RESEARCH

Development, Implementation and Assessment of a Comprehensive StrategicPlan in a School of Pharmacy

Bhaskara R. Jasti, PhD, John C. Livesey, PhD, Phillip R. Oppenheimer, PharmD, Eric G. Boyce, PharmD

Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California

Submitted December 4, 2017; accepted March 26, 2018; published August 2019.

Objective. To develop, implement and assess a strategic plan and its process within a school ofpharmacy.Methods. The process for developing the strategic plan included five phases: designing and scanningby a planning committee; divergent thinking with input from key internal and external stakeholderswho shared their vision for the school; convergent planning in which faculty members helped toprioritize the clusters, goals, and metrics that had been identified; refining ideas into strategies; andassessment, during which metrics were aligned with assessment plans and data were collected andanalyzed.Results. The completed strategic plan had five broad strategies, 20 specific goals, and 90 associatedmetrics. The plan was implemented with engagement by all major stakeholders in the program.Reallocation of existing resources and generation of new resources were key in making progress.The assessment, which was conducted three years after implementation of the strategic plan, foundthat each strategy had affected the school’s mission to provide an exemplary educational experience forstudents and to advance the institution.Conclusion. The strategic plan provided direction and focus to meet the challenges of continuing toadvance the school. The keys for success in strategic planning are having a well-defined process,involving all faculty members and other key stakeholders, implementing the plan, and routinelyassessing progress in meeting the strategic goals.

Keywords: strategic planning, planning, resource allocation, continuous improvement

INTRODUCTIONA strategy is a long-termplan of action designed to

achieve a particular goal. The aim is to realize the goal byfollowing a deliberate pattern of behavior over time1

Strategy can be used to set direction, focus effort, definethe organization, and provide consistency. Recognizingand embedding emergent elements is important in strate-gic planning, which can take different forms. Strategicplanning has been defined as “a systematic processthrough which an organization agrees on—and buildscommitment among key stakeholders to—priorities thatare essential to its mission.”

2 Similarly, others have de-scribed strategic planning as “a formal process designedto help an organization identify and maintain an optimalalignment with the most important elements of its envi-ronmental set.”3

Strategic planning should serve as an adaptive, long-term course of action for an institution for the purpose ofimprovement.4 Such a plan must possess a set of specific,interconnected human, technological, and organizationalcapacities to achieve these strategic directions. These ca-pacities also require changing academic and administra-tive processes, aspects of the culture, and behaviors ofexecutive leadership, faculty, and staff. Some of thechanges may be achieved quickly while others will takemore time. Resources and the inclusion of multiple per-spectives, processes, and incentives are necessary con-textual elements in strategic planning. A well-focusedstrategic plan with inclusive input of all stakeholdershelps a school or college leverage and possibly reallocateexisting resources (including people, budgets, and facili-ties) to achieve the goals and initiatives of the plan.

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By including all pertinent stakeholders in the process,redirecting and building resources will be supported bythose involved in the development of the plan. A wellthought out plan with metrics for assessment can pro-vide persuasiverationaleandjustification to centraluniver-sity administration when requesting additional resources,

Corresponding Author: Eric G. Boyce, Thomas J. LongSchool of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, University of thePacific, 3601 Pacific Ave., Stockton, CA 95211. Tel: 209-946-3144. E-mail: [email protected]

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especially if the school plan is consistent with a universityplan, and also to potential donors when strategies areconsistent with their values and goals.

An effective strategic plan must include the missionand vision of an institution. In higher education, strategicplanning has evolved from planning mostly for physicalfacilities of the campus to the current use as a rational toolfor orderly and systemic advancement of the academicenterprise.

5,6 Demographic shifts, technological advances,and educational costs have outpaced the inflation drivingthis evolution. Strategic planning in higher education ischallenging to accomplish, at least in part because it hasfew rewards available to bring about the necessarychanges.

