In its newly published strategic plan, Cornell University is positioning itself as "the exemplary, comprehensive research university" of the 21st century.

The plan -- just eight pages in length (plus a two-page executive summary), with 23 pages of appendices comprising plan summaries from every college and unit of the university -- sets out Cornell's objectives for building on its stature as a private university with a formal public mission. The ambitious goals include recruiting exceptional teachers, students and staff; attracting the best students regardless of their ability to pay; and extending Cornell's role in public service in the United States and around the world.

Speaking to the plan's succinctly stated goals, President David Skorton said, "Cornell, with its unique combination of depth, breadth and quality in research, education and outreach, aspires to be the best comprehensive research university for undergraduate education in the world. I am delighted that the planning process has already enabled us to move forward to that end."

The last time Cornell set down its goals for the future in a comprehensive document was in 1994 under President Frank H.T. Rhodes. This time around, the plan has been allowed to grow organically from many sources and voices throughout the campus. "This was not a top-down effort," commented Tommy Bruce, vice president for university communications. "Rather, it was a process involving every vice president and dean."

Provost Biddy Martin and Vice President for Planning and Budget Carolyn Ainslie played major roles in coordinating the process and bringing multiple viewpoints into a single, coherent document.

Stated Martin about the plan's goals: "We will devote resources to innovations in the sciences and sustainability, and to preserving our world-class scholarship and education in the humanities, while making special efforts to preserve and enhance quality across disciplines in the social sciences. In addition, we are stepping up efforts to ensure that students benefit from the extraordinary pace of discovery and are prepared for a rapidly changing world. This document draws on the thoughtful planning that goes on here at all levels and will continue to be so informed."

Reflecting on how the plan will be carried forward, Ainslie said, "It is a crucial tool to inform and enhance how we will make decisions and, as such, will be a living document that adapts our aspirations to the reality that surrounds us."

The new plan spells out strategies to achieve five overarching goals, which were first announced during Skorton's October 2007 State of the University Address. They are:

1. Sustain and renew the exceptional intellectual quality of the university. Recruit, retain and support a diverse and talented faculty, staff and student body.

Efforts include enhancing Cornell's interdisciplinary strengths and collaborations; developing strategies to keep Cornell "an exemplary workplace" and placing 25 fields and every professional school in the top 10 National Research Council rankings by 2015.

2. Enroll, educate and graduate the most deserving and promising students at every level, regardless of background and economic circumstance. Provide students with a distinctive education and extracurricular experience in an integrated living-learning environment. Inspire them to be ethical and purposeful citizens of the world with a lifelong zest for learning.

Specific strategies include increasing scholarship support and opportunities for on- and off-campus learning experiences, regular and careful reviews of curricula, teaching loads and teaching quality, and providing opportunities for students, faculty and staff to participate together in intellectual, spiritual, social, cultural, athletic and service activities.

3. Enable and encourage the faculty, their students and staff to lead in the preservation, discovery, transmission and application of knowledge, creativity and critical thought.

The plan calls for nurturing Cornell's "bottom-up" tradition, using the New Life Sciences Initiative as a prime example of establishing early dominance in emerging disciplines; fortifying the resources of the library as well as those of the social sciences, humanities and arts on campus; and enhancing Cornell's presence in New York City and particularly at Weill Cornell Medical College.

4. Extend the university's leadership in the use of research and education to serve the public good, in fulfillment of Cornell's land-grant mission and its long-standing commitment to capacity building in communities in the U.S. and around the world.

Initiatives in this area include focusing on translating research from the most basic to the most applied, improving extension and outreach efforts, from the local to the global, and nurturing stronger lifelong relationships with Cornell alumni.

5. Ensure the long-term stability and quality of the institution through careful stewardship of its financial and human resources, its natural and built environments, and its infrastructure, by means of careful planning, efficiencies, the appropriate integration of operations across the university, development of new income sources and increases in private support.

Strategies in this area include increased efficiencies, sustainable practices and fundraising.

In the appendices, each of the following units at Cornell spelled out its own, separate mission and identified a set of goals as part of the new strategic plan: the 10 undergraduate and graduate colleges; the Faculty of Computing and Information Sciences; the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions; the Graduate School; Cornell Library; Weill Cornell Medical College; Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences; Divisions of Student and Academic Services, Alumni Affairs and Development, University Communications, Government and Community Relations, and Human Resources; Office of University Counsel; Secretary of the Corporation; and Cornell University Finance and Administration.

The strategic plan can be viewed at http://www.cornell.edu/president/strategic-plan.cfm.