Spring 2022 marked the official start of our strategic planning process at The New School. President Dwight A. McBride has charged Provost Renée T. White with leading this process for the community. She is enthusiastic about this process and is pleased
that Lara Penin, professor of transdisciplinary design at Parsons, is serving alongside her as co-chair of the strategic planning process. Professor Penin's extensive work in service design, design and social innovation, civic design, participatory
methods, and other areas has made her an ideal partner in leading this important work.
When done well, a strategic plan can serve as a touchstone for an institution’s present and a pathway to the future. It should not merely be a document that gets stored away somewhere, never to be seen again. In order to have meaning, the strategic planning
process must be carefully thought out, inclusive, and inspiring. Provost White sees our strategic plan as an invitation to a dynamic campus-wide conversation about the university’s mission, vision, and values and
how they should shape our future priorities and the strategies we use to pursue them.
You can read more about the university's strategic planning process in this overview document.
"I know I am asking a lot of you in this journey—upon which we together have embarked—to embrace the full potential and ambitions of our beloved New School. We will allow ourselves the space and time to think and dream together. The process itself will serve as a shared exercise in healing, trust building, and galvanizing our community around shared aims."
Learn more about President McBride's Framework for Fearless Progress.
"The challenging reality is that we cannot do everything at once and will need to set priorities and goals based on agreed-upon principles, some of which are found in the strategic plan and others that will flow from it....There are different points of entry to the important work and tasks ahead, and I hope each of you can identify the spaces that make sense and are appealing to you. This is complex work for complex times, and I welcome all who are ready to join me."
Read Provost White's extended reflections on her first year as provost at The New School.