After a process dragged out over nearly five years and multiple school presidents, Haskell Indian Nations University has formally updated its strategic plan.

Key goals of the Haskell 2020 plan — which officials say is important for reaccreditation and securing funding — include improving graduation rates, tapping new revenue sources, retaining employees, and lassoing data to help improve the school.

“It guides the university, and it identifies how we’re going to move forward into the future,” said Haskell President Venida Chenault, who has been working on the plan since taking office in January. “To have a strategic plan, it’s a major accomplishment.”

The Haskell Board of Regents adopted Haskel 2020 on Thursday, during the national board’s annual fall meeting.

Haskell had previous strategic plans to lead the school through 2009, according to the Haskell 2020 overview. During the 2009-2010 school year, senior management identified the need for a new plan.

The next four years saw the hiring of a facilitator, work groups, brainstorming, drafts and editing.

But the plan was never presented to campus as a final document or approved by the Board of Regents. That created confusion about the university’s strategic priorities.

Chenault — who had worked some on the plan when she served as acting president in 2010 — initiated a review and led changes that resulted in the plan adopted this week.

Haskell was last accredited by the Higher Learning Commission North Central Association 10 years ago, and that accreditation is up for review this spring.

Having a strategic plan is one measure that’s important, Board of Regents chairman Russell Bradley said. He said the plan also will help guide priorities for funding requests.

“It sets the perimeters of where we’re going as a university,” Bradley said.

In addition to seven strategic initiatives, the plan includes updated vision, mission and institutional values statements.

Haskell’s current enrollment is roughly 800, with about 650 of those students living on campus. It is one of two federally run Indian colleges in the country.

On Wednesday, the Board of Regents heard a report from the recently resurrected Haskell Foundation, pointed to as a critical part of the school’s efforts to secure more outside funding.

In addition to approving the strategic plan, Regents passed resolutions about meeting via conference call and restricting use of the school’s logo. They convened in executive session to discuss what Bradley described as budgetary issues affecting staffing.

Other subjects discussed during the Regents meeting included the potential for continuing education programs at Haskell, sexual violence education efforts, campus housing needs, the budget, teacher vacancies and admission standards.

Plan highlights

Haskell Indian Nations University’s new strategic plan, Haskell 2020, was adopted Thursday by the Haskell Board of Regents. The document outlines these seven initiatives:

• Retain high-quality associate and bachelor’s degrees, and pursue others — including graduate degrees — that will build capacity in Indian Country.

• Increase retention, graduation and transfer rates by improving academic programs and non-academic opportunities.

• Align resources to support the strategic plan and implement strategies for developing new revenue streams and partnerships.

• Promote recruiting, supporting and retaining employees.

• Support safety and environmental sustainability throughout the university, including future building and program design.

• Increase technology capacity and staff to provide state-of-the-art technology and data management systems for students and employees.

• Establish a center dedicated to generating valid and reliable data to guide decision-making and improvement in the delivery of services campus-wide.