The Future Series is a series of dynamic summits that will set the conditions for our disciplined work together. Each summit must feature broad participation by our students, faculty, and staff.  In addition, they will include pre-readings and resources, a keynote address, facilitated activities, and opportunities for reflection that are  designed to help us arrive at understandings and to generate ideas that position our liberal arts mission and our public good as a state college as both guide and ballast throughout this process.

• Monday, November 15, 2021 | 1:00PM-2:15PM | Trustees Pavilion
  

  U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Laura Potter, Deputy Chief of Staff G-2, poses for her official portrait in the Army portrait studio at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va, Sept. 15, 2020. (U.S. Army photo by William Pratt)

• Keynote Speaker: Lieutenant General Laura Potter, US Army. LTG Potter is the highest ranking military officer in the US Army.
• Program:
  • I. Welcome; II. Fireside Chat with Keynote Speaker and President Jebb; III. Question & Answer; IV. Small Group Facilitated Activity and Report Out; V. Closing Remarks
• Pre-readings/Resources:
  • Good to Great for the Social Sector by Jim Collins (get pdf)  
  • Courtney, H. Kirkland, J., Viguerie, P. (2005) Strategy Under Uncertainty. Harvard Business Review. (get article)
• Small Group Facilitated Activity (get activity)
• Attendees are encouraged to wear their name badge if they have one.
• Pre-registration was required by November 12.
• Post-event resources and feedback forms are available on the Office of the President Intranet Site.

Leslie T. Fenwick, Ph.D.

• Thursday, December 2, 2021 |1:00PM-2:15PM | Trustees Pavilion
• Keynote Speakers: Leslie T. Fenwick, Ph.D., Dean Emerita of the Howard University School of Education and Professor of Education Policy; and H. Patrick Swygert, J.D., President Emeritus of Howard University and Professor of Law
• Program:
  • I. Welcome; II. Fireside Chat with Dr. Fenwick, Mr. Swygert, and President Jebb; III. Question & Answer; IV. Small Group Facilitated Activity and Report Out; V. Closing Remarks
• Pre-readings/Resources:
  • Good to Great for the Social Sector by Jim Collins (get pdf) 
    

    H. Patrick Swygert, J.D.

  • Gallagher, T. (2021). The Democratic Imperative for Higher Education: Empowering Students to Become Active Citizens. AAC&U. Liberal Education Magazine. (get article)
  • Interview with Yuval Noah Harari: The Power of Data, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of the Human Race. (Oct.31, 2021) 60 Minutes. (get interview)
  • The Importance of Character in Education featuring Lorraine Abbott. (July 2016). TEDxPutneyHighSchool. (get talk) 
  • Cultural Competence: An Important Skillset for the 21st Century (Feb. 2016). NebGuide. (get article)
• Small Group Facilitated Activity (get activity)
• Attendees are encouraged to wear their name badge if they have one.
• Pre-registration was required by November 30.
• Post-event resources and feedback forms are available on the Office of the President Intranet Site.

• Wednesday, December 8, 2021 |12:00PM-1:00PM | Trustees Pavilion 1
• To attend this event in person, pre-registration was required by December 6.

• Thursday, February 17, 2022 | 1:00PM-2:30 PM | Trustees Pavilion
• This event will focus on:
  • Arriving at a better understanding of the experiences and needs of New Jersey’s K-12 students and K-12 districts
  • Identifying strategies the College may deploy to support students’ academic pursuits and well-being
  • Learning more about ways in which Ramapo College and K12 school districts may partner for the mutual benefit of our students, our institutions, and the teaching profession
• Panelists:
  • Ms. Melanie Alston-Balaputra, Vice Principal, Bergen County Technical School, Paramus
  • Dr. Rui Dionisio, Superintendent of Schools, Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School District
  • Mr. Antonio Garcia, Principal, Passaic County Technical Institute
  • Dr. Thomas Gorman, Superintendent, Ridgewood Public Schools
  • Ms. Eileen Shafer, M.Ed., Superintendent of Schools, Paterson Public Schools
• Pre-readings/Resources:
  • Good to Great and the Social Sectors by Jim Collins; 2005 (get pdf)
  • Accelerate Recovery: Stop the College Readiness COVID Slide by Ryan Reyna, Education Strategy Group; May 2020 (get article)
  • COVID Harmed Kids’ Mental Health and Schools are Feeling It by Christine Vestal, Pew Charitable Trusts; November 2021 (get article)
  • Impact of COVID19 on the K-12 Education Workforce: One Year Later, Mission Square Research Institute,;August 2021 (get infographic)
  • Leadershift 2020: Reinventing our Schools for Extraordinary and Uncertain Times (excerpted) by Brian Chinni, Glenn Nowosad, Nicky Mohan, Ian Jukes; 2020 (get excerpt); full text available at books.friesenpress.com
  • History and Evolution of Public Education in the US, Center on Education Policy at George Washington University; 2020 (get article)
• Small Group Activity (get pdf)
• Post-event resources and feedback forms are available on the Office of the President Intranet Site.