7 Manytimes,administratorsandfacultymembersare unsure of the process, even when they acknowledge theneed for a strategic plan.8

The accreditation standards for the Doctor of Phar-macy (PharmD) degree from the Accreditation Councilfor Pharmacy Education (ACPE) include the need to per-form strategic planning.9 The pharmacy education litera-ture includes reports on the development of a continuousquality improvement process for a pharmacy program as awhole based on prior strategic planning,10 the use of stra-tegic planning in an academic unit within a college ofpharmacy,11 and the use of strategic planning in the de-velopment of a satellite campus and an interprofessionaleducation program.12,13 There are also a limited numberof reports of strategic planning and its impact in otherhealth care educational programs and in academic healthcenters.14-17 All of those reports are very helpful, but noneaddress the methods and outcomes associated with stra-tegic planning performed at the program level to addressthe major components of a college or school of pharmacy.

There are no standardized methods for performingstrategic planning.Instead,there area seriesoffundamen-tal components that should be included in strategic plan-ning. Strategic planning methods must meet the needs,expertise, and structure of the entity performing the plan-ning, including alignment with the strategic plan and stra-tegic planning process of the parent organization.Strategic planning for a college or school within a univer-sity is typically done through an executive committee or asteering committee with input from key individuals tokeep the process well organized, inclusive, and wellaligned with the university’s strategic plan and strategicplanning process.

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The purpose of this report is to share the process usedto develop Pacific 2020, the strategic plan for the PharmDprogram at the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy andHealth Sciences to assist other colleges and schools todevelop their strategic planning process with a focus onmeeting the fundamental components of a strategic plan.

Additionally, three years after implementing the plan, weassessed our progress using the outcomes we had out-lined. In addition to describing the process for formingthe strategic plan, in this paper we share the findings fromour assessments and provide lessons learned. The goalsare to assist others in the development and implementa-tion of their own specific strategic plan and appropriatemetrics which are designed to meet the needs of theirprogram, academic unit, and parent institution.

METHODSThe University of the Pacific is a nationally ranked

university with three distinct campuses united under onecommon goal: to educate and prepare the leaders of to-morrow through intensive academic study, experientiallearning, and service to the community. The Thomas J.Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is locatedon the Stockton campus, and has provided innovativeprograms and extensive leadership opportunities to stu-dents from around the world. The mission of the school isto prepare students for lifelong success in health careersby providing an excellent, student-centered learning en-vironment. We aspire to develop leadership skills in stu-dents and a strong commitment to their professions, tointerprofessional collaboration, and to society. These ef-forts are assisted by linkages between the university’sprofessional and liberal arts programs. We support out-standing professional and graduate teaching, research andother scholarly activity, and services as a means ofachieving our mission. The school adapts its program-ming alongside the ever-evolving health care industry.To comply with ACPE accreditation standards and tocontinue to advance our curriculum, programs, research,and community outreach initiatives to stay a step ahead ofthe industry landscape, the dean initiated a strategic plan-ning process in 2012 entitled Pacific 2020.

The Strategic Planning Committee, a nine-person adhoc group reporting to the dean, served as the central co-ordinating body for the development of the strategic plan.The committee included multiple members from each ofthe three academic departments and an administrativestaff member. Each member of the committee was ex-pected to serve the needs of the school and the programas a whole, rather than serve the needs of a specific de-partment or office. The committee established the follow-ing goals upon receiving its charge to develop a strategicplan: define the school’s core values, assess current pro-cesses, identify future trends, establish strategies andgoals to educate students, and assess the effectivenessof the plan periodically. An additional goal of the planwas to align the strategic plan for the school with thestrategic plan of the university. The strategic plan was

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designed to be dynamic and adapt to change. To succeedin the development and implementation of the plan, thecommittee designed an inclusive approach where allstakeholders (faculty, staff, alumni, executive leadership,etc.) participated in the process. For the purposes of thisstrategic plan, a strategy was envisioned to be a generaldescription of several interconnected goals that could beaccomplished over the duration of the plan, and a goal wasa well-defined effort to achieve a certain outcome. Met-rics were designed to assess the outcomes of a goal withmultiple measurements. The strategic planning commit-tee divided the planning process into the five phases de-scribed below.

Phase 1: Designing and Scanning was conceptualand focused on the pre-work necessary to launch a suc-cessful planning process. The objective of this phase wasto examine the existing value statements of the school andthe assumptions regarding the direction of the school, andto design a planning process that enabled the reconsider-ation of these elements in the context of potential futuredevelopments.

