Strategic Planning: Phase One Update

Dear Berklee community,

This summer Interim President David Bogen and Interim Executive Vice President Betsy Newman appointed a Strategic Planning Steering Committee charged with designing and implementing a process of community engagement and dialogue to develop a unified mission, vision, and strategic plan for Berklee. The committee has been deeply engaged in phase one of this work, focused on building unified mission and vision statements that articulate our identity as an innovative and collaborative force within music and the performing arts while preserving the unique attributes of each Berklee learning environment.

Phase One Update

During the months of August and September, the committee synthesized many historical frameworks and reports, including but not limited to the work completed by consultants last March, previous strategic plans, planning documents for the merger, and Berklee’s plan to address systemic racism. We distributed foundational mission and vision materials aimed at creating shared definitions to guide community input and orchestrated in-person and online community engagement opportunities through multiple workshops, a survey, and pop-up events that spanned all of our learning environments.

Students gather at at ice cream truck pop-up for the strategic planning process

Students gather at a bubble tea pop-up for the strategic planning process.

A student writes on a post-it; a poster board filled with post-its is in the background

Students gather and write on post-its at a pop-up for the strategic planning process.

Students place post-its on a large poster filled with more post-its for the strategic planning process

Chris Kandus-Fisher stands in front of two posters filled with post-its for the strategic planning process

Through these efforts, the committee engaged over 3,300 community members across all campuses. Responses from the survey and pop-up events have been synthesized into a report. Steering committee members are also reviewing mission and vision language developed during our community workshops. These engagements are informing the development of mission and vision draft statements.

What’s Next

The steering committee is drafting mission and vision language that will be reviewed with our community through institution-wide workshops occurring in late-October/early-November and at the October Board of Trustees meeting. Feedback collected on this language will inform final drafts that the board will vote on in February. The resulting mission and vision statements will then guide the development of Berklee’s next Strategic Plan. More information on this process and the timeline can be found at the Strategic Planning website.

Thank you all for your engagement in this work. We have been energized by the amount and depth of the community’s participation and look forward to continuing to engage with you in this process.

Sincerely,

The Strategic Planning Steering Committee

David Bogen, Interim President and Provost
Betsy Newman, Interim Executive Vice President and SVP for Student Enrollment and Engagement
Betsie Becker, Assistant Vice President, Global Program Development
Karen Bell, Associate Dean, Professional Performance Division
Lacretia Flash, Senior Vice President for DEI, Community, Campus Culture and Climate
Maria Goldberg, Senior Director, Global Strategy and Innovation
Roya Hu, Associate Dean, Faculty Development
María Martínez Iturriaga, SVP, International Learning Environments
Chris Kandus-Fisher, Vice President, Student Success
Sharon Kramer, Dean of Institutional Research, Assessment and Accreditation
Robert Lagueux, Vice Provost
Claire Machamer, Senior Vice President, Communications and Marketing
Kaitlin Passafaro, Chief of Staff
Ron Savage, Executive Director, Berklee College of Music
Michael Shinn, Interim Executive Director, Boston Conservatory at Berklee
Keane Wimberly, Director of Strategy and Operations, Student Enrollment and Engagement