During Winter Term 2002, the Provost organized a group of PSU faculty to conduct focus group discussions regarding the Planning Committee's draft vision and values statements. During February and March, twelve focus groups were held with tenure-related faculty; a total of 68 faculty attended the discussions. Participants were recruited systematically to ensure a balance across the University's schools and colleges, and by gender.

The focus groups were followed by two campus-wide forums that were open to the whole PSU community. Results were shared with the planning committee, the Executive Committee, and the Council of Academic Deans.