Vision 2020: The School of Human Services

Buckle up and hang on to your seats as we share with you our journey by discovery with The School of Human Services at the University of Cincinnati. Last fall, we began working with the School of Human Services in the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH) on developing a strategic plan.

The School has exponentially grown from three to seven programs in the last three years. To sustain this and to continue to grow strategically, they decided to engage their students, faculty, staff, and community partners in defining this future. In order to create this participatory process, the School initiated a partnership with us to develop “The School of Human Services Vision 2020”.

We launched widespread data collection in February with an online survey that was disseminated to all of the constituents of the School of Human Services. To date, approximately 400 survey responses have been received from all stakeholders across the seven programs. We analyzed the survey data and presented it back to the stakeholder groups to validate it and collect additional feedback.

During the past two weeks, we facilitated four focus group sessions, one with each of the following: the CECH Partners, Community Partners and Alums, Students, and Faculty. Each group expressed their appreciation for the School and their dedication to its future. In addition each group negotiated:

• top three attributes which distinguish the school
• their vision for the future
• top priorities for the school to focus on in the next 3-5 years

CECH PARTNERS
On March 24th, Janet Graden, The School Director invited Partners within CECH to join us in a conversation about how to take the School of Human Services to the next level. They all came excited to hear about Vision2020 and eager to learn more about the programs, the people and what they could do to support the School. Overall, they touted it as a high performing school that cares about their students and bragged about it truly making a difference in the community. One of the many ideas that surfaced for the School to rise to the next level was to define the story and to share it within the school, the college, the university and the surrounding communities.

COMMUNITY PARTNERS & ALUM

On March 31st, we met with Community members and Alums representing the seven programs. Folks began by sharing their vested interest in the School and appreciation for the invitation to define its future. With healthy banter, the participants leveraged a naturally formed competition between the group to form creative, out of the box ideas for the School.  They spoke about the importance of building upon current and potential relationships within the community, creating long-lasting partnerships, fostering knowledge, sharing and spreading cutting-edge best practices throughout the industry. The session ended with participants grateful for the time to meet each other as well as talk about the School that is dear to them. Visit our Facebook page to see more pictures.

STUDENTS

On April 4th, students from across all programs gathered to share their thoughts for improving the School they care so much about. One student shared that he wants to come back as an alumni and be proud of the School; he felt this was his opportunity to contribute to making it the best it could be. The student data from the Vision2020 survey was presented and validated by the students who then took the data to the next level by deciding on the top attributes that distinguish the school, crafting possible vision statements and deciding on the strategic priorities.

To do this, the students decided on and then defended, in a friendly debate, what they thought should be the top priorities for the School in the next 3-5 years. Students walked away excited to have met each other from across all the programs. Even when given the opportunity to sit with their friends, students remained in conversation with those they just met, comparing their respective experiences. Visit our Facebook page to see more pictures.

FACULTY

The Faculty joined us on April 9th to discuss their unique perspective on the possibilities for the School of Human Services. They worked rigorously to come up with an excellent, forward-thinking draft vision statement as well as prioritize what they see as the top priorities for the School. During the process, one participant commented that the School has more potential than a lot of people know, even more than those within the School realize. The Faculty members present were also grateful to work with colleagues from across programs and to hear the different ways the school is seen and experienced. Visit our Facebook page to see pictures.

As we continue on this journey by discovery with the School of Human Services we will analyze the data we collected from across the focus groups. Then we will work in partnership with Janet and a small strategic work group to hone in on the top three attributes, craft a succinct vision statement and top priorities for the School. Stay tuned for more news as Vision2020 evolves and continues its course through the summer!