Strategic Positioning, Sept. 9, 2005

Dear Colleague,

Earlier today, President Bruininks presented the next phase of the University's strategic repositioning effort to the Regents.  It is designed to move the University to one of the top three public research universities in the nation.

The next several months will involve considerable faculty, staff, and student effort to wrestle with the details involved in that work.  Within the health professional schools of the Academic Health Center, our work is cut out for us.  We have four focused efforts, including:

-- Health Professional Workforce - chaired by Barbara Brandt (AHC) and Louis Ling (Medical School)
-- Clinical Sciences Enterprise - chaired by Deborah Powell (Medical School) and Bobbi Daniels (UMPhysicians)
-- Knowledge Management Technology - chaired by Debra Olson (SPH) and Linda Perkowski (Medical School)
-- Clinical Precinct Plan - Terry Bock (AHC) and Ann Forsyth (College of Architecture)

Remaining members will be announced next week.

These are familiar issues to those of us in health sciences as they are the next phase of our Strategic Plan of 2000. We need to develop an ability to better anticipate the healthcare marketplace needs for our graduates; to define the strengths and gaps in our clinical sciences enterprise; to strengthen our capacity to support learning through educational technologies; and to update our facilities plans within the AHC precinct.

This effort will require considerable consultation with faculty, staff, and students.  This fall, I will schedule a series of meetings in each school and with students to solicit comments and feedback on this work. Of course, we will keep you informed of the progress of the task forces as they do their work, scheduled for completion in May, 2006.

Frank B. Cerra, M.D.
Senior Vice President for Health Sciences
McKnight Presidential Leadership Chair