Strategic Planning Committee Report

The Board of Governors of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion has unanimously adopted the Strategic Plan presented to the Board at its meeting in Los Angeles, on February 13, 2006. Rabbi Aaron Panken, Ph.D., Dean of HUC-JIR/New York, has been appointed Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and will be responsible for the next stages of planning and implementation.

The Strategic Plan addresses the urgent needs of leadership for the changing Jewish world: 38% of the synagogue-affiliated American Jewish population identifies itself as Reform, currently the largest denomination of American Judaism of the 46% of the American Jewish population who are synagogue-affiliated; 44% of the American Jewish population identifies itself as unaffiliated to a synagogue, Jewish community center, or Jewish organization; and 47% of American Jews are intermarried. The plan takes note of the implications of the broad issues affecting Jewish life for the next generation - the shift from affiliation to episodic engagement, the decline of the traditional social justice imperative, the increase of interfaith households, the influence of popular culture, and the trend away from denominationalism towards pluralism. At a time when the majority of Jews are disconnected from traditional halakhah (Jewish law) and the contemporary search for meaning is expressed through personal choice, the seminary for the Reform Movement of Judaism is uniquely poised to provide the national leadership - through faculty, professional programs, and resources - to imbue Jewish affiliation and shape the Jewish present and future.

"The Strategic Plan establishes a vision for the College-Institute's future," stated Barbara Friedman, Co-Chair of the Strategic Planning Process, which engaged the participation of Board members, administration, faculty, students, alumni, and leaders of Reform congregations. "It synthesizes our twenty-two months of inquiry and discussions and affirms the powerful influence that HUC-JIR exerts in the life of the Jewish people through its vision, its values, its mission, and its mandate. The plan creates a framework for decision-making that is anchored in HUC-JIR's mission and reflects both excellence and sustainability. It strengthens HUC-JIR's capacity to respond thoughtfully and creatively to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead and to forge a new definition of the seminary as an integrative force of Jewish community life."

CORE MISSION
The Strategic Plan focuses on HUC-JIR's core mission to produce authentic and effective leaders:

to serve the existing and changing needs of institutions and communities, and
to foster ways to transform institutions and communities in order to engage and cultivate current and future generations.

The College-Institute has the opportunity and responsibility to produce compelling leaders who can serve as catalysts for enhanced Jewish identity and revitalized Jewish life and community in the 21st century. All of these efforts are predicated on the College-Institute's mission as a religious and scholarly learning community dedicated to:

The development of spiritual, intellectual, and professional leadership for the Reform Movement and the modern Jewish community.
The application of the open and pluralistic spirit of the Reform Movement to the study of the great issues of Jewish life and thought.
The advancement of the critical study of Jewish culture and related disciplines from a liberal Jewish perspective in accordance with the highest standards of modern academic scholarship.

BUILDING ON STRENGTHS
The plan builds upon HUC-JIR's strengths and successes, including:

a visionary president who has succeeded in engaging the commitment and support of philanthropic leaders who have helped nearly double the endowment in four years, from $48 million to $92 million;
the positioning of a Senior Administrative Leadership Team, working closely together and with the President, to deliberate, consider, and implement policy decisions promoting the interests of the College-Institute;
the development of the faculty through the appointment of leading emerging scholars who are enriching the scope of Judaic studies;
the implementation of a core rabbinical curriculum and focused student mentoring to develop a new generation of rabbis of intellectual excellence, infused with leadership skills, caring, and commitment to Israel and Jewish peoplehood;
the enhancement of the cantorial program from four to five years;
the implementation of stronger admissions standards for Hebrew language;
the strengthening of Board leadership, demonstrated through its diverse talents, generous philanthropic commitment, and enhanced gender inclusivity, with women comprising 30% of the Board;
the diversified placement of HUC-JIR's graduates in pivotal positions of leadership - from the synagogue to the Federation, from Jewish educational and cultural institutions to social service and human rights agencies;
students' appreciation for the deep sense of purpose at HUC-JIR, the vitality of institutional ambience, and the power of feeling connected to Israel and the global Jewish community;
alumni gratitude for the quality of their training at HUC-JIR; and
congregations' recognition of the qualities of leadership, learning, teaching, and caring demonstrated by HUC-JIR alumni.

In consideration of the possibility of an increasingly uncertain economic environment, the Strategic Plan has developed criteria to set priorities and make choices that reflect excellence and financial sustainability, including identifying areas of growth and opportunities for innovation. Such planning embraces a proactive approach, the engagement of all of HUC-JIR's stakeholders, an ongoing process of evaluation, design, implementation, and reassessment, and the integration of multiple programs and campuses into a unified institution. In order to determine the optimal strategy for achieving financial sustainability, research findings will clarify the possibilities of consolidation and restructuring of programs and facilities.

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE
The Strategic Plan outlines achieving excellence in several key areas:

Students:

develop new aggressive and creative recruitment strategies;
implement a comprehensive student information system;
continue to adopt and apply rigorous admissions standards;
enhance holistic assessment and mentorship for students;
infuse leadership training throughout the curriculum;
create a special track to support those with exceptional potential;
increase financial aid and scholarship support;
strengthen the foundation year of study in Israel; and
fully integrate Israel and Hebrew language studies into the succeeding years of study.

