News Page Details

Engaging Consultant to develop Business Plan

Amid nationally declining higher education enrollments around the country, made more acute by the COVID pandemic, Presentation College, like the South Dakota state universities and most other colleges and universities nationwide, is seeking ways to work more efficiently and effectively to carry out its mission while adapting to the evolving needs of students and the larger community.

To that end, PC has announced its recently completed Strategic Re-Envisioning Plan https://www.presentation.edu/about/strategic-plan, with 3 strategic priorities: (1) Employ targeted Recruitment and Retention Protocols, (2) Implement Key Complements to the Student Experience, and (3) Prioritize Investment in Rural Health Care Education. The third priority is the centerpiece to the College’s new vision, and the Board of Trustees announced it will be hiring a national consultant to help convert the concept into a step-by-step business plan.

The plan builds upon PC’s strengths. Its Nursing Program has a special place in the history of the College and accounts for half of the current student enrollment. Further, PC has excelled at offering the program online, ranking 4^th in the country of best LPN-to-BSN programs by NurseJournal.org.

“We are proud to have served as leaders in online education well before the COVID pandemic,” said Dr. Paula Langteau, the College’s President, “and we continue to hone our expertise to lead transformational change in higher education.”

“That expertise, coupled with the ever-increasing need for Nursing education (heighted by the pandemic) has led to expansion of our online nursing program as a key priority within a focus on Nursing and Health Sciences,” she added.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Projections 2019-2029, Registered Nursing (RN) is listed among the top occupations in terms of job growth through 2029. The RN workforce is expected to grow from 3 million in 2019 to 3.3 million in 2029. The Bureau also projects 175,900 openings for RNs each year through 2029 when nurse retirements and workforce exits are factored into the number of nurses needed in the U.S. https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/42/News/Factsheets/Nursing-Shortage-Factsheet.pdf

The nurse shortage is felt most acutely in the rural areas where access to care is limited (Nursingeducation.org). Furthermore, South Dakota ranks 7th in the nation for “projected nurse shortage by state” https://www.registerednursing.org/articles/largest-nursing-shortages/

Sr. Janice Klein, President of the Presentation Sisters, said, “We value Dr. Paula Langteau's leadership which demonstrates our Sisters' legacy of addressing the needs of the times, just as our foundress Nano Nagle served learners' needs during her time of education ministry.”

 

Process

The process for determining the College’s strategic priorities started back in December 2020, when the campus was closed for a day so that all faculty and staff could participate in a coordinated, collaborative process to assess institutional strengths and to generate a wide range of ideas to meet changing marketplace needs. Following that session, a volunteer group of shared governance representatives from across the College, as well as from the Board of Trustees and the Corporate Board of the Presentation Sisters formed a Strategic Re-Envisioning Team.

That team worked through the Spring and Summer of 2021 to systematically and comprehensively assess the nearly one hundred innovative ideas generated by all faculty and staff in December, evaluating their alignment to, and support of, the Mission and Core Values of the College, institutional performance data, and current market analysis. They also engaged students in various aspects of the process. The resulting Re-Envisioning Plan was shared with all college employees at Fall Semester orientation, inviting them to participate on implementation teams.

Presentation Sisters President Sr. Janice Klein said, “We are pleased to see the Presentation Sisters' mission reflected in the Presentation College faculty and staff commitment to serve students.”

Presentation College Board Chair, Terry Helms, said, “The Presentation College Board of Trustees are excited to be a part of the Re- Envisioning Plan for the College. It has been extremely rewarding to interact with the Leadership, Faculty and Staff of the College and the Presentation Sisters in developing a path forward to continue to strengthen the college’s ability to prepare its graduates for the ever-changing world.”

 

Next Steps

                To expedite the implementation of the Strategic Re-Envisioning Plan, PC’s Board of Trustees and Corporate Board of the Presentation Sisters are currently vetting over a dozen national consultants with experience leading transformational redirection of small, private colleges to determine who to engage to assist PC, over the next few months, in developing a step-by-step business plan.

The contracted individual/organization will gather input from key campus and community constituents on the College’s strategic redirection and any variables that need to be considered in its implementation, review institutional data, and develop a practical, step-by-step business plan and accompanying recommendations.  

The resulting plan and recommendations will then be shared with constituents for final comment and feedback before the Presentation College Board of Trustees determines which recommendations to implement.

Current students and their parents, faculty and staff, alumni, donors, community leaders and other key constituents will be invited to provide input and feedback both as the consultant begins their work and once a set of recommendations is received.

Board Chair Helms, said, “The Board of Trustees is eager to support the development of a practical business plan to bring the Re-Envisioning plan to fruition. This is an exciting time for the College as it continues to adapt to the needs of the students and the community and will enable the College to continue its success well into the future.”