In the spring of 2003, the College of Engineering commenced a collaborative strategic planning process that involved faculty, students, staff, and alumni.  A Strategic Planning and Advisory Council (SPAC) made up of seven faculty and representatives from undergraduate student, graduate student, alumni, and staff constituency groups was formed.  Chaired by James Shelby Thorp, the C. N. Mellowes Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, SPAC was responsible for the coordination of the planning process, the identification of college-wide priorities and metrics, the development of criteria to prioritize department strategic initiatives, and the writing of the draft strategic plan.  Three advisory committees representing undergraduate students, grad students, and staff, and three task forces looking in greater depth at facilities, graduate studies, and faculty issues, assisted SPAC.  The Cornell Engineering Alumni Association Board also participated.

As SPAC worked to develop the college strategic plan, academic departments concurrently developed their own unit strategic plans, facilities plans, and priority funding lists.  These documents were shared with SPAC to inform the college strategic planning process.  As draft sections of the college strategic plan were completed, they were presented to academic department directors and chairs for discussion.  The plan was also shared with a small select group of faculty for further review and fine-tuning.  Feedback from both of these faculty groups was used to improve the document prior to its release as a draft to the wider college community.

In October and November 2003, the draft plan was distributed to College of Engineering faculty, staff, alumni, and students and a series of forums to present and discuss the plan were held.  Feedback from these constituency groups was included in the final version of the Strategic Plan.