Activities during the design and scanning phase alsofocused on how the new strategic planning processaligned with university planning and change-related ac-tivities, and howto manage and assess that alignment.Thefirst phase of the strategic planning process also focusedon scanning the environment for key factors influencingthe PharmDprogramat thattime and in thefuture.Knowl-edge and information was gathered on the following fac-tors: political/community, economic/competitive, social/demographic, technology/teaching, learning and scholar-ship, and environmental factors affecting higher educa-tion, specifically those related to the pharmacy professionand accreditation guidance. These knowledge and infor-mation resources were made available in a repository tosupport the work of the planning groups and were acces-sible to all faculty and staff members. Also, each admin-istrative office was asked to provide a preliminary strengths,weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis re-lated to their responsibilities within the school.

Phase 2: Divergent Thinking was highly participa-tory and consisted of a “bottom-up” approach for strategygeneration. In this phase, the existing values, assump-tions, and offerings were discussed in the context of thepossible futures that the school might confront. Futureconditions, challenges, opportunities, and alternativeswere explored. This phase was guided by the program’sstatements of values and principles, the EnvironmentalScan provided by internal experts, documents from exter-nal professional and educational entities [eg, AmericanAssociation of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), AmericanCollege of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP)], input from

alumni, and the SWOT analyses provided by each depart-ment, administrative officers, and those in professionalleadership positions. During this phase, all participatingindividuals were asked to consider the evolution of theprofession for the next 20 years and how to train futureprofessionals to navigate the changes in the professionand health care they would face.

Phase 3: Convergent Planning was a “quieter” phaseof the strategic planning process in that it primarily in-volved members of the Strategic Planning Committeewho were tasked with weaving together the many threadsput forward in the Divergent Thinking Phase. Phase 3 wasfocused on developing possible solutions, strategies, anddecisions. These were clustered and incorporated into afirst draft of the strategic plan. All the opportunities thatwere presented in the divergent thinking process wereclustered into five cohesive groups, each cluster having12 potential goals formulated by the strategic planningcommittee. These clusters were presented to facultymembers at a retreat at which all on-campus faculty mem-bers participated, with the exception of two members whowere on sabbatical leave. During this meeting, facultygroups discussed the clusters and potential goals and met-rics, and prioritized them into five potential strategies,each with five to six goals.

Phase 4: Refining involved continued refinement ofthe strategic plan with a description of each strategy, andthe creation of a strategic financial plan aligned with thestrategic plan. The spirit of this phase was refinement anddetailing of plans by the strategic planning committee,with input from the dean and dean’s cabinet members.Consultations with external constituencies (eg, alumniboard, dean’s leadership council) were also sought. Thefocus was on providing measures for effective and flexi-ble execution of strategies. Finally, the developed planwas reviewed with the university’s strategic plan to en-sure that priorities aligned.

Phase 5: Assessment consisted of refining the met-rics and supporting analytics necessary to enable strategyexecution and capacity building. The metrics were cross-referenced and aligned with the school’s assessment planto ensure agreement and synergism. The goals of the as-sessments were to determine the progress and impactmade by each strategy on the pharmacy program.

Implementation of the strategic plan began during thedevelopment and approval stages of the strategic plan,which was followed by full implementation within 12months after approval of the strategic plan. Faculty com-mittees, academic departments, and administrativeoffices,where appropriate, were engaged in implementation of thestrategic plan. Faculty meetings included discussions re-lated to the implementation and the progress made on the

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strategic plan. The assessment of the strategic plan wasincorporated into the school’s assessment plan, includingall strategic goals and metrics. Assessment data were col-lected each year and reviewed. At the end of three years,assessment data for each strategic goal were then aggre-gated to evaluate the progress on each strategic goal.

RESULTSThe final strategic plan approved by the faculty had

five major strategies and each strategy was associatedwith three to five specific goals (Table 1). The plan as-pired to achieve 20 goals over a seven-year period. Thefive strategies were as follows: 1. enhance pharmacy stu-dent abilities and learning through curricular innovation,integration, application and assessment; 2. enhance phar-macy students’ academic and professional success; 3.build, expand and sustain community service and scholar-ship; 4. strengthen partnerships with internal and externalconstituencies to maximize Pacific’s competitiveness;and 5. recruit, develop, retain, and support exceptionalfaculty and staff in fulfilling their roles and responsibili-ties.

