Pre-planning activities in 2018-2019 served as a transitional effort, during which the planning committee engaged in two parallel efforts designed to position Drexel favorably for the next planning cycle.

The committee sharpened our implementation focus to three topic areas that were well-represented in the 2012-2019 strategic plan:

• Assessing academic program quality, cost, and demand
• Assessing and improving institutional effectiveness in administrative areas and processes
• Improving retention and graduation rates.

Each topic was engaged by a small, diverse working group comprised of administration and faculty, and supported by the analytic resources of the Office of Institutional Research.

These topics were selected for continuity with the 2012-2019 strategic plan, but also because progress in these core areas will position the university well to undertake new initiatives under the next strategic plan. The committee also "learned by doing" in these planning efforts, prototyping a model of strategic planning that is deeply data-informed, and building momentum into the next strategic planning process which began in fall 2019.

A fourth coordinating group, Thinking Forward, undertook environmental scanning to develop recommendations for an effective structure and process to the next strategic planning process.