CHALLENGING MINDS, E D U C AT I N G H E A RT S , FORMING LEADERS
The 2013–2016 Strategic Agenda for Cabrini College
Table of Contents The 2013–2016 Strategic Agenda for Cabrini College
Introduction
Mission
Vision 2020
Strategic Goals 2013–2016
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Strategic Goals & Strategies
Implementation
Conclusion
Reference Links
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The 2013–2016 Strategic Agenda for Cabrini College
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Vision 2020: Cabrini College will be a college of first choice and a model of excellence in forming leaders to advance the common good.
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ix years ago, Cabrini College embarked on a journey toward defining the contemporary, Cabrinian education through excellence, social justice and transformational teaching, guided by the Strategic Agenda: Dateline 2007–2012.
In the ensuing years, we focused our attention and resources on mission and identity; the teaching and learning environment; student engagement and retention; our Cabrinian culture, especially diversity and inclusivity; and stewardship of our resources. As a result, among many other accomplishments, we have a newly articulated mission statement; a Board-approved Campus Master Plan; a Strategic Plan for Graduate Studies; an Enrollment Management plan designed to recruit, enroll and retain best-fit students; expanded Living and Learning communities; a bold tuition-reduction plan; a student leadership development program; a nationally recognized domestic violence program; an award-winning student publication; partnerships with Catholic Relief Services, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (MSC) Swaziland mission, Norristown, and Sodexo; the President’s Initiative for Mission Integration; the Inclusivity Council; a comprehensive marketing plan; a new one-stop Cavalier Express Center; a Technology in Teaching Task Force; and our signature Justice Matters core curriculum. Through a focus on educational, operational and institutional effectiveness, mission integration and a renewed connection to our MSC roots, and through our groundbreaking core curriculum, innovative faculty and dedicated staff, we have made great strides forward and generated a sense of momentum and optimism.
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Thanks to the contributions of the entire community, we can say with pride that the direction set forth in the Strategic
The 2013–2016 Strategic Agenda for Cabrini College
Agenda: Dateline 2007–2012 has been followed and successfully positions us to embark on the next phase of our journey
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toward a new and bold vision for 2020: Cabrini College will be a college of first choice and a model of excellence in forming leaders to advance the common good.
As in the past, the process which resulted in this document has been truly Cabrinian—inclusive, forward-thinking, and comprehensive. It engaged as many community members as possible in defining the criteria by which we will measure the success of our efforts, surfacing the critical strategic issues to be addressed in the next three years, and developing goals which, if achieved, will lay a strong foundation for development of a second three-year plan to realize fully our vision for the College by 2020. The energy, enthusiasm and genuine commitment to Vision 2020 that was evidenced by the many members of the community who participated in development of this plan has created an exciting momentum for the future that awaits Cabrini College; a future filled with the hope and promise that accompanies an “Education of the Heart.”
Mission More than a century ago, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini urged her teachers to “educate the hearts” of their students. She insisted that a Cabrinian education link intellectual competence with moral development and instill a special concern for those persons who are in need. Cabrini College continues this strong commitment to ensuring an “Education of the Heart” by providing an academic program and a living and learning environment that form liberally educated persons who will succeed in their profession and make a difference in their communities and the world.
Education of the Heart Cabrini College is a Catholic institution of higher education dedicated to academic excellence, leadership development and a commitment to social justice. The College welcomes learners of all faiths, cultures, and backgrounds and prepares them to become engaged citizens of the world. Approved by the Board of Trustees – February 20, 2010
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The 2013–2016 Strategic Agenda for Cabrini College
Vision 2020
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Cabrini College will be a college of first choice and a model of excellence in forming leaders to advance the common good. Vision 2020 resonates strongly with the campus, from the Board of Trustees, to faculty, staff, students, alumni, partners and friends of the College. It is a logical extension of our work to ensure that students receive an “Education of the Heart,” especially through the groundbreaking Justice Matters curriculum and a faculty and staff committed to student-centered learning both inside and outside the classroom. It is also an ambitious challenge for the foreseeable future, to take Cabrini to the next level of excellence in forming leaders committed to a more just society. Vision 2020 challenges us to prioritize initiatives and investments that will ensure that we become a “first choice” for students, employees, alumni, donors and employers who share our values and commitments, and a community widely recognized for our success in cultivating leaders committed to creating a more just and humane world.