The five major strategies, the abbreviated strategicgoals, an example of a metric identified for each strategicgoal, and the general outcomes for each metric are pro-vided in Tables 1-5. The status of the expected metric foreach goal was assessed as one of the following: exceeded,met, on course, or metric needs revision (when it wasdifficult to collect assessment data).

Each strategy and each goal in the strategic plan waspaired with one or more measurable metrics to determinewhether the listed goal was achieved. This permitted as-sessment of the outcomes of the strategic plan in a trans-parent way. Our strategic plan had a total of 90 metrics toevaluate the 20 goals spread over five strategies.

The aim of the plan was to fulfill all the goals by theyear 2020. Since this strategic plan is a living document,we assessed the goals at the end of the 3

rd year.As shown in Table 2, of the 90 metrics we listed, we

exceeded 29, met 29, and were approaching the goal for21 others. For the remaining 19 metrics, we either did nothave data or the metric needed to be revised.

Strategy 1 had considerable impact on the design anddelivery of the curriculum by expanding active-learningmethods across the curriculum, enhanced curricular map-ping to ensure appropriate content coverage and sequenc-ing,andenhancedcommunicationamongfacultymembersto enhance integration of content. Additionally, methodswere used to ensure high passage rates on the North Amer-ican Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) and toenhance student participation in conducting, presenting,and publishing research. Progress in this strategy also pro-vided a solid base and rationale for upcoming curricularrevision.

Strategy 2 was to enhance pharmacy students’ aca-demic and professional success, refocused faculty andadministrative support on student academic success, ca-reer planning, and graduate placement. The opening ofthe Office of Academic Success and Instructional Support(OASIS) was a major development supported by thisstrategy. Services offered by OASIS include individualand personal meetings with its director, and an electivecourse targeting improvement of academic and relatedabilities and activities. A midsemester early warning sys-tem has all faculty members provide lists of students atrisk and then contact each student at risk with recommen-dations to use OASIS, advisors, instructors, and other re-sources. Career planning and job placement for studentsand graduates was centralized and communication of op-portunities was enhanced. Additionally, student readiness

Table 1. The Abbreviated Goals, Sample Metrics, and Outcomes of the Sample Metrics for Strategy 1: Enhance Pharmacy StudentAbilities and Learning Through Curricular Innovation, Integration, Application and Assessment

Abbreviated Goals Sample Target MetricsAchievement of Target

Metric at 3 Years

Evidence-based, active learningmethods are used in courses

Effective active learning methods are used in all courses Met

The curriculum is well-coordinated andwell-sequenced

Progressive curricular development of important topics On Course

Graduates develop abilities and meetoutcomes

$95% of graduates pass NAPLEX Met

Graduates develop distinctive andcompetitive abilities

$20% of students participate in research activities Exceeded

Assessment data are used to enhance theprogram

Comprehensive review of the curriculum and courses isperformed at least every 4 years

Met

On Course: the outcome did not meet the target metric but was within 2 to 5% of meeting the targetUnknown/Needs Revision: the outcome was unknown due to lack data collection and/or a useful metric

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for careers and postgraduate training and education wasenhanced through elective coursework, on-campus speakers,and development of a list of faculty members who couldserve as career path advisors. In their responses to theAACP Curriculum Assessment Survey question on theschool providing access to guidance on career planning,the percent of graduating students (indicating effectiveguidance) increased from 46% to 54% up to 71% follow-ing these enhancements.

Strategy 3, to build, expand and sustain communityservice and scholarship, impacted the development anddelivery of health care outreach activities by studentsand faculty members, the creation of a master of science/fellowshipandexpansionofinternationalmasterofscienceprograms, and continued expansion of research and schol-arship support, grants submitted, and publication and pre-sentation of research and scholarship.

Strategy 4, to strengthen partnerships with internaland external constituencies to maximize Pacific’s compet-itiveness, resulted in a marked increase in communicationswith external partners through monthly newsletters, socialmedia, and on-campus and off-campus meetings withalumni and other major constituents. Additionally, studentattendance at professional and scientific local, regional,and national meetings was supported by the school andhas increased. Particularly noteworthy was the increasein students who participated in the presentation of researchabstracts at professional and national scientific meetings.

