By itself, the 16-page document does not differ from the countless documents the university publishes every year.
But this publication, bound by staples, binds the university to seven goals - goals that members of the administration have said they will strive to meet.
A little more than a year has passed since the Ball State Strategic Plan was adopted by President Blaine Brownell during a formal ceremony at the E.B. and Bertha C. Ball Center.
Since then, the plan's spotlight has faded, though it received prominent attention earlier this month, when administrators cited it as one reason to raise tuition for new students by $1,000.
But in the 17 days since Brownell approved the tuition increase, the colleges have worked to create their own plans, which must both follow the precepts laden in the university's strategic plan and dictate each college's own goals.
The text within the university's strategic plan calls for general goals, whether it be to "promote life-long learning through customer-friendly access to courses and services" or "attract and retain a more diverse body of faculty, professional personnel and staff."
But the the purpose of the plan, said Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Beverley Pitts, is to serve as a reminder of these broad goals.
"Universities are really messy places. There are a thousand good things going on all the time. The strategic plan helps us wrap our arms around these things," Pitts said. "If you don't remind yourself on a regular basis...you can take things for granted."
Due to recent turnover among the deans in three colleges, the deadline for each college's own strategic plan was pushed back to January.
At the beginning of the 2002 spring semester, then-provost Warren Vander Hill said the seven colleges should be finished at the end of the 2002-2003 school year.
"What we're trying to do is make sure everything we've accomplished is permeated down," Pitts said. "That's the hard part. It's kind of like orchestrating."
Once the colleges submit their plans, the strategic planning implementation and assessment team, comprised of both members of the administration and faculty, will review them to make sure they address the issues within the university's strategic plan.
The committee will also review the measurements in the individual colleges' plans, said Deborah Balogh, the dean of the graduate school and chairwoman of the committee.
In August, the committee will release an interim report on the progress of the university. Balogh said she believes the university is addressing each of the strategic plan's goals, though the data will "tell the tale" in August, she said.
The goals, and their respective objectives, were drafted with no priority assigned to them, but certain issues naturally took precedence, Pitts said, including assessing the core curriculum, called for on page four of the strategic plan.
Now Pitts is shifting her focus five pages into the strategic plan goal number three - "Ball State University will attract and retain high-quality faculty, professional personnel and staff."
To achieve goal number three, the university is currently working to increase external and internal funding to support faculty research and scholarship.
Administrators have to reach $20 million annually by the 2005-2006 school year in funding to reach their goal.
Pitts, however, said that goal has already been reached, and the amount has now changed to $30 million.
"It's (the plan), really, always a draft," Pitts said.
External funding, whether it be in grants or gifts, will be needed to fund the university's continuing operations, now under the auspice of the strategic plan.
"It takes all the state dollars that we have to keep the doors open," Pitts said.
The strategic plan, however, can also be a tool when the new year begins and state legislators return to Indianapolis to draft Indiana's budget.
Both Purdue and Indiana State universities have strategic plans, and Indiana University's Bloomington campus is in the midst of creating its own - so it can stay competitive with the other universities when it comes before legislators.
"Despite a lackluster economy...the intense competition among American research universities continues unabated, as each major university seeks to marshal the very best faculty to provide outstanding teaching and research, secure significant external funding, and establish the national and international reputation of their university," wrote Sharon Brehm, the chancellor of the Bloomington campus, in a letter to her colleagues.
"In order to be successful in such an environment, where financial resources are scarce and competition is fierce, the ability to define priorities that will drive resource allocation will be a major factor in determining which universities succeed, and which do not."
The strategic plan is slated to guide Ball State until 2006, after which, Pitts said, a new one will probably take its place.
"I don't think we ever want to say, 'Okay, we met that goal. Now let's not worry about that again,'" Pitts said.
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