Strategic Plan
1998 Update
Approved by Board of Trustees - February 20, 1998
When Santa Clara University celebrates its 150th anniversary in the year 2001, we expect it to do so with appreciation for its past, pride in its present, and confidence inits future. To help assure that future, the University Planning Council prepared astrategic plan that was adopted by the Board of Trustees in May, 1996. The plan sets fortha general strategy - a set of directions and initiatives - which Santa Clara will pursueover a five-year period. It is intended to be a dynamic strategy: one that will activelyshape Santa Clara's future, but one that itself will evolve as both the University and itsenvironment change. In that spirit, the University Planning Council has prepared thisfirst in a series of annual updates of the plan.
The essence of the plan lies not so much in the words on paper as in a frame of mindand an orientation to action. As Father Locatelli said in his 1995 Convocation speech,what is important "is a process and culture of thinking and acting strategically morethan the drafting of lengthy plans. It is ensuring consistency between what we say aboutourselves and who we are and what we do at every level of the University."
Three themes color the plan as a whole and in all its parts: excellence, distinctiveness,and connectedness. Each of these themes calls us to a continuing commitment:
- The challenge of excellence is, in the words of the Statement of Purpose, to ensure "rigorous and imaginative scholarship; excellent teaching in and out of the classroom; and educational programs designed to provide breadth and depth, to encourage the integration of different forms of knowledge, and to stimulate not only the acquisition but also the creative and humane use of knowledge."
- The challenge of distinctiveness is to honor our heritage as a Jesuit institution, to build on our particular strengths, and to take advantage of our unique opportunities.
- The challenge of connectedness is to bridge different forms of knowledge, to educate the whole person, and to relate what we know to what we do. It is also to bring together different segments of the University community and to connect the University with the broader society we serve.
To focus strategic planning and guide implementation, three directional statementscomplement the existing Statement of Purpose and Guiding Principles.These three statements describe the kind of university we hope to become (StrategicVision); our core purpose and the constituencies we serve (University Mission);and the values we must live out if we are to be successful (Fundamental Values).In using these statements, Santa Clara must look at its strengths and weaknessesunflinchingly and commit itself to closing any gaps between reality and ideal.
STRATEGIC VISION
Santa Clara University will excel in educating men and women for competence,conscience, and compassion. We will realize this vision by combining teaching andscholarship of high quality, integrated education in the Jesuit tradition, and acommitment to students as persons. Our success will result in increased nationalrecognition and a greater ability to attract the students, faculty, staff, and resourceswe seek.
UNIVERSITY MISSION
Santa Clara University is a Catholic and Jesuit institution that makes studentlearning its central focus, promotes faculty and staff learning in its various forms, andexhibits organizational learning as it deals with the challenges facing it.
Student learning takes place at the undergraduate and graduate level in aneducational environment that integrates rigorous inquiry and scholarship, creativeimagination, reflective engagement with society, and a commitment to fashioning a morehumane and just world.
As an academic community, we expand the boundaries of knowledge and insight throughteaching, research, artistic expression, and other forms of scholarship. It is primarilythrough discovering, communicating, and applying knowledge that we exercise ourinstitutional responsibility as a voice of reason and conscience in society.
We offer challenging academic programs and demonstrate a commitment to thedevelopment of:
- Undergraduate students who seek an education with a strong humanistic orientation in a primarily residential setting.
- Graduate students, many of them working professionals in Silicon Valley, who seek advanced degree programs that prepare them to make significant contributions to their fields.
In addition to these core programs, we also provide a variety of continuingeducation and professional development opportunities for non-matriculated students.
FUNDAMENTAL VALUES
We hold ourselves responsible for living out these core values, which are criticalfor carrying out our mission in pursuit of our vision:
- Academic Quality. We seek an uncompromising standard of excellence in teaching, learning, and scholarship. All three elements are essential to academic quality at Santa Clara. We prize original scholarship for its own sake and for the contribution it makes to teaching and to the betterment of society. Our commitment to academic freedom is unwavering.
- Integrated Learning. While valuing the integrity of established disciplines, we endeavor to integrate different forms of knowledge, to educate the whole person, and to foster moral and spiritual development. By promoting learning in everything we do, we foster a lifelong passion for learning.
- Commitment to Students. As teachers and scholars, mentors and facilitators, we nurture and challenge students as we help them become independent learners and responsible leaders in society.
- Service to Others. We promote throughout the University a culture of service - service not only to those who study and work at Santa Clara but also to society in general and to its most disadvantaged members.
- Community and Diversity. We cherish our diverse community and the roots that must sustain it: shared values amidst diversity, close personal relationships, effective communication, respect for others, and a concern for the common good of the campus, the local community, and the global society.
- Jesuit Tradition. We preserve and renew the Jesuit tradition, which incorporates all of these core values. This tradition is an expression of Christian humanism in which faith and reason together animate the most fundamental human quest -- the pursuit of truth and goodness. This pursuit challenges us to counter inhumanity with humanity, to act ethically, and to promote justice with faith. We also take part in the broader Catholic tradition to which Jesuits have made a major contribution.
STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
Building on the vision, mission, and values presented above, the plan outlines threestrategic initiatives. Note our choice of the word initiatives: we use it tosignify the importance of timely action in pursuit of the strategic vision. Althoughseparate, these initiatives are interlinked, depending on one another for their success.
The first two initiatives, Building a Community of Scholars and Providingan Integrated Education, set the strategic direction we will take to realize ourvision. The third, Focusing Resources for Excellence, provides the means fordoing so.
In the outline below, each initiative is followed by several strategic challenges whichare presented as questions to stimulate creative thinking and strategic action around theissues posed. Each question is answered, in part, by a set of goals intended to focus anddirect actions at the University level and within each college, school, and administrativedivision. The challenges and goals will be used each year to elicit specific operationaland tactical actions to advance the three strategic initiatives. Operational and tacticalpriorities will be identified both at the institutional level and by each college, school,and administrative division.
The initiatives and challenges in this Strategic Plan are not intended to beall-inclusive. But while many other issues will also require attention, these are the onesthat will make the greatest strategic difference in enhancing Santa Clara'squality, reputation, and competitiveness.
1. BUILDING A COMMUNITY OF SCHOLARS. We will foster a vital community ofscholars whose members collaborate as partners in learning and scholarship.
It is widely believed that a sense of community is not only an ideal but a distinctive strength of Santa Clara - a strength that contributes significantly to our quality and competitiveness. Yet Santa Clara is not immune to the forces of fragmentation that affect other institutions in society. The experience of community, especially the learning community, must be actively nurtured. We must find ways to enrich this experience of community for all Santa Clarans and to ground it more firmly in the intellectual life of the University and the emphasis on student learning.
Responding to this challenge will require continued institutional commitment to supporting teaching and scholarship of high quality, fostering a dynamic relationship between the two, encouraging close interaction between faculty and students, and inviting all members of the University community to participate in its intellectual life. While all constituencies of the University play a role in responding to this challenge, faculty have a central responsibility for fostering the intellectual collaboration essential for a vital community of scholars.
Strategic challenges:
1.A. How can Santa Clara, with the leadership of its faculty,foster the intellectual collaboration necessary for building a community of scholars andproviding an integrated education?
Goals:
| 1.A.1. | Stimulate and support the cross-disciplinary inquiry that is already a distinctive feature of this community of scholars.
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| 1.A.2. | Strengthen the intellectual and cultural focus of undergraduate student life by connecting co-curricular programs more closely with curricular programs and by expanding opportunities for students to engage in scholarly or creative work under the guidance of a faculty mentor.
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| 1.A.3. | Create and support more opportunities for graduate students to participate in the intellectual and cultural life of the University.
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| 1.A.4. | Create more opportunities for alumni and others to participate in the intellectual and cultural life of the University. |
1.B. How can Santa Clara support faculty in their efforts to exemplify theideal of the teaching scholar?
Goals:
| 1.B.1. | Maintain a full-time faculty that, with a judicious use of adjunct faculty, is sufficient in size and composition to maintain the integrity of the curriculum and realize a commitment to excellence in both teaching and scholarship.
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| 1.B.2. | Provide faculty development programs that support the professional needs of faculty at different stages of their careers as teaching scholars.
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| 1.B.3. | Increase the number of endowed professorships and target them to support Santa Clara's strategic initiatives. |
1.C. How can Santa Clara continue to enrich the quality and diversity of itscommunity of scholars?
Goals:
| 1.C.1. | Recruit and retain faculty and staff with outstanding professional qualifications and a commitment to advance the University's vision, mission, and values.
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| 1.C.2. | Increase the quality of incoming students as reflected in their academic performance and their potential to become leaders of competence, conscience, and compassion.
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| 1.C.3. | Increase diversity among faculty, staff, and students, with special emphasis on members of historically underrepresented ethnic groups.
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| 1.C.4. | Strengthen efforts to recruit and retain qualified Jesuits. |
2. PROVIDING AN INTEGRATED EDUCATION. We will foster the education of the wholeperson in a learning environment that enables students to make connections among differentforms of knowledge, understanding, and experience.
As reflected in the Statement of Purpose, in which Santa Clara "declares its purpose to be the education of the whole person within the Catholic and Jesuit tradition," a holistic approach to learning should be a distinguishing mark of a Santa Clara education. The concept of integrated education includes seeking connections between different ways of knowing and being in the world, between different forms of knowledge as reflected in the established disciplines, and between new knowledge and the existing body of knowledge. Our strategic vision challenges us and our students to ask not only what we know, but also what we value and how we integrate what we know with how we act.
In order to provide an integrated educational experience, we must offer a curriculum and other learning experiences whose content and pattern combine the acquisition of knowledge with the quest for meaning. This learning environment should encourage students to bridge the courses in their academic majors; different academic disciplines; the curriculum and the co-curriculum; and the intellectual, social, moral, spiritual, creative, and behavioral aspects of life.
A particular structure that may enrich integrated education is the center of distinction. The University has set the following criteria for such centers: they should reflect the values and competencies of the University; engage faculty and students from every major academic area; enhance student learning and faculty scholarship; provide leadership in addressing significant public issues; form partnerships with other institutions and organizations; sustain themselves through external funding; and contribute to Santa Clara's overall excellence, distinctiveness, and national recognition.
Strategic challenges:
2.A. How can Santa Clara provide a coherent educational experience that enablesstudents to make connections between different aspects of their educational experience andto relate what they learn to how they live?
Goals:
| 2.A.1. | Continue to refine the Undergraduate Core Curriculum as a common body of educational experiences that provides students with the knowledge, skills, and sensitivities they need to become leaders of competence, conscience, and compassion.
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| 2.A.2. | Strengthen the curricular coherence and academic quality of degree programs, both undergraduate and graduate, and of academic majors.
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| 2.A.3. | Develop showcase programs in each school that enable students to integrate rigorous inquiry and scholarship, creative imagination, reflective engagement with society, and a commitment to fashioning a more humane and just world.
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| 2.A.4. | Provide systematic opportunities, through both the curriculum and the co-curriculum, for students to embrace and integrate the various dimensions of their lives (intellectual, social, moral, spiritual, creative, and behavioral) into a coherent and purposeful whole. |
2.B. How can Santa Clara create integrative structures that encourage facultyand students to focus on common themes in ways that enrich their learning, scholarship,and service to society?
Goals:
| 2.B.1. | Develop the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, the Bannan Institute for Jesuit Education and Christian Values, and the Center for Science, Technology, and Society into centers of distinction that contribute to the University's academic quality, impact on society, and national recognition.
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| 2.B.2. | Encourage the development of other potential centers of distinction, both school-based and at the University level, as well as other structures that foster integration.
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| 2.B.3. | Incorporate international, multicultural, gender, environmental, technological, and ethical issues and perspectives in both the curriculum and the co-curriculum as a means of fostering integration. |
| 2.B.4. | Increase the effectiveness of multicultural programs through better coordination and sharper focusing of resources. |
3. FOCUSING RESOURCES FOR EXCELLENCE. We will develop the resources necessaryfor educational excellence and focus them more sharply on advancing the University'svision, mission, and values.
Successful implementation of the Strategic Plan depends largely on our ability to align our programs, performance, and resources with our vision, mission, and values. We must develop and focus all of our resources: talented and inquisitive students; accomplished faculty and staff who further the University's educational mission; a physical environment conducive to effective learning and productive work; technology necessary to enhance learning and productivity; and sufficient financial resources that are managed well. We must promote the discriminating use of resources throughout the University, ensuring that they are allocated to support our greatest strategic needs.
To focus the use of our resources, we must implement processes for the ongoing improvement of what we do. We need to be clear about our goals, evaluate performance against those goals, and use that evaluation as a basis for focusing our resources more sharply on advancing our vision, mission, and values.
Strategic challenges:
3.A. How can Santa Clara enhance the quality of its human resources and theireffectiveness in enabling it to carry out its mission?
Goals:
| 3.A.1. | Offer incentives that reward departments, teams, and individuals who take a leadership role in fostering the intellectual collaboration necessary for building a community of scholars and providing an integrated education.
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| 3.A.2. | Offer incentives that reward departments, teams, and individuals who improve performance, increase productivity, and improve service quality to advance the mission and vision of the University.
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| 3.A.3. | Provide faculty and staff development programs that will increase productivity, improve service quality, and enhance understanding of the University's vision, mission, and values.
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| 3.A.4. | Provide faculty and staff compensation that is competitive with appropriate benchmark groups so that the University is able to attract and retain excellent faculty and staff. |
3.B. How can Santa Clara create a physical environment that fosters academicexcellence, promotes integrated education and a community of scholars, and exhibitssensitivity to the ecology and historical heritage of the campus?
Goals:
| 3.B.1. | Update the Campus Master Plan as needed.
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| 3.B.2. | Complete the major facilities projects identified in the current five-year campus improvement program of the Campus Master Plan.
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| 3.B.3. | Plan for additional major facilities projects beyond the current five-year campus improvement program needed to support academic excellence.
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| 3.B.4. | Develop and implement a comprehensive capital renewal program for repair and replacement of existing facilities and infrastructure. |
3.C. How can Santa Clara excel in the use of technology to enhance teaching andlearning, support scholarship, and improve service and productivity?
Goals:
| 3.C.1. | Implement the campus Technology Plan and update it as needed.
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| 3.C.2. | Support training for faculty and staff in the use of technology and information resources to enhance teaching, learning, and scholarship and to improve productivity and service quality.
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| 3.C.3. | Develop strategic alliances and partnerships to support our efforts to excel in the use of technology and information resources. |
3.D. How can Santa Clara excel in generating, managing, and conserving its financialresources to advance its mission and strategic initiatives?
Goals:
| 3.D.1. | Develop a comprehensive financial plan that includes the operating budget, a capital budget, accurate fundraising projections, and management of debt and cash flows.
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| 3.D.2. | Improve fundraising performance to a level at which Santa Clara will rank consistently among the top three comprehensive universities in the country as measured by total gifts and, over time, by alumni participation rates.
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| 3.D.3. | Develop revenue streams consistent with the strategic direction of the University.
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| 3.D.4. | Manage expenses to support the strategic direction of the University, making every effort to streamline processes, reduce costs, and reallocate funds where appropriate. |
| 3.D.5. | Refine our tuition and financial aid strategy to reflect our market position and enable us to recruit and retain the students we seek while being sensitive to the financial burdens of students and their families. |
3.E. How can Santa Clara align its programs, services, performance, and resources moreclosely with its vision, mission and values?
Goals:
| 3.E.1. | Review programs and services for consistency with the vision, mission and values of the University.
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| 3.E.2. | Allocate resources to ensure that they advance the strategic direction of the University.
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| 3.E.3. | Use the assessment of learning outcomes and performance indicators as means to improve educational quality and administrative effectiveness. |
3.F. How can Santa Clara develop and implement a market positioning strategy that willstrengthen its competitive position and increase its national recognition?
Goals:
| 3.F.1. | Develop and implement an umbrella University market positioning strategy that reflects Santa Clara's core identity and shared values as well as the diversity of its degree programs and constituencies.
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| 3.F.2. | Develop and implement a market positioning strategy for each degree program, in the context of the University positioning strategy, that reflects the unique mission and competitive context of that program.
