In the next few years, Carnegie Mellon University might be staking its claim on Craig Street.

The university is hoping to brand the eclectic stretch of Craig Street between Forbes and Fifth avenues as an extension of its campus.

"There is a consensus that as a landlocked home campus that our desire is to sort of grow thick up Craig Street," said Provost Mark Kamlet. "We'd like it to be the Harvard Square for us -- a really nice and fun place with retail."

The university is deliberating its footprint and expansion plans as it considers a new 10-year strategic plan. The current strategic plan was adopted in 1998, and administrators have been working since last fall to update it.

Yesterday, the university held the first of several planned "town meetings" on the strategic plan.

The new plan will assess progress made in the 1998 strategic plan's priorities: education and student life, research, economic development, regional impact, internationalization, community success and diversity, and infrastructure.

Carnegie Mellon will hold town meetings through early May to solicit public comment on the plan, and the school's board of trustees has scheduled a July retreat to discuss it. The university expects to release a final version of the strategic plan in the fall.

In addition to the expansion plans, Dr. Kamlet also mentioned elevating energy and environmental sciences to a higher level of importance. The plan is also likely to formalize a procedure for international expansion, which has been proceeding thus far on an "ad-hoc" basis, said Dr. Kamlet.

It will not call for a significant expansion of Carnegie Mellon's undergraduate population, he said, but the university does plan to continue adding students in master's programs.

In terms of a physical expansion, part of the reason for claiming Craig Street springs from a desire to better connect the "tendril" composed of the Mellon Institute and the Software Engineering Institute to the main part of Carnegie Mellon's campus.

The university already owns several buildings along Craig Street and nearby Henry Street, said Dr. Kamlet. Expanding into the area would entail not just adding more academic or office space, but also highlighting Carnegie Mellon's presence in the area with signs or other cosmetic additions.

"It would be putting a bow around it," he said.