Strategic Plan

August 2023

The demands on business and leaders are evolving dynamically. Recent major influences include transformational technology, expectations for ESG accountability and sustainability, shifting global business dynamics, pandemic impacts and economic upheaval, and the need to advance accessibility, equity, diversity, inclusion, and Indigenization, among other factors.

Employers expect Smith graduates to have the knowledge and competencies needed to navigate this changing world.

Teaching and learning are also evolving. We know there are many ways to learn and that our students’ needs change with life and career stages. Technology is opening new capabilities for collaboration but strong intrapersonal skills remain vital. Most importantly, today’s students have different expectations for how they will make their impact on the world.

Therefore Smith must regularly evaluate its purpose and priorities, and its capacity to stay at the forefront of business education and research.

In 2022, the School began work on a new five-year Strategic Plan. We deliberately took a collaborative and iterative approach. Hundreds of faculty, staff, students, and alumni were engaged.

We identified areas of strength for Smith that we will continue to uphold and enhance including: our talented, committed faculty and staff; groundbreaking research and thought leadership; highly-respected, innovative academic programs; work-integrated and experiential learning approaches; fostering of global perspectives; leadership in building student capacity for strong team collaboration, resilience, and communications; and outstanding graduate career outcomes.

We also had frank discussions about areas of challenge including: the need for greater diversity in the undergraduate student body; addressing troubling racism and exclusion experienced by members of the Smith community; the importance of a safe and productive environment to debate important and challenging issues; and ensuring a strong culture of collegiality and collaboration. It is critical that we address these issues.

The School has grown significantly over the last decade so we also must ensure our operations and processes are optimized and effective, and our people well-supported.

Finally it is essential that our School is aligned to the Queen’s University Strategy – For the Future. Launched in 2022, it centres on the role of the university community in solving the world’s most significant and urgent challenges.

I am proud to share our new Smith School of Business Strategic Plan. It will guide our efforts over for the next five years and establish a strong foundation for the years that follow.

Wanda M. Costen, Ph.D.
Dean, Smith School of Business
Queen’s University

Areas of Focus

• Provide students with collaborative, inclusive, holistic, academic learning experiences.
• Embed work-integrated and experiential learning throughout all degree programs.
• Ensure our teaching content is highly relevant, evidence based, and reflects the impact of transformational changes in business and society.
• Prepare our students to lead effectively.
• Increase students’ exposure to research, and foster development of critical thinking skills.
• Support lifelong learning with high-impact, timely professional development programs.

Targeted Outcomes

Smith graduates have the knowledge, perspectives, and skills to be highly influential and effective inside organizations and/or as entrepreneurs. They are in demand across Canada and around the world.
How will we know we are achieving our goal? Assessments of recruiter and employer feedback, career outcome data, and tracking of alumni activity and impact.

Opportunities for student engagement in research are embedded in all programs.
How will we know? Baseline tracking and improvements in amounts of research content within academic programs.

Work-integrated and experiential learning are included in all programs.
How will we know? Baseline tracking and improvements in work-integrated and experiential learning across all academic programs.

Areas of Focus

• Enhance recruitment processes to diversify our student body, particularly in the Bachelor of Commerce program.
• Improve access including reducing financial barriers to enrollment in all programs.
• Ensure program content reflects diverse, global perspectives and experiences.
• Foster a respectful, supportive, and resilient learning community that drives a culture of belonging, collaboration, and accountability.

Targeted Outcomes

The Smith student body is reflective of similarly-aged Canadian population by 2028.
How will we know we are achieving our goal? Census and enrollment data comparisons.

Significant access and financial support options are in place for all programs.
How will we know? Baseline tracking and improvements across Smith programs. Plus Queen’s University overall data.

Robust, detailed assessments of student experiences at Smith are being used to identify and act on priority areas for improvement.
How will we know? Implementation of core assessment tools, and identification and action on key needs.

Academic content reflects diverse, global perspectives and experiences.
How we will know? Curriculum reviews, Academic Learning Outcome assessments, and employer and student feedback.

Areas of Focus

• Establish principles of community engagement and apply them consistently across Smith activities.
• Ensure community engagements reflect our commitments to Indigeneity, equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and anti-racism.
• Build and integrate strategic community partnerships within all Smith degree programs.
• Monitor, quantify, and communicate our community impact.

Targeted Outcomes

Positive impact is demonstrated through annual reporting of community engagement activities across Smith.
How will we know we are achieving our goal? Assessment in regular community engagement reports.

Student community engagement is increased in all educational programs.
How will we know? Baseline tracking and improvements across programs.

Areas of Focus

• Acknowledge and celebrate the depth and breadth of research expertise at Smith across all business domains.
• Increase the visibility of research activities at Smith and engage more actively with the broader community about current research.
• Encourage exchange of ideas across disciplines in business and beyond.
• Develop and retain top research talent at Smith.
• Augment bench strength by attracting top talent, including seeking scholars from all backgrounds.
• Increase research content and exposure in undergraduate and professional graduate teaching.
• Develop critical thinkers in our undergraduate, MSc, PhD, and post-doctoral programs who contribute meaningfully to the creation and dissemination of new knowledge through the development of research and teaching expertise.

Targeted Outcomes

A new Smith Research Strategy is established that defines priorities, initiatives, and measures of progress.
How will we know we are achieving our goal? Launch of a new Smith Research Strategy in 2023-24 and tracking against commitments in future years.

Smith has a highly-engaged, supportive, vibrant, and productive research culture - one that produces high-quality research that furthers our understanding of business and related domains, and that positively contributes to business practice and the broader political, regulatory and social contexts in which businesses operate.
How will we know? Growth of the research support infrastructure to foster more sharing of research (through seminars, brown bags, and conferences, etc.), mentoring and collaborations, external funding, and publication.

Areas of Focus

• Share the expertise of Smith scholars with stakeholders across the school, within Queen’s, across Canada, and around the world via educational programs, expert commentary, projects, and events.
• Increase the impact of novel research insights from faculty, students, and post-doctoral researchers via increased knowledge translation and dialogue both within Smith and with external communities.
• Ensure our efforts are having positive impact on management practices and public policy.

Targeted Outcomes

Smith is positively impacting business and society with our research, expertise and insights.
How will we know we are achieving our goal? Tracking reach of thought leadership activities, and placement of experts in media, publications, events, forums and other contexts of influence.

We can demonstrate our impact on business practices and public policy.
How will we know? Ongoing tracking of uses of research and thought leadership content.

We celebrate and highlight within Smith and Queen’s our knowledge mobilization.
How will we know? Increase in activities celebrating and highlighting knowledge mobilization.

There are more opportunities for faculty to showcase their research and its implications for business and society.
How will we know? Creation of forums within Smith for sharing and showcasing our research.

Areas of Focus

• Inspire, connect, and support Smith faculty and staff to achieve high-impact outcomes by improving communications, information access, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Commit to principles of transparency, fairness, and equity across the School.
• Ensure accountabilities and expectations are clear.
• Improve work processes to better balance our capacity, and reduce inefficient/redundant efforts.
• Focus on improvement areas in employee engagement as identified in Queen’s employee experiences survey.

Targeted Outcomes

Regular assessments show positive employee engagement and continual improvement.
How will we know we are achieving our goal? Biennial Queen’s University employee surveys, participation rates in engagement activation, successful implementation of a new internal communications platform.

Key process improvements are measurably relieving workload and improving efficiency.
How will we know? Internal feedback initiatives to gauge progress and impact.