[Nsa] Fwd: Draft of NCAR’s Strategic Plan

[Frank Flocke]

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the NSA-EC I would like to remind you to read the Draft Strategic Plan (DSP) distributed by the NCAR director’s office a week ago, and provide any feedback you might have, if you have not done so already. 
This is important for the future of the organization.

The NSA EC has discussed whether it would make sense to have a meeting for the purpose of soliciting input for a “unified” NSA feedback document and we decided that this would likely not be an efficient way to use your time.

Instead, I would like to offer you an additional feedback channel through the NSA EC, in case you feel uncomfortable with submitting your feedback or comments through the official channels referenced in the original email below.

You may instead send an email to me or your lab representative on the NSA EC. We will anonymize your input, compile all comments into a single document and submit this through the official channels.

Thanks, and please don’t hesitate to contact any of us with any concerns or comments you may have regarding NSA matters.

Frank

for the NSA EC:

Rachel McCreary, Co-Chair (ECSA, CISL), Jimy Dudhia (MMM), Natasha Flyer (CISL), Andy Newman (RAL), Britt Stephens (EOL), Peter Lawrence (CGD), Rebecca Centeno (HAO)

https://internal-ncar.ucar.edu/nsa/nsa-executive-committee <https://internal-ncar.ucar.edu/nsa/nsa-executive-committee>



> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: NCAR Director <ncardir at ucar.edu>
> Subject: Draft of NCAR’s Strategic Plan
> Date: August 27, 2019 at 21:45:01 MDT
> To: all-ncar-staff <all-ncar-staff at ucar.edu>
> 
> Dear Colleagues:
> 
> The co-chairs of the Strategic Plan Steering Committee and I are excited to share with you the first full draft of the new NCAR Strategic Plan 2020-2024, which we invite you to comment on during the upcoming Lab Town Halls or via the other methods described in the information provided at the end of this message.
> 
> You will notice as you read through the plan that this one takes a different approach from those in the recent past, driven by the extensive scientific and societal challenges of the time in which we live. The plan positions NCAR to continue advancing scientific and technological frontiers while ensuring that our work remains deeply relevant and continues to serve the needs of the scientific community and society. 
> 
> We know that researchers, educators, and decision makers all need actionable Earth system science: scientifically sound and useful information about key components of the Sun-Earth system and its interactions with society. The National Science Foundation, our university community, other external stakeholders, and many of you told us in the input we gathered before drafting the plan that we should be addressing this societal need. Developing the capacity to provide such information requires fundamental scientific and technological advances. The plan therefore engages NCAR’s deep well of scientific and technological expertise and creativity to help produce this actionable Earth system science, which we must do in collaboration with researchers and practitioners in a growing network of partnerships. It leads our efforts — from fundamental research to collaboration with experts complementing our core disciplines — toward tackling some of the most urgent scientific problems of today and the future.
> 
> These areas of emphasis are both scientifically complex and critically important for society. I believe they will push us forward, and by doing so, also bring us full circle back to our roots. NCAR was formed nearly 60 years ago by NSF and the university community because there were big scientific challenges that could best be solved by bringing expertise, research tools and facilities, and collaborative resources together in a single national center. At its founding, NCAR was nimble, innovative, and unafraid to take risks. 
> 
> Today, we have similarly large challenges, and addressing them will require many of those same attributes. This plan lays out a path for recapturing the energy and creativity that has always been the foundation of our success. 
> 
> We thank the broad external community and all of you for the extremely helpful input we have received. The Strategic Plan Steering Committee (SPSC) has prepared an internal report summarizing the staff input they gathered during April and May, which you will find here:
> 
> NCAR Strategic Plan Staff Input Summary Report <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YQ98UckyjOC-o6KfpxgcuaJDjAcoutlOlSV1jvU_ir8/edit?usp=sharing>
> We especially thank the SPSC for the enormous effort they have put into gathering your input, synthesizing it, combining it with the input from external stakeholders, and then working with the NCAR Director’s Office and Executive Committee to draft the strategic plan. We heard from staff about scientific directions, and that it is also important to have a plan that enables a diverse and talented workforce and facilitates collaboration in strategic areas. You will see these and other issues you raised either in this draft or in the implementation plan that we will develop once the strategic plan is finalized at the end of December.
> 
> First Full Draft: NCAR Strategic Plan 2020-2024 <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GYOsWRq1BQkHzYON5woJGO0DYBkJG1ozzRWFTRW9xbQ/edit?usp=sharing>
> Finally, please approach the plan as a work in progress, because important revisions will be made to fill some gaps, improve consistency, and make other refinements to focus and bring key points better into view. We invite you to let us know what you think of our underlying approach and other opportunities for improvement at this early stage of development.
> 
> Please attend the upcoming Town Hall for your lab or NCAR program, or share your thoughts via the other methods provided along with the Town Hall schedule, here:
> 
> Lab Town Hall Schedule & Feedback Links <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x9DJE_TCK3gJsPO7-MaGTwEPZKSoTcjdt5EdzsEFsZg/edit#heading=h.c253ntx9vks7>
> We look forward to your feedback, 
> 
> Everette, with
> Dan Marsh and Rebecca Morss, 
> Strategic Plan Steering Committee Co-Chairs
> 
> -- 
> Dr. Everette Joseph
> Director, National Center for Atmospheric Research

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