Planning in higher education has evolved as a response to changes in the environment, such as expanding enrollments, student unrest, economic recession, and pressures for financial accountability. Strategic planning has emerged as one way institutions can handle and overcome the adversities of the future. Definitions of strategic planning are presented. Strategic planning is characterized as an ongoing, pro-active, research-based, prioritized, situational process employing the systems approach, considering the external environment, promoting optimization and financial vitality, developing links to budgeting, and involving evaluation. Strategic planning is beneficial in that it can provide: a conceptual framework for decision making, a better intra-institutional understanding and cooperation among campus constituents, a means for institutions to cope with and survive the turbulent environment ahead, a means for rethinking institutional missions, a more comprehensive and pro-active approach to decision making, improvement in campus community morale, and improvement in institutional image. Six pitfalls in strategic planning, such as overemphasizing quantitative data and theories, and five good approaches, such as involving a good representation of the campus community in the planning process, are described. The paper concludes with a model of strategic planning and 13 references. (JDD)