Posted on: Friday, January 25, 2002

EDUCATION
UH solicits public's views on strategy

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Staff Writer

Karl Kim said he hopes the world is going to beat a path to his door next week when the University of Hawai'i strategic planning process throws itself open to the world.

From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 1 in the Campus Center Ballroom the public will be welcomed — no, embraced with open arms — and invited to share its vision for UH.

Kim, the UH-Manoa Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, is chairman of the all-day event, called "Defining Our Destiny," that will use the Open Space technique for maximum input.

"How do you get input from hundreds so they don't think the agenda has been set?" he said. "You create a forum where people can hook up and interact."

Already a Web site has drawn more than 500 public comments about the university's future in three areas: academics, the social/cultural and spiritual domain, and the physical environment.

It will be up to three 12-member campus-wide committees to coalesce the ideas into a strategic planning document to chart the kind of future the community wants for its university.

Interim Manoa Chancellor Dean Neubauer is in charge of the overall strategic planning process.

The Open Space technique has been widely used groups such as AT&T, the Peace Corps, the World Bank and Boeing to elicit ideas from stakeholders about how they envision their future.

Its four principles:

• Whoever comes are the right people.

• Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.

• Whenever it starts is the right time.

• When it's over, it's over. (When it's not over, it's not over.)

To find out more about the strategic planning process go to www.uhm.hawaii.edu/vision.

Parking will be validated and food and door prizes will be provided. From 7 to 10 that same evening there will be a CoffeeHouse "Open Mike Night" in the same place offering an evening of spontaneous entertainment and whatever else anyone wants to offer, Kim said.

"We're trying to keep people on campus on a Friday night," he said. "We don't know why this hasn't been done before."