Thursday will be the last chance for the public to offer input for the 2005 to 2010 Strategic Plan.

The second draft of the Iowa State University Strategic Plan will be discussed at an open forum. Comments made there, as well as written comments submitted by Friday, will be used by the strategic planning committee to create the final draft.

The second draft addresses many of the comments made on the first draft, said Ben Allen, provost and vice president for academic affairs and chairman of the strategic planning committee.

“[The first draft] was addressed too much to science and technology,” Allen said. “We did try to address that in a couple of ways.”

He said the goal of improving the arts and social sciences is stated in the second draft. Concerns that Iowa State should focus on its role as a land-grant university by teaching both practical and liberal subjects have also been addressed, Allen said.

“We thought the plan addressed the characteristics of a land-grant university,” he said. “We really emphasize that this university is a comprehensive university.”

Allen said the second draft also addresses concerns that the plan did not place enough emphasis on promoting diversity. Increasing student awareness of global, cultural and diversity issues is stated as a goal in the second draft, he said.

“We had a petition that a lot of people signed that wanted a little more about diversity in the plan, so we tried to address that,” said Kevin Kane, program manager of Academic Information Technologies and a member of the strategic planning committee.

Kane said that the planning committee tried to address every concern with the first draft.

“There were a lot of specifics,” he said. “I think we’ve tried to consolidate all the pieces together.”

Receiving feedback from the ISU and Ames communities is a valuable part of the process, Kane said.

The final version will be sent to the Faculty Senate for review. After the senate approves the plan, it will be sent to ISU President Gregory Geoffroy, who will review the plan and send it to the Board of Regents. If approved, the plan will go into effect July 1, 2005.

The strategic planning committee is made up of 42 students, alumni, faculty and staff members. The committee, formed in January 2004, has met six times and has held several public forums and focus groups.

The final public forum will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in 101 Design.