USF 2027 Strategic Plan

Introduction

The University of San Francisco is committed to diversity, inclusiveness, and academic excellence and innovation in everything we do. Deeply rooted in our Jesuit mission and guided by aligned values, our five-year strategic plan - ‘USF Strategic Plan 2027’ - positions the university to revitalize and realize its mission now and into the future. The plan seeks to position our students - and thus the university - to thrive in a rapidly changing world through local and global experiences that cultivate rigorous thought, hone future-ready skills, nurture the whole person, and prepare students for a pluralistic world.

Implementation

The Strategic Plan Advisory Council (SPAC) began its work in June 2022, establishing structures for implementing the strategic plan and assembling resources to support the working groups for each of the plan’s goals. The Council and working groups have provided regular updates to the community on this website as work progressed. 

Vision for 2027

USF will be the leading Jesuit university for diversity, inclusiveness, academic excellence, and innovation, distinguished by our experiential and civically-engaged education; our caring, equitable, and global community; and our contributions to social and environmental justice. We will be:

  • An innovator in designing an education that drives scholarly, creative, and professional competencies.
  • A destination for emerging lifelong learning opportunities.
  • A global and diverse university where all community members are supported to thrive holistically.
  • An ethical and engaged partner with our local, national, and global communities, and our alumni.
  • A dynamic institution that is able to respond rapidly and transparently to a changing world.

Download a Printable Version of USF 2027 Strategic Plan

Strategic Plan Themes

The Strategic Plan provides an effective roadmap for addressing five themes that have emerged as critical to our thriving:

  • Rebuild our enrollments and improve retention
  • Evolve our education so it’s future ready
  • Diversify our revenue streams
  • Strengthen our Community, and
  • Tell our story 

Strategic Goals and Initiatives Dashboard

This data-dashboard outlines the USF 2027 strategic plan initiatives for the first year of implementation and captures the outcomes, key performance indicators (KPI), and metrics for how we will measure our progress over time.

Dashboard

What is a dashboard? Much like an automobile dashboard that displays at-a-glance information for the driver, a strategic planning dashboard displays information on predefined measures of progress and accomplishment of goals for the institution.

We have categorized each initiative as follows and indicated which initiatives are in process or have been completed:

  • Quick wins: Low-complexity initiatives that can move forward where funding allows and can make a meaningful positive impact. 
  • Strategic Priorities: Initiatives with significant complexity and high impact that also meet near term, mission-aligned priorities focused on revenue, enrollment, or have a high degree of alignment with fundraising priorities.
  • Horizon Opportunities: Initiatives that will have significant impact, but also have significant complexity and may require substantial budget allocation, external funding, or time and effort.

The dashboard is a living document that we are updating on a monthly basis. Many of these metrics are being gathered periodically and may not be completely up to date in a given moment. We look forward to refining this dashboard and welcome your feedback. Please send any questions or feedback to strategicplanning@usfca.edu.

View the Dashboard in Google Sheets
 

GOAL 1

REIMAGINE JESUIT EDUCATION to accelerate the achievement of a more just and sustainable world.

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Objectives Actions
1. Revise USF’s curricula and co-curricula to be responsive to our students’ aspirations and to prepare them for a changing and pluralistic world.
  1. Revise the undergraduate core, majors, and graduate degree programs to enhance transdisciplinary, global, experiential, and civically-engaged learning, and hone future-ready skills and nurture the whole person.
  2. Strengthen curricular and co-curricular programming in order to develop students as ethical leaders, change agents, and movement builders seeking solutions to the environmental, social, and public health crises facing our planet.
  3. Advance the international dimensions of USF’s educational mission by enabling and promoting global learning, engaging global thought leaders, nurturing institutional partnerships, and developing policies in support of internationalization in curriculum and exchange pathways.
2. Build alliances and integrated infrastructure that provide a sustainable and incentivizing process to invite, design, and implement new programs and academic initiatives that serve all learners – undergraduate, graduate, and lifelong.
  1. Foster collaboration between the schools/college and between academic affairs and other units to improve effectiveness and increase our ability to offer new programs and integrated curricular/co-curricular learning opