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Spotlight strategic planning process

We begin — the next evolution for Marquette

There’s no doubt about it. An environmental scan conducted last fall as part of the strategic planning process revealed some interesting and challenging facts.

Among them: The number of faculty at universities nationwide age 65 or older has doubled since 2000, and the number of high school students in the Midwest and Northeast regions will decline through 2021.

A Strategic Plan Coordinating Committee of faculty, staff and students has been assisting university leadership, trustees and alumni in sketching a roadmap for Marquette’s evolution in this changing marketplace. The process began last spring with 17 listening sessions where university constituencies defined their hopes and expectations for Marquette.

“I’m impressed with how seriously everyone has taken strategic planning since the very beginning,” says Dr. John Pauly, university provost. “People recognize how important it is to Marquette, and we’re seeing everyone’s best efforts put forward into this collaborative process.”

Six themes guide the planning

Based on the listening sessions and follow-up conversations, these six themes were chosen to guide strategic planning:

•    Pursuit of academic excellence for human well-being

•    Research in action

•    Social responsibility and community engagement

•    Formation of the mind and the heart

•    Enhancement of organizational effectiveness

•    Sustainability of valuable resources

In late January, President Scott R. Pilarz, S.J., replaced this year’s annual Presidential Address with a President’s Strategic Planning Workshop with nearly 425 faculty, staff and students participating in roundtable discussions of university-wide goals. Father Pilarz told participants the workshop was an example of the university engaging in a time-honored Jesuit tradition.

“As long as there have been Jesuit colleges and universities, there have been educators ‘reading the signs of the times’ and determining how to best use the gifts at their disposal to extend knowledge and prepare students for lives as leaders — agents of change — in a world waiting to be more gentle, more just,” he said.

University Advancement took the strategic planning workshop show on the road, hosting similar roundtable discussions with alumni in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.

The final strategic plan will be shared with the University Academic Senate before being presented to the Board and shared with the university community in May. Then colleges and departments across campus will begin developing strategic plans in response to the university-wide plan. — LCS

Learn more online

The strategic planning process seeks to address challenges and opportunities the university and higher education will face during the next five to seven years. See some of the more significant changes in our online exclusive, and stay current with all of our strategic planning progress.