Winthrop Athletics announced a new plan which consists of six goals for the improvement of the athletic department. These goals correspond with a number of Winthrop University’s strategic plan goals. The Director of Athletics Dr. Ken Halpin, talked more about the purpose of this plan.
“We have six aspirational goals that fall under the categories of student success, competitive excellence, campus engagement, community engagement, fiscal responsibility, and inclusive excellence,” Halpin said. “Under each goal are a collection of measurable outcomes we believe will best associate with success in those goals. We have four benchmark dates every year where we evaluate our progress toward each goal.”
Each of the six goals have a few measurable initiatives that will ensure the success of the strategic plan.
Goal 1, for example, is to “support inclusive excellence by expanding our impact on students and our communities through enrollment growth and increases in retention and graduation rates.” One of the three initiatives that will be implemented in order to achieve this goal will be to “develop and implement a clear marketing strategy that refines and highlights the university’s competitive advantages.”
“Our primary interest is the positive impact on our student athletes, which is best captured by the measures in goal number one,” Halpin said. “From there, we hope to positively impact our campus community as well as any person associated with Winthrop University.”
Other goals include the department’s hopes to “enhance the quality of the Winthrop experience for all students by promoting a culture of innovation, with an emphasis on global and community engagement,” as stated by Goal 2, and their hopes to “attract and retain high quality and diverse faculty, staff, and administrators,” as stated by Goal 3.
The six goals are also accompanied by an acronym that puts the D.R.I.V.E. in the strategic plan’s title “Drive to ‘25.” This acronym describes the values of the athletic department where the goal is to DRIVE the organization to the future.
‘D’ is for Diversity. Winthrop Athletics “will be leaders in diversity.”
‘R’ is for Results. Winthrop Athletics will “focus on obtaining measurable results.”
‘I’ is for Integrity. Winthrop Athletics “will do the right thing always.”
‘V’ is for Vision. Winthrop Athletics “will create the future.”
‘E’ is for Excellence. Winthrop Athletics “will maintain the impossible pursuit of perfection.”
Also supplementing the plan are a few personal goals that the athletics department has in mind.
“Some of this year’s short term goals are associated with improving the experience for student athletes on a day to day basis, as well as for our fans who attend our athletic events,” Halpin said. “Making much needed improvements to our service areas (i.e. weight room, training room, recruiting areas) as well as our heavily trafficked fan areas like the Coliseum is a heavy focus of ours this year.”
Find the full “Strategic Plan: Drive to ‘25” online at www.winthropeagles.com.
