A Tradition of Planning PLU 2020: Affirming Our Commitments, Shaping Our Future is the third in a series of long-range plans developed over the past 20 years that have served to define the mission, shape the aspirations, and frame the progress of Pacific Lutheran University. As such, this report builds upon the directions set in PLU 2000: Embracing the 21st Century and PLU 2010: the Next Level of Distinction, and builds upon the successes we have achieved as we have lived out the ambitions of those earlier plans. PLU 2000 established our Lutheran heritage as foundational to the work and life of the university: “learning that is intellectually free; excellence which embraces every field of knowledge; education which brings the Christian theological heritage, particularly its Lutheran expression, into an academic setting; and education which builds community” (p.23). PLU 2000 also articulated for the first time the statement of mission that has since guided us through the last decade of the 20th century and to today. PLU 2010 built upon PLU 2000 and reaffirmed both our mission and our identity as a liberal arts Lutheran university in the Pacific Northwest. PLU 2010 did indeed take our university to the “next level of distinction,” as the campus community adopted three pathways to academic distinction that today continue to shape our dedication to academic excellence: global education, purposeful learning, and student-faculty research and creative projects. This second long-range plan set out five aspirations for the first decade of the 21st century, calling on us to strengthen academic excellence, expand community
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