Strategy 5, to recruit, develop, retain, and supportexceptional faculty and staff members in fulfilling theirroles and responsibilities, resulted in ongoing improve-ments in the facilities and technologies for students, staffmembers, preceptors, and faculty members. Additionally,the focus on professional development has been key fornew and existing faculty and staff members in enhancingand keeping up with changes in their responsibilities andabilities. Following further discussion after approval ofthe strategic plan, staff members decided not to initiate aformal recognition system to provide annual awards orrecognition based on performance.

In the context of Pacific 2020, the strategic plan ledto the reallocation of resources in our programs (and lead-ership). This plan guided the establishment of two Masterof Science programs, enhancements in the assessmentprogram, and enhanced professional development oppor-tunities for faculty members. This plan also helped guidefundraising for our strategies such as OASIS, an impor-tant service to our students in overcoming academic chal-lenges, enhancing information on career options andopportunities, increasing scholarships, upgrading facili-ties, providing immediate needs for operating funds, andenhancing endowment funds for operations.

The overall impact of the strategic plan was alsodemonstrated in faculty responses on the AACP Curric-ulum Assessment Surveys. When asked if the school ef-fectively employed strategic planning, the percent offaculty members who strongly agreed or agreed increasedfrom 73% just prior to the development of the strategicplan to 80% after implementing this plan. Additionally,when asked if the school requested their input during thedevelopment of the current strategic plan, the percent offaculty members who strongly agreed or agreed increasedfrom 89% to 97% over the same period.

DISCUSSIONStrategic planning is an important activity in higher

education for directing the academic institution, unit, orprogram towards meeting its goals. Strategic planningacknowledges and builds upon the mission and vision todetermine the priorities, strategies, desired outcomes, andresource allocation that are thought to be most importantin continuous quality improvement for the institution,unit, orprogram.There are numerousmethodsof strategicplanning,

1-4 but they all contain similar major compo-nents, and there are very few reports related to strategicplanning in pharmacy or higher education.1 Those funda-mental elements of strategic planning appear to be direc-tion, guidance, and support from leadership; broad-basedinvolvement by key constituents (faculty and staff mem-bers, students, and external partners); collection, review,

Table 2. The Abbreviated Goals, Sample Metrics, and Outcomes of the Sample Metrics for Strategy 2: Enhance PharmacyStudents’ Academic and Professional Success

Abbreviated Goals Sample Target MetricsAchievement of Target

Metric at 3 Years

High quality is maintained in applicationsand matriculations

The average pre-professional GPA $3.30 On Course

Student retention and progression aresupported and enhanced

Mid-semester early warning system identifies andcontacts all students at risk

Met

Student career planning and graduateplacement are well supported

Career development services are rated $4.0 on a5-point scale by graduating students

On Course

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analysis and use of pertinent information and data; andreview and approval of the plan by major constituents.There are fewer reports in the literature describing whatprocesses are needed after approval of the strategic plan,particularly with respect to monitoring and reviewingprogress and determining the need for potential revisions.

We used a strategic planning model that had full in-volvement and acceptance by faculty members as well asother key groups (staff members, students, and externalpartners). Our planning process was designed to meet afundamental component of strategic planning of beinginclusive in nature, where all faculty members, alumni,and leadership participated in the development of the planat multiple stages. Sharing our organization of and ap-proach to the strategic planning process with all keyplayers within the university at the beginning of the proj-ect distinguished our method from that described byothers working in a complex academic environment likeours.

10 Early involvement and communication was a keyfundamental component used in our strategic planningprocess. This strategic plan was implemented and helpedguide resource allocation and a comprehensive spectrumof activities at the school. The overall strengths anduniqueness of our strategic planning process was its com-prehensive approach, use of a core strategic plan organiz-ing committee, involvement of major stakeholders, andongoing monitoring and assessment of progress.

The development and approval of the strategic planare first steps towards the path of meeting the importantgoals of the academic institution, unit, or program. Thenext steps include the widespread communication of thestrategic plan and implementation of the plan. Our stra-tegic plan was disseminated to a broad audience, includ-ing the university leadership and administration, schoolfaculty and staff, program students and alumni, and ex-ternal partners including current and potential donors. Itwas not placed on the school or program webpage, butin retrospect that may have enhanced its dissemination.

