The integration of issues management into the institutional strategic planning process at Pennsylvania State University is discussed. The significance of issues management as an organizational process is also considered. Stages of the issues management process are: (1) scanning the external environment to identify strategic issues; (2) analyzing these issues for likely impact and probability of occurrence; and (3) developing suitable responses for managing the issues. The usefulness of issues management stems from its potential to act as an early detector of significant external trends, and to provide the mechanisms for developing effective strategies to respond. In addition to planning by the traditional organizational structure, issues management permits cross-unit planning. An early aspect of the strategic management process at Pennsylvania State University was the initiation of a macro-level external assessment. Six assessment committees were appointed: population trends, economic trends, federal and state policies, societal, technological and scientific trends, graduate and research markets, and changing higher education structure and competition. Later annual planning will require unit level scanning and micro-level external assessments by lower-level planning units. (SW)