Mary,

Ask your President how he or she would compare Plains to Vidalia.  Would you
count the fact that one produced a President?  How would he or she compare
onions to peanuts?  Who is responsible for blights?
Does the mayor work with the Chamber of Commerce more effectively in one or the
other?  Do the town councilmen and women agree on the economic plan for their
respective towns?  Do they have an economic plan?  Do the townpeople turn out
for civic events?  How many books in their respective town libraries ... and is
circulation good?  Do the town doctors blame influenza on their stethoscopes or
the town pharmacies or local newspapers?

Benchmarks, so called, were scrawled into workbenches so that successive cuts
on a piece of wood would come out the same.  Benchmarks are good for things
that need to come out the same.  You could get the same length of wood and rope
and pvc using the same benchmark.  You could conceivably have a benchmark for
slicing bananas onto your morning cereal, but most kitchens rely instead on the
skill and judgment of the preparer.

On the other hand, planning is good, expecially when associated with resources.

Cheers,

Jim

Mary Watson wrote:

> We are deep into planning throughout our university - new President, etc.,
> etc.
>
> I have had a question put to me that I have no answer for - "How do you
> measure success relative to other institutions?"
>
> I have never used other institutions as benchmarks because I have always
> seen each as unique.
>
> Do any of you use some sort of yardstick to measure success that takes into
> account similar institutions?
>
> We are rural, nearly 10,000 students, regional university, strong education
> and arts colleges.  Also have nursing, business and arts and sciences
> colleges.
>
> Thanks for any input.
>
> Mary H. Watson, Ph.D.
> Valdosta State University
>
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--
James R. Brett, Ph.D., Director,
Office of University Research
California State University, Long Beach
562-985-5314  562-985-8665 fax
http://www.csulb.edu/~research/

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 via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists")
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