Student Housing and Dining Services Strategic Plan2021

I. Introduction

The Student Housing and Dining Services strategic plan, “Be Better, Build Forward”, sets the direction of the department for the next 5 years. The plan is aligned with the UC Davis strategic plan, “To Boldly Go” and is in support of the mission of the campus and the division of Student Affairs strategic planning. The plan outlines a set of strategic initiatives that serve as the pillars for the plan and a framework for the next 5-year period.

Be Better-Build Forward

In 2019, Student Housing and Dining Services developed the motto “Be Better-Build Forward” recognizing the need to always be better and to build our already benchmark program(s) forward. “Be Better” represents our daily duty to always strive to be better; for our residents, guests, staff, the campus community, and with the decisions we make. “Build Forward” represents not just our capital planning efforts, but also our efforts to build forward our programs and services; orientation (summer to fall program), basic needs security and support, diversity, equity and inclusion, operational efficiencies, etc. Together, this motto represents the foundation of this strategic plan and thus has been designated as the official title and theme of the plan.

Mike Sheehan was named the Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Housing, Dining and Divisional Resources in May 2019, after serving in the interim role after Emily Galindo was appointed Interim Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs in May 2018. Under Mike’s leadership, the Student Housing and Dining Services Leadership Team worked together in the summer of 2019 to review, update and expand foundational documents, and drafted the first version of the updated strategic plan. Following that, there were several engagements with groups of staff, in person and virtually and then a workgroup was created to finalize the plan (see Appendix A). This strategic plan is a living document that sets the direction for the department and serves as a planning framework to achieve our strategic initiatives. The timeline for this plan is 2021-2026.