On the day of Chancellor Woodson’s installation, 18 representatives from the N.C. State Strategic Planning Committee held a town hall meeting, during which it fielded comments from the audience for 90 minutes at Stewart Theatre.

The purpose of the session was mostly about listening to everyone and having a conversation about the University’s strategic plan, which will serve as a road map for the N.C. State for the next five to 10 years, according to Warwick Arden, interim academic provost and co-chair of the Strategic Planning Committee.

“We want this plan to be an aspirational and inspirational statement of who we are as a University, and a pragmatic plan we can move forward on,” Arden said. “Your input today and moving forward is vital.”

Adren said the committee hopes to have a draft of the plan early next year for review by all interested stakeholders; the committee will then revise the draft and deliver it to the Board of Trustees during their April meeting.

“The committee members before you represent 160 faculty, staff and students who serve on these task forces,” said Arden. “We owe a great debt to these people who are putting in an incredible amount of work.”

Members of the audience who wanted to comment were given a microphone and the floor to voice their opinions. Several in the crowd recommended that the committee pay special attention to the overall excellence of the University, not just its top-notch science and technical programs.

“Like a lot of things at this University, everything is already divided up into pieces,” said Steven Reynolds about the planning committee, which consists of nine task forces. “The [N.C. State] campus is perceived as a center of intellectual excellence in some areas, but also typecast.”

Reynolds, a physics professor, said overspecialization has hurt some areas of the University, particularly CHASS.

“There is clearly a subordinate role humanities has played here, as evidenced by the lack of humanities Master’s and PhD programs,” he said.

Nina Allen, a professor in plant biology and past faculty chair, also expressed concern about the dearth of humanities programs as the University strives to become a “world-class university.”

“A world-class university needs to excel in all areas of academics. While I think that CHASS is a very good program, widening our scope is very, very important,” said Allen. “I’m a biologist but I can see, especially in my grandchildren, the importance of a broad education, not a narrow one.”

Reynolds urged the committee to focus the strategic plan on making the University more “comprehensive.”

“We need to teach [students] not only skills, but wisdom and paths to wisdom,” he said.

Though the Planning Committee did more listening than talking, Barbara Sherry, head of the Postdoctoral Development Task Force, addressed the concerns about CHASS.

“I assure you we know there are many different cultures on this board. This is not just a science and engineering school, we’re all one big university,” said Sherry, also a professor in the Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences. “Moving forward in interdisciplinary studies, CHASS will play an even greater role.”

Candace Haigler, a professor in plant biology and crop science, said that N.C. State “needs a diverse faculty in order to be a place of excellence.

“N.C. State is kind of insular in certain areas. Some of our peers are doing certain things better than us. We need to take notice of that,” said Haigler.

The Strategic Plan should aim for gender and ethic equality, but it should not neglect students and faculty with disabilities, said Margaret Zahn, professor in the department of sociology and anthropology.

“A lot of our future students will include military coming back from war; many will come back with serious injuries,” said Zahn. “We need to address diversity not just in terms of race and ethnicity, but also in terms of disability.”

At the end of the meeting Marjery Overton, co-chair of the Strategic Planning Committee and Faculty Senate Chair, encouraged the crowd to stay involved via future in-person forums and suggestions through the website.

“I would like each of you to know that it was very important that you came today,” said Overton, also a professor in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering.  “We’re working very hard to make this a very transparent process, and there are a variety of ways to give input into the plan, both in future meetings and via the Web.”