An open forum was held Monday to answer questions and take feedback regarding the new strategic plan for WSU.

The strategic plan outlines specific plans for the future for WSU and emphasizes improving the overall student experience, outreach and productivity.

“We have a much more stable financial situation,” said Erica Austin, vice provost for academic affairs. “We’re getting better at finding funding.”

The strategic plan is broken down into four main themes for future success, each accompanied with several related sub-themes.

The four themes – Exceptional Research, Innovation, and Creativity; Transformative Student Experience; Outreach and Engagement; Institutional Effectiveness: Diversity, Integrity, and Openness – are taken from the previous plan done in 2006.

Dan Bernardo, the interim provost and executive vice president to the university, said the strategic plan of 2006 was very optimistic and different from this plan. It was affected by the Great Recession, he said.

Since then, the school’s financial model has shifted to rely more on tuition than on state grants.

“The fact is that tuition is a larger part of income for the school,” Austin said. “We want to make sure they (WSU students) are getting a really good return on their investment.”

Austin said the plan will make its way to the Board of Regents at the end of spring. More has yet to be determined in terms of implementation of the plan, but it will evolve over the years, he said.

After giving a quick overview of the plan, Bernardo and Austin left the majority of the time open for questions and comments.

Chuck Pezeshki, an engineering professor, expressed concern over the language in the plan. He said it was too generic, and appealed to overly common beliefs and values. The social structure between professor and student needs to become more empathetic, he said.

“It’s a lot of mom and apple pie,” Pezeshki said. “In order to get these sorts of breakthroughs in, we need to change the social structure.”

There will be three more public forums hosted in the CUE April 2, 9 and 17.