Strategies were implemented in multiple ways. Efforts toenhance fund raising, community health care outreach,and enhancing student services were overt and very in-tentional. Efforts to enhance curricular delivery, scholar-ship and research, and faculty and staff development weremore subtle, but still very apparent.

Monitoring and discussion of progress in meetingstrategic goals and potential revisions were the next majorsteps. How progress would be monitored and reviewedwas not initially clear to all faculty members, most likelybecause of the complexity of the strategic plan and somelack of clarity on how progress was to be assessed on eachof those strategic goals. Once the progress was reviewedwithin the context of the strategic plan, the relationship ofthe progress to the strategic plan and the importance andvalue of the strategic plan became more evident to facultymembers. However, the discussion, monitoring, and re-view of progress did not systematically include all ele-ments of the strategic plan. A formal review of all themajor strategies, goals, and metrics was only performedin preparation for the next strategic plan.

The assessment of the metrics used to determineprogress on the strategic goals also provided insights intothe design, utility, meaningfulness and measurability ofthe metrics. A few strategic goals and/or metrics were nolonger relevant and other metrics were either not mea-sured or the data collected were not consistent with themetric that was created in the strategic plan. For example,the first goal in strategy 2 was to assure high-quality ap-plicants for the PharmD program, which included an as-pirational metric as a pre-professional GPA of 4.0 and anachievable metric as a GPA of 3.0. However, our historyshowed a GPA of .3.30 would be more meaningful (Ta-ble 2) since over 95% of our matriculated studentsexceeded that metric. An example of an initial metric withbuilt-in challenges was associated with strategy 3 in pro-viding health care outreach to the community. The metricenvisioned that .50% of those served would come from

Table 3. The Abbreviated Goals, Sample Metrics, and Outcomes of the Sample Metrics for Strategy 3: Build, Expand and SustainCommunity Service and Scholarship

Abbreviated Goals Sample Target MetricsAchievement of Target

Metric at 3 Years

Health care outreach is providedto the community

$50% of those served by health care outreach are fromunderserved populations

Unknown/Needs revision

Postgraduate programs areexpanded

$2 postgraduate education or training programs are evaluatedfor development over next 5 years

Met

Faculty research and scholarshipis enhanced

$50% of tenure track faculty publish each year Met

The graduate program isenhanced

$90% of PhD graduates will be employed within 1 year Exceeded

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underserved populations (Table 3). Unfortunately, it wasdifficult to collect the data and to ascertain whether eachof those served came from an underserved population,considering the thousands of patients served at the manyhealth care outreach events sponsored by the school. Al-though organizers of health outreach events believed thatat least 50% of those served were from underserved pop-ulations, there were no data to document those impres-sions. Also within strategy 3, “our graduate students willpublish peer reviewed paper(s) under the advisor’s guid-ance,” is a metric that proved difficult to measure at agiven time. Many research papers are typically publishedwell after a student graduates, and consequently we needto revise this metric to state that “graduate students willpublish peer-reviewed paper(s) within two years of grad-uation under the advisor’s guidance.” The data for severalmetrics described in Strategy 4 were also difficult to col-lect, including metrics related to relationships with orga-nizations and partners, communications with constituents,and the brand image (Table 4).The lessons learned fromthis step is that early and planned timely review of allmajor strategies, strategic goals, and metrics is neededto fully assure the appropriate value and use of each ele-

ment of the strategic plan. We recommend ensuring re-view of each major strategy, strategic goal, and metric byassigning responsibilitycentrally to aplanning committeeand/or decentralized to the administrative offices or com-mittees associated with each element.