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| 3.F.3. | Use Santa Clara's 150th anniversary as a unique opportunity to strengthen our community of scholars and increase national recognition of the University. |
IMPLEMENTATION
Strategic management - the systematic and imaginative implementation of the strategicplan - is at least as important as strategic planning itself. We intend to do this throughcareful oversight by the University Planning Council in consultation with thePresident and Board of Trustees; through closer coordination of planning andresource allocation at every level of the University; through continuing refinementof the plan in response to emerging needs and opportunities; through strategicmarketing to improve the University's interactions with external constituencies; andthrough strategic partnerships with other organizations to advance commoninterests.
Making the University's strategic vision a reality is a challenge for the entire campuscommunity and requires the dedication and creativity of faculty and staff, working intheir own college, school, or administrative division and in concert with others acrosstraditional organizational lines. Implementation of the vision calls for ongoing planning,a commitment to continuous improvement, and the discriminating use of resources throughoutthe University to support the strategic initiatives. To provide a means for advancing thestrategic vision, we have embarked on a five-step strategic planning process of clarifyinggoals, taking action, assessing progress, making improvements, and focusing resources.
Annually the University Planning Council, in consultation with the University communityand subject to approval by the President and the Board of Trustees, will reaffirm ormodify the strategic challenges and goals associated with the three initiatives. Eachcollege, school, and administrative division will also reaffirm or modify its goals in thecontext of the Strategic Plan. Each year the University's strategic challengesand goals will be used as a guide for identifying specific operational and tacticalactions to advance the strategic initiatives. Action items will be formulated andimplemented at the University level and by each college, school, and administrativedivision.
We are also committed to assessing our progress toward the goals as a basis forimproving the quality of academic programs and administrative services and for sharpeningthe use of our resources. The University Planning Council will oversee the assessmentprocess at the University level. Each college, school, and administrative division isresponsible for using the ongoing evaluation of its own programs and services tostrengthen their quality, ensure their consistency with the vision and mission of theUniversity, and use resources as effectively as possible.
APPENDIX A
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
Inspired by the love of God to serve society through education, continuing thecommitment of the Franciscans who founded Mission Santa Clara in 1777 and the Jesuits whoopened the College in 1851, Santa Clara University declares its purpose to be theeducation of the whole person within the Catholic and Jesuit tradition.
The University is thus dedicated to
- the preparation of students to assume leadership roles in society through an education that stresses moral and spiritual as well as intellectual and aesthetic values, seeks to answer not only "what is" but "what should be," and encourages faith and the promotion of justice;
- an uncompromising standard of academic excellence and an unwavering commitment to academic freedom, freedom of inquiry, and freedom of expression in the search for truth;
- rigorous and imaginative scholarship; excellent teaching in and out of the classroom; and educational programs designed to provide breadth and depth, to encourage the integration of different forms of knowledge, and to stimulate not only the acquisition but also the creative and humane use of knowledge;
- affirmation of its Catholic identity, respect for other religious and philosophical traditions, promotion of dialogue between faith and contemporary culture, opposition to narrow indoctrination or proselytizing, and the opportunity for worship and the deepening of religious belief;
- a community enriched by men and women of diverse backgrounds, respectful of difference and enlivened by open dialogue, caring and just toward others, and committed to broad participation in achieving the common good.
Approved by the Board of Trustees, October 22, 1993
APPENDIX B
UNIVERSITY GUIDING PRINCIPLES
The following guiding principles, based on the University's Statement of Purpose, areintended to focus the efforts of the entire University community toward achievingdistinction and distinctiveness in the 1990s.
The goals of Santa Clara University are to:
- Educate for leadership in the Jesuit tradition.
- Serve as a voice of reason, conscience, and compassion in society.
- Foster academic excellence and a lifelong passion for learning.
- Create a learning environment that integrates rigorous inquiry, creative imagination, reflective engagement with society, and a commitment to fashioning a more humane and just world.
- Encourage innovation, while preserving the best of our traditions, to enhance our learning and living environment.
- Nurture a diverse University community rooted in mutual understanding and respect.
- Promote throughout the University a culture of service that foster the development of personal responsibility.
- Strive for effective communication and responsible decision making at every level to advance our mission.
- Build a stronger financial base to enhance the quality of the University.
Approved by the President's Staff, October 12, 1993