Strategic Goals 2013–2016 After full and informed consideration of environmental trends, associated strategic challenges and Cabrini College’s current status relative to Vision 2020, the following five major strategic goals were identified as those most critical for the College to achieve over the next three years in order to place Cabrini on a positive trajectory toward realization of Vision 2020: • Make a distinctive 21st century student leadership learning experience an integral part of a Cabrini education. • Achieve a distinctive Mission-driven reputation for academic excellence, leadership development and a commitment to social justice.
TECHNOLOGY
ASSETS Distinctive 21st Century Student Leadership/ Learning Experience
• Leverage technology to maximize student learning and increase institutional efficiency and effectiveness.
“Model of Excellence in Forming Leaders to Advance Common Good”
• Increase the College’s financial assets and improve its physical resources.
CABRINI COMMUNITY
• Be an empowering and inclusive Cabrinian community. These five strategic goals should be considered in light of their relationship to the College’s Mission, Vision 2020 and
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REPUTATION “College of First Choice”
to each other, as depicted by the following schematic: As appropriate to Cabrini’s Mission and Vision 2020, the primary goal, “Make a distinctive 21st century student leadership learning experience an integral part of a Cabrini education,” is at the center. As indicated by the arrows, the remaining four goals support and contribute to strengthening the center and each other, while also realizing gains as progress is made on the primary goal.
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The 2013–2016 Strategic Agenda for Cabrini College
STRATEGIC GOALS & STRATEGIES Goal 1: Make a distinctive 21st century student leadership learning experience an integral part of a Cabrini education. This goal reflects the College’s strategic and mission-based imperative to graduate students well prepared to serve as leaders in the organizations and communities in which they live and work, and to do so from a values-based appreciation for their responsibility to be effective agents of social change for the common good. Further, it acknowledges the changing nature of leading and working in an increasingly complex and global environment, and our responsibility to provide students with the knowledge and skills required for success in the 21st century, e.g., social and cultural capital, self-reliance, commitment to life-long learning, creativity, conflict resolution, team-building and ethics.
Strategies: • 1.1 Fully implement the Justice Matters core curriculum to ensure a strong foundation upon which to develop student leadership knowledge, skills and values. • 1.2 Advance a new Cabrinian paradigm for Leadership for the Common Good. • 1.3 Initiate a new approach to student career development. • 1.4 Reconceptualize “Global Education.”
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The 2013–2016 Strategic Agenda for Cabrini College
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Goal 2: Achieve a distinctive Mission-driven reputation for academic excellence, leadership development and a commitment to social justice. This goal emphasizes the strategic importance of distinguishing Cabrini College from other institutions in the higher education marketplace so that prospective students, faculty, staff, donors and friends can clearly identify attributes of the Cabrini experience that resonate with their own preferences, and lead them to select the College as their “first choice.”
Strategies • 2.1 Communicate what is most compelling about Cabrini to each of the constituent groups we want to attract. • 2.2 Leverage our commitment to mutually-beneficial partnerships as a distinctive element of Cabrini’s reputation. • 2.3 Capitalize on the exceptional accomplishments of our faculty, students and alumni.
Goal 3: Leverage technology to maximize student learning and increase institutional efficiency and effectiveness. This goal recognizes that technology is and will continue to have a profound effect on how faculty members teach, the ways in which students learn, the methods by which people communicate, and how organizations in all sectors maximize their effectiveness in a global environment.
Strategies • 3.1 Make technology an integral tool for facilitating learning. • 3.2 Apply technology to streamline College processes and increase productivity. • 3.3 Use technology to re-conceptualize information acquisition, utilization, and sharing.