We propose the following guidelines to assist otherpharmacy schools in creating an effective strategic plan.The strategic plan must be a living document with theability to adapt to future trends, with assessment conduct-ed early and systematically and necessary alterations togoals and metrics made in a timely manner. The planshould have clear goals, structure, and process set bythe academic leader(s) and supported by faculty and staffmembers. To be effective, the strategic plan must be de-veloped by a core group of planners drawn from all de-partments and key groups (staff, students, alumni, etc).An effective strategic plan should also involve essentiallyall faculty members in its development and then includeadoption by the faculty as a whole and key representativesof staff, students, alumni, and external partners. The planshould contain strategies that cohesively focus on themost important areas. Additionally, the plan should in-clude three to five specific goals for each strategy to

Table 4. The Abbreviated Goals, Sample Metrics, and Outcomes of the Sample Metrics for Strategy 4: Strengthen Partnerships withInternal and External Constituencies to Maximize Pacific’s Competitiveness

Abbreviated Goals Sample Target MetricsAchievement of Target

Metric at 3 Years

Relationships with organizations and partnersare strong

$25% of students attend a state or national meeting Unknown/Needs revision

Relationships with alumni and preceptors arestrong

Preceptor development programs are rated at least4.0 on a 5-point scale by preceptors

Met

Communications with internal and externalconstituents are effective

Pertinent communications are disseminated to$90% of available constituents

Unknown/Needs revision

The Pacific pharmacy brand image enhancesthe School

The Pacific pharmacy brand image is rated $4.0 ona 5-point scale by constituents

Unknown/Needs revision

Table 5. The Abbreviated Goals, Sample Metrics, and Outcomes of the Sample Metrics for Strategy 5: Recruit, Develop, Retain,and Support Exceptional Faculty and Staff in Fulfilling Their Roles and Responsibilities

Abbreviated Goals Sample Target MetricsAchievement of Target

Metric at 3 Years

Faculty and staff evaluations supportdevelopment

All faculty and staff undergo evaluation in a timely manner Met

Faculty and staff are supported toenhance their abilities

$95% of faculty and staff participate in $1development opportunity each year

On Course

Faculty and staff are rewarded foroutstanding accomplishments

Faculty and staff with outstanding accomplishmentsare formally recognized annually

Faculty: MetStaff: Unknown/Needs

RevisionFacilities, technologies and resources support

School personnel and studentsStudents, faculty, preceptors and staff rate facilitiesand technology at $4.0 on a 5-point scale

Met

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provide focus for implementation. A strategic plan mustinclude a sufficient number of measurable metrics to ef-fectively evaluate the achievement of each strategy orgoal. The plan should include continual communicationof the strategies and progress in meeting strategic goals toall relevant participants. The plan must also include somestrategies that can be accomplished in the near term andother strategies that take longer to accomplish. Finally, aneffective strategic plan should provide guidance for re-source generation and allocation.

CONCLUSIONA robust process involving all faculty members and

key representatives from other constituencies was used tocreate a strategic plan in a school of pharmacy. The majorchallenges met in the planning process included full in-volvement and approval of faculty members and the crea-tion of a strategic plan that was meaningful and led toenhancements in the vast majority of the strategic goalsidentified. Recommendations for other schools includemaking an early and sustained effort to monitor and reviewprogress in an explicit manner, and incorporating a processfor making revisions to major strategies, strategic goals,and/or metrics when appropriate. While strategic planningcan be very effective in providing a platform for continu-ous improvement, a strategic plan should also be consid-ered a “living” document that can be revised and refreshed.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSWe express our sincere gratitude to all our faculty and

staff, especially the other strategic planning committeemembers: Mamoun Alhamadsheh, Susan Burkhardt,Sean Carr-Lopez, Nancy DeGuire, Rajul Patel, RoshanakRahimian, and Mark Walberg.

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Table 6. Frequency and Percent of Achievement of the Target Metrics within Each Strategy Three Years After Approval andImplementation of the Strategic Plan

Strategy 1 Strategy 2 Strategy 3 Strategy 4 Strategy 5 Total,No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%) No. (%)

Total Number of Metrics 26 19 14 19 12 90Outcome Exceeded the Target 7 (27) 5 (26) 6 (43) 1 (5) 2 (17) 21 (23)Outcome Met the Target 12 (46) 3 (16) 5 (36) 2 (11) 7 (58) 29 (32)Outcome was “On Course” With the Target 5 (19) 7 (37) 2 (14) 6 (32) 1 (8) 21 (23)Outcome Unknown and/or Needs Revision 2 (8) 4 (21) 1 (7) 10 (53) 2 (17) 19 (21)

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2019; 83 (6) Article 6899.

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