Strategic Plan | Strategic Priorities

Strategic Priorities

Our competitive advantage gives us the opportunity to build on what we do well and to meet the challenges in higher education. To leverage these advantages, we will focus on the following strategic priorities:

Be the leader in our region in experiential education
Invest in scholarly and creative work to enhance our reputation and teaching
Commit to student-centric culture to drive student success
Commit to being an anti-racist institution
Operate in an agile and financially sustainable manner that supports our mission and vision

Each strategic priority has a set of Impact Goals which will define our work.

Experiential Education

Design and deliver rigorous academic undergraduate programs by articulating and honing our unique approach to experiential learning.
Strengthen our capacity for graduate and continuing education programs that meet and anticipate market demands.
Invest in academic innovation, including multi-, inter-disciplinary, and combined and accelerated degree programs.
Expand local experiential learning opportunities by leveraging our locations, recognizing the unique learning opportunities designed by our faculty, and pursuing new relationships with community partners, cultural institutions, and employers.
Continue to strengthen our niche in remote learning to offer unique and competitive online and hybrid programs.

Scholarly and Creative Work

Invest in faculty research that contributes to knowledge creation, enables distinctive academic offerings, and provides opportunities for research collaboration with students.
Partner with external institutions and organizations to become a source of innovation and problem-solving.
Attract external funding for research grants, curricular innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Enhance support to pursue cross disciplinary collaborations and research.

Student-Centered Culture

Serve our students with a supportive, empowering, and intellectually engaging environment that meets students where they are and supports academic success, peer relationships, belonging, and well-being.
Empower our faculty and staff to deliver a high-quality student experience that retains and graduates students.
Strengthen the student life cycle by creating seamless processes from admissions to alumni.
Foster a people-centered approach that empowers the �� Community to build trust and model the values and behavior we want to see in our students.

Anti-Racist Institution

Commit to eradicating racism in all of our policies and practices and acknowledge the positive impacts of inclusion on our community.
Address overlapping inequities, elevating equity, access, belonging, and inclusion in all we do.
Recruit and retain a diverse team of faculty and staff and recognize and reward their work supporting students and our community.
Develop and implement ongoing anti-bias training, and professional development in equity, diversity, and inclusion for every member of the community.

Agile and Sustainable Operations

Strategically invest in our human, technology, and physical resources aligned with strategic priorities.
Foster a cohesive, efficient organization dedicated to continuous improvement.
Streamline administrative processes and maximize the use of technology to achieve operational efficiency and deliver a user-friendly experience.
Grow the endowment by exceeding fundraising campaign targets and aligning future fundraising goals with strategic priorities.
Build a transparent and collaborative management model and performance measurement system that cultivates accountability.

�������