Mission Priority Examen

USF’s Current Mission Priorities

The University of San Francisco completed its Mission Priority Examen in 2022.  Affirmed by Father General Arturo Sosa, SJ, the following Mission Priorities will guide the university for the coming seven years:

  • Build capacity and opportunity among faculty, staff, students, and leaders to understand and engage in substantive conversations about Jesuit Catholic identity in the context of higher education, to share our worldviews and our visions--secular and religious--for how USF can embody a faith that does justice and ensures institutional accountability.
  • Develop a transparent, sustainable, university-wide plan to strengthen Jesuit mission with diversity, equity and inclusion priorities, supported by a well-resourced, visible structure to ensure institutional accountability.
  • Strengthen the Office of Sustainability so that it promotes cross-disciplinary faculty participation in shaping the curriculum, motivating university-wide engagement, and ensuring institutional accountability in meeting bold science-driven sustainability goals inspired by Laudato si.
  • Cultivate collaborative structures among university stakeholders that model cura personalis, practice Ignatian discernment, and respect the legitimate autonomy of the several unions that represent subsets of our employees.

USF’s Mission Priority Examen 

What is the Mission Priority Examen (MPE)?


The Mission Priority Examen is an opportunity for Jesuit colleges and universities to reaffirm their Jesuit Catholic identity in a way that honors the voices and experiences of each member of the community.  Initiated by the Superior General of the Society of Jesus and coordinated by a joint committee of Provincials (regional leaders of the Jesuits) and University Presidents within the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, the reaffirmation communicates to the Vatican our response to the following questions: 

  • Do you want to continue to be a Jesuit, Catholic University?     
  • If so, what are the two to four mission goals (and accompanying strategies) that you will prioritize for the next few years?     

It is called an examen because the process is intended to foster honest and inclusive discernment, inviting the entire USF community to name our strengths and successes in living out the mission as well as our struggles, failings, and goals. The Characteristics of Jesuit Higher Education document serves as a reference and guide for the MPE.