Goal 4: Increase the College’s financial assets and improve its physical resources. This goal reflects the strategic importance of strengthening the College’s resource base. While tuition represents the institution’s largest and most important revenue stream, the press to maintain affordability, remain competitive and preserve the quality of campus life and the educational experience by right-sizing enrollment, cautions against exclusive reliance on tuition revenues to advance the College’s strategic initiatives.
Strategies • 4.1 Develop new and consistent sources of tuition and non-tuition revenue without compromising the affordability of a Cabrini education. • 4.2 Cultivate a philanthropic network of leaders committed to building support for the College. • 4.3 Advance Campus Master Plan priorities for 2013–2016
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The 2013–2016 Strategic Agenda for Cabrini College
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Goal 5: Be an empowering and inclusive Cabrinian community. This goal emphasizes the strategic importance of fostering a College community distinguished by its commitment to the value that it places on the dignity of the human person and the ability of all members to openly share their gifts, talents and perspectives – not simply to meet the challenges of an increasingly diverse campus community, but because Cabrini is a place that embraces inclusivity and actively seeks to empower its members.
Strategies • 5.1 Strengthen and sustain an inclusive campus environment that engages people of all faiths, cultures and backgrounds. • 5.2 Cultivate a strong and positive connection between students and the College that begins prior to their arrival and endures beyond graduation. • 5.3 Introduce practices and programs that reflect the elements of a just and fair workplace and give voice to members of the Cabrini community about matters of importance to the College and its constituents. • 5.4 Advance an evidenced-based culture of institutional effectiveness
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The 2013–2016 Strategic Agenda for Cabrini College
IMPLEMENTATION
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Responsibility for achieving the strategies in this plan resides in the individual and collective actions of the campus community. A number of Key Progress Indicators have been identified to accompany each initiative. These will be used to monitor annual progress and evaluate plan outcomes periodically, and at the completion of the plan in 2016. Metrics for some key performance indicators will be a number defining item status at a point in time, while others will define a desired goal. Charting our performance using these key performance indicators will be critical to ensuring that our progress is “on track,” and serve as important aspects of assessing the College’s on-going institutional effectiveness. The plan goals and strategies will inform the development of the College’s annual Institutional Priorities which, in turn, will inform the development of divisional and departmental plans. The priorities will be the basis for resource allocation, both in terms of financial investment and the time and attention of administrators, faculty and staff. As has been critical throughout the development of the plan, consistent communication of progress to the College community will occur, and updates marking the completion of elements that advance the plan will be shared regularly.
Conclusion Challenging Minds, Educating Hearts, Forming Leaders, the 2013–2016 Strategic Agenda for Cabrini College, articulates for the Cabrini College community, partners and friends, an inspirational vision of what we will become that is firmly anchored in who we are, what we do and the strong values by which we define ourselves. It reflects an ambitious aspiration for our future, the five key goals we believe we must meet in order to achieve that aspiration, strategies to ensure that these goals are met by informing annual institutional priorities and resource allocation, general funding strategies for the plan, and the indicators we will use to track and celebrate our progress. The plan does not reflect everything that the Cabrini College community hopes to do between 2013 and 2016. It also does not represent an unalterable set of directives, since the planning process must be just that, a process – dynamic and adaptable. The work ahead by our community will ensure that the plan is a living document. It will serve as a framework for making difficult decisions, focusing our resources, living our Mission of “Education of the Heart” and moving us toward the realization of Vision 2020: “To become a college of first choice and a model of excellence in forming leaders to advance the common good.”
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Reference Links
The 2013–2016 Strategic Agenda for Cabrini College
• Cabrini’s Catholic Identity Statement, Charter of Core Values & Historical Foundation - http://cabrini.edu/About/Mission.aspx
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• Qualities of the Liberally Educated Person • http://cabrini.edu/About/Mission/Qualities-of-a-Liberally-Educated-Person.aspx