• Monday, March 7, 2022 | 1:00PM-2:45PM | Trustees Pavilion
• Keynote Speaker(s): Pat Wadors ’87, Chief Talent Officer, Procore
  

  Pat Wadors ’87
  Chief Talent Officer, Procore

• Pre-readings/Resources:
  • Good to Great and the Social Sectors by Jim Collins; 2005 (get pdf)
  • AACU Getting Ready: Liberal Arts & Sciences in Post-Pandemic World (get excerpt)
  • Future Work Skills 2020: Drivers and Key Shifts (get infographic)
  • Talent on Tap | Why We Need to Rethink Hiring for Cultural Fit (get video)
  • Future(s) of Work and Learning (get excerpt)
  • Top 10 Job Skills/How Long it Takes to Learn Them (get article)
  • The Five Minds for the Future (get article)
• Small Group Facilitated Activity: TBA
• Attendees are encouraged to wear their name badge if they have one.
• Pre-registration was required by March 2.
• Post-event resources and feedback forms are available on the Office of the President Intranet Site.

• Thursday, March 24, 2022 |1:00PM-2:15PM | SC 157-8
• Pre-registration was required by March 22.

• Thursday, April 7, 2022 | 1:00PM-2:15PM | SC 156-8
• Program:
  • This summit reflected on the learnings from the previous four Future Series programs and moved us towards the establishment of a strategic posture statement to shape the future of Ramapo. What is a strategic posture statement? “Fundamentally, posture defines the intent of the strategy relative to the current and future state of an industry…A posture is not a complete strategy. It clarifies strategic intent but not the actions required to fulfill that intent.” (Courtney, Kirkland, and Viguerie, 1997).
  • The summit involved primarily group work aimed at generating the essential components of the statement.
• Pre-readings/Resources:
  • Good to Great and the Social Sectors by Jim Collins; 2005 (get pdf)
• Small Group Facilitated Activity (get pdf)
• Pre-registration was required April 4.
• Post-event resources and feedback forms are available on the Office of the President Intranet Site.

Faculty, staff, students, and friends may attend these sessions in person or virtually to provide input on a draft strategic posture statement.

The posture statement shall serve as the foundation from which the Strategic Plan Writing Team will build, as well as the fuel from which the Team, and our eventual efforts, shall move us boldly forward.

• • Session 1: Monday, May 2, 2022 | 1:00PM-2:15PM | Trustees Pavilion
    • WebEx Information:
      • https://ramapo.webex.com/ramapo/j.php?MTID=m3260f89fe951adaaa35c2f5b0be11be6
      • Meeting number: 2432 012 5285
      • Password: XxyeMNfi243
      • Access code: 243 201 25285
  • Session 2: Tuesday, May 3, 2022 | 12:00PM – 1:00PM | York Room, Birch Mansion

• Program:
  • Welcome by President Jebb
  • Presentation of greenlit Needs Statement Proposals
  • Reflection and input on the draft posture statement
  • Next Steps
• Pre-readings/Resources:
  • Draft Strategic Posture Statement (forthcoming)

• Post-event resources and feedback forms will be available on the Office of the President Intranet Site.

Shaped, in part, by what we learn from The Future Series, running parallel is our Needs Statement Process. The Needs Statement Process serves to ignite the passion across our community with the opportunity to develop and advocate for centers, programs, initiatives and projects that attract external resources, lead toward a better understanding of issues that affect the lives of citizens in the 21st Century, and that widen and deepen the reputation of our College.

More Information: Needs Statements

With passions ignited, the Needs Statement Process helps us identify priority needs and eventually secure resources from gifts and other potential sources. This is an all hands on deck opportunity to collaborate across disciplines, departments, and divisions. Needs Statement Submissions were due in February.

The College’s current Facilities Master Plan was completed in 2013 and, in the past several years, much has been achieved through it—the recent completion and opening of the Peter P. Mercer Learning Commons, for example! This year we begin a Campus Master Planning process that will also be shaped by what we learn about the future – our context, by what emerges through the needs statement process – our passion, and in turn, by what we envision together for our campus environment. Stay tuned!  

How Ramapo College engages as a community during this 2021-2022 Strategic Planning Process will determine our future. Through The Future Series, we will explore our context. We will allow those contextual learnings to ignite our passion and inform the proposals that come forward through our Needs Statement Process. And, through our Campus Master Planning, we will envision together an environment in which our learnings, our passions, and our purpose as a public liberal arts college will be nurtured.

What we learn, what drives us, and what grounds us will comprise the ingredients of our next Strategic Plan and we will be poised, together, to make a bold impact.