Faculty

continue to locate and retain the best available faculty at all levels;
communicate consistent criteria and high standards for promotion and tenure, with performance benchmarks and incentives;
consider ways to support faculty with resources, merit pay, and mentorship to enhance pedagogy, encourage scholarship, and recognize community service; and
design and implement post-tenure review and a phased retirement program

Research Resources:

review and integrate library and archives holdings;
assess preservation and resource needs for academic programs; and
explore institutional partnerships and technology for enhanced access.

Partnerships:

intensify HUC-JIR's collaboration and consultation with the Union for Reform Judaism;
deepen relationships with neighboring academic institutions to leverage financial and academic resources; and
further develop the HUC-JIR/Los Angeles and University of Southern California (USC) collaborative relationship and look to it as a model for other partnerships.

Technology:

upgrade technology to enhance teaching, research, operations, and integration of students and faculty; and
utilize technology to facilitate collaboration and leverage resources of multiple campuses and programs and into one institution.

Decision-making Criteria:

apply rigorous decision-making criteria to evaluate institutional objectives, financial sustainability, and the impact of external factors;
employ the criteria to set priorities, choose among competing priorities, and provide the basis for budgets, assist long-range planning;

Financial Sustainability:

utilize the concept of "expensive policies" (an objective way of showing 'doing x costs y') to evaluate and prioritize institutional programs and activities, and to reach decisions to cut costs and eliminate or curtail some programs and activities in order to support, sustain, or inaugurate others that emerge as higher priorities in order to achieve excellence with sustainability;
develop annual budgets and long-range financial plans that take a vertical approach - by validating expenses within individual programs and policies - and a horizontal approach - by assessing the budget across all programs -- to determine institutional priorities;
assess campus facilities and operational costs relative to HUC-JIR's mission and vision for the future as a basis for analysis;
expand development activities to position HUC-JIR for transformative gifts; and
utilize the Strategic Plan to develop proposals for major donors.

The Strategic Plan will be implemented by the Strategic Planning Implementation Committee, which will institute systemic change and continued planning through a structured design process, and will foster programmatic development and fiscal and administrative improvements.

ADAPTING TO A CHANGING LANDSCAPE
The Strategic Planning process is an ongoing one. In order to support the changing needs of the Jewish community today and in the future, current programs will be evaluated, reshaped, and coordinated to fulfill HUC-JIR's core mission and serve the broader community.

The exponential growth and changing nature of Jewish studies at universities worldwide necessitates the revisioning of The School of Graduate Studies in Cincinnati. Recognizing that a graduate school is a prerequisite for HUC-JIR's academic excellence, the majority of the current offerings of the School of Graduate Studies will be phased out to make room for new approaches that are more closely aligned with HUC-JIR's mission, reflect academic excellence, and are financially sustainable.
The Jewish communal world's difficulty in identifying professional leaders for their institutions prompts a reconsideration of the School of Jewish Communal Service's programs as how best to produce leaders for these venues.
An exploration of the potential and challenges of the Schools of Education will focus on opportunities for enhancing the impact of these programs and supporting the important work of the Schools' leadership.
HUC-JIR will create an expanded vision for the School of Sacred Music, building upon the traditions of hazzanut (cantorial art) and incorporating innovation and broader skills that are required to fulfill the changing needs of congregations.

NEED FOR FUTURE STUDY
Looking to the future, the Strategic Planning process will continue to explore the emerging needs of the Jewish world to ensure a vital Jewish future:

Faced with the growing search for Jewish heritage and spirituality in Israel, there will be ongoing planning and assessment for HUC-JIR's role in training rabbinical and educational leadership for the Progressive Movement in Israel and advancing the cause of religious pluralism and liberal Judaism in Israel and the Former Soviet Union.
Working closely with the Union for Reform Judaism, HUC-JIR will explore the role of the seminary in addressing the evolving issues of synagogues as a modality of Jewish religious affiliation.
Recognizing that there can be as much as a twenty-year gap in Jewish affiliation for young Jews, between the time of their religious school education and preparation for the bar/bat mitzvah and their reconnection with the synagogue for the enrollment of their children in a synagogue nursery school, HUC-JIR will investigate innovative strategies to engage those of the millennial, Gen X, and Gen Y generations and explore the new venues and programs that can build the next generation of Jews.

In affirming the Strategic Plan's recommendations, Rabbi David Ellenson stated, "We are at a crossroads on the journey to shape 21st century Jewish life and community. The College-Institute must serve as an intellectual center for Jewish life and as a training ground for generations of Jewish leaders who are rooted in Jewish scholarship and imbued with practical skills, whose authority is derived from the preservation and perpetuation of Torah, and who are responsible for all Jews in an inclusive and tolerant liberal Judaism. The Strategic Plan will enable the College-Institute to fulfill our aspirations for excellence and realize our goals: to provide leadership, revitalize synagogues and communities, allow Judaism to speak in a more humane voice, and provide strength and service to humanity and the Jewish people."