DANTES Forges Way Ahead with Strategic Plan

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS120816-10
8/16/2012

By Ed Barker, Naval Education and Training Command Public Affairs

PENSACOLA, Fla. (NNS) -- The Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES) focused on the future of education in the Department of Defense (DoD) at a strategic planning offsite Aug. 13-15.

Rear Adm. Don Quinn, commander of the Naval Education and Training Command (NETC) spoke during the conference kick-off and addressed the importance of strategic assessment.

"I am a huge fan of strategic planning because it forces you to work through your assumptions and focus on what's important," said Quinn. "What DANTES provides is crucial to our military's success, and education is more important than ever. Training prepares you for the known, but education prepares you for the unknown - it gives you the ability to adapt and change with your environment."

DANTES Director Dr. Carol Berry challenged her team to identify opportunities for improving the DANTES business model and refining the mission and vision for military voluntary education.

"This is our first strategic plan, which allows us to establish our long-range goals and publicize our programs," said Berry. "We focused on how to execute our strategy, mission and vision so we can reach not only our customers at the services and base educational centers, but also the end user - the service members whose future depends on it."

Deliverables from the conference included proposed mission and vision statements based on DANTES core values and guiding principles.

"We have a great foundation from which we can build," said Berry. "In the coming weeks, we will refine these inputs into an executable strategic plan that will guide us today, tomorrow and into the future, serving our military and enabling profound changes one service member at a time."

DANTES supports off-duty voluntary education programs of DoD and conducts special projects and developmental activities in support of education-related DoD functions.

For more information about the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support, visit http://www.dantes.doded.mil/DANTES_Homepage.html.

For more information about the Naval Education and Training Command, visit https://www.netc.navy.mil.

For more news from Naval Education and Training Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/cnet/.