NCRAC Strategic Plan Update
Submitted by Dr. Ted Batterson, NCRAC Director

Over the last several months the North Central Regional Aquaculture Center (NCRAC) has devoted a significant amount of time and energy in developing a Strategic Plan. An 11-member Strategic Planning Team got the ball rolling by participating in two, 2-day facilitated meetings held in Chicago, Illinois. The outcome from those meetings was a draft Strategic Plan which was shared with NCRAC's Board of Directors, Industry Advisory Council (IAC), and Technical Committee (TC) at the Center's Annual Program Planning Meeting held in Columbia, Missouri February 26-28, 1999. NCRAC's meeting was held in conjunction with the fourth North Central Regional Aquaculture Conference. This year's Annual Program Planning Meeting was devoted almost entirely to discussion of the draft Strategic Plan. It was distributed Friday evening and the entire day on Saturday was spent discussing and debating the draft Plan. Input derived from Saturday's discussion will be incorporated into a final revision of the Strategic Plan which will be presented to NCRAC's Board for approval at their next meeting which is scheduled for June 16, 1999. The Plan will chart the course for the Center as it moves into the new millennium. As soon as there is final approval of the Plan it will be made available at the Center's web site (http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/aquanic/ncrac).