Northern State University's current plan, Strategic Pathways, will sunset in 2026. To prepare for the next five years, the University launched a planning process in the fall of 2025. The planning process is currently underway, and to date has included the following actions:

• Consultants Kristi Wagner and John Beranek retained to lead the strategic planning process
• Empathy interviews conducted with 7 Executive Leadership Team members
• 8 Listening Sessions conducted on campus with constituent groups including students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors and community members. A total of 248 individuals participated.
• A 50-member Design Team was formed to work across two days to review listening session results, engage in strategic dialogues and identify emerging themes. These themes were refined into four strategic directions.
• The Design Team split into four teams to further develop each strategic direction (goal) and a series of objectives.
• A town hall meeting will be held on December 3 for the campus and community to review a draft of this work and provide feedback.

Please review the planning document within this site for more in-depth information.

The planning process will continue into spring semester as the plan is refined and built out with action steps, benchmarking data (where we are today), targets or metrics (where we strive to be), yearly plans, and those accountable for each action. This page will be updated as the plan is developed.