plan (Appendix D1). The plan is currently being revised and should be completed by the time of the WASC visit in 2000. (Cal Poly Pomona is scheduled to grow from the present 15,000+ FTE students to 20,000 students by 2007/08.) In order to accommodate this projected student growth, Cal Poly Pomona will need three major new buildings, a library addition, several building renovations and an increase in parking space. This construction is in addition to the construction presently in progress in engineering, science, the Collins School for Hospitality Management, and the student union. Historically, the funding source for academic buildings has been the State general obligation bonds. These bonds require a majority of voters’ support for passage. However, the amounts of the bonds and the lack of consistent support by the voters have considerably underfunded the CSU. Consequently, Cal Poly Pomona has to compete with the other CSU campuses for these funds. (more...)

The research for this thematic study was comprised of a careful analysis of the processes of strategic planning, Joint Review, and budget advisory; a historical account of the resource culture of the campus related to that of Theme One; a perusal of many internal documents and one external consultant’s report; and many, many meetings and interviews (see Annexes A5 and A10). In addition, a review of the literature on academic planning was conducted.

The following observations suggest appropriate actions:

In the past Cal Poly Pomona’s growth has not been effectively planned. Of late, the university has begun to derive a rational program capacity-based enrollment management and recruiting strategy founded on the university’s polytechnic and teaching/learning-intensive tradition.

Cal Poly Pomona needs to begin a planning process based on shared values that will set goals and priorities for the near and intermediate term. A part of this process must include an assessment mechanism. Once in place, planning, assessment, and allocation must become a reliable and trusted feedback process that becomes part of the campus culture. The model presented in Shulock and Harrison may be appropriate for us (1998), or some other to be devised through campus discussions. The Colleges, Schools, and other units have already initiated processes and structures suitable for this kind of planning.

The budgeting process must have a longer-term outlook. Budget committees at all levels must evolve into overview committees that study the presented budget from the view of whether the budget helps the university meet its goals, priorities, and obligations. It must be recognized that the budget committee’s duty is not to micro-manage, but to add trust to the allocation process by doing an impartial public review.

Every senior administrator might wish to publicly list, on perhaps the university’s web page, his or her top goals and priorities. The campus community thus could easily determine what the administrative priorities are, and have greater hope of influencing them. Discussion of the proper responsibility and level of power for administrators, faculty, staff, and students should be open. All constituents should participate in shared governance in some capacity.

To aid the budget and allocation processes within the division of Academic Affairs, each department, major, option should publicly list its current capacity. This capacity must be stated in terms of the optimum number of undergraduate majors, graduate students, FTES capacity per year for general education and remediation of the department in relation to current resources and allocation. These numbers will be reported by the College and School to become part of the data needed to do enrollment management and manage future program growth.

Innovation and renewal must become part of the budget climate. A portion of each budget must be used to seed new initiatives. If an initiative is not viable after a reasonable period of time, it must be allowed to wither and die.

The various findings and recommendations or suggestions for action from this theme are collected in the concluding chapter of the self-study. The most important ones, those relating to continuous self-study with a powerful planning and assessment component and to inter-personal respect, arise from this and the other themes. A program of informal campus meetings, focus groups, and a follow-up symposium has been suggested by respondents and consultants during our research. The objective of these activities would be to cultivate a greater sense of shared meaning and direction, devise a list of priorities, and design a procedure for doing a better job of shepherding the resources we have and those we’d like to have. Theme Four, following, proposes a synthesizing forward-looking vision that may serve us in designing the planning strategy we need.