Northwood Strategic Planning Process

Northwood Colleagues:

Happy New Year to you all and welcome back to the winter term at Northwood University!  Higher education is somewhat unique in that we get to celebrate two “new years” in each twelve-month period.  There is the traditional start of school activities in the fall on our academic calendar and then the more traditional “new year” that is associated with the beginning of a new calendar year.  Both dates offer us a fresh start, a time for reflection on what we have accomplished in the past year and what we hope to accomplish in the “new” year.  I hope you enjoyed your holiday break and are ready and enthused to tackle the challenges ahead.  Such “goal-setting” is what we intend for our Northwood Strategic Planning Process (NSPP). 

Next week continues our NSPP sessions with the broad participation of the campuses.  You will each have the opportunity to help plan what’s next for Northwood University.  Our job is to produce a living document which will be the blueprint for our future.

What we do, how we do it and where we are going are the topics at hand as we map out the next three, five or maybe even 10 years.  How can we best execute the teaching of The Northwood Idea?  How can we prepare our students to be the best global business leaders they can be?  And how do we ensure a firm economic foundation that allows us to grow and thrive?  These questions and more will serve as talking points in the discussions ahead.

I hope you will make time in your busy schedules to attend these meetings.  We need to hear your voices.  It is you, the faculty and staff, who daily bring The Northwood Idea to life.  Please plan to participate.

Keith A. Pretty, J.D.
President and CEO
Northwood University
4000 Whiting Drive
Midland, MI 48640
989.837.4203 (phone)
989.832.9590 (fax)