University of Maine Cooperative Extension's Roadmap Committees
As promised, here’s the beginning of our work to create UMaine Extension’s Roadmap for the next three years. A couple of things to mention — why a “roadmap” and not a “strategic plan?” A roadmap to me is tangible, much like our beloved map/guide book: DeLorme’s Maine Atlas and Gazetteer. It clearly defines connections between locations (much like how we are going to connect to UMaine’s Strategic Vision and Values, the Governor’s 10-Year Economic Development Strategy, etc.) and it clearly defines all our assets which are going to play a critical role in our plan and our future. It’s also a road map because it has a relatively short fixed-length time span, I believe we are planning for the next three years. After that, then it’s time for a full-blown five- to ten-year strategic plan after we are past a COVID pandemic, new UMaine administrative leadership, new UMaine budget models, a new UMaine Extension administrative structure, and all the other many distractions and disruptions that play a huge role in our current day-to-day work lives.
This roadmap is going to be a grassroots initiative, it’s not going to be top-down. I want us to figure this out together, with that, here are the five committees: Enhancing Collaborations; Considering How We Operate; Programming for the Future; Enhancing Our Financial Future; and Successful Communication and Marketing (links for each committee, below).
These five themes came from the responses to the survey that University of Maine Cooperative Extension conducted in July 2020.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. Thank you all for participating in this very important process. It’s exciting to be thinking about the future!
— Dean Hannah Carter, UMaine Extension, hcarter@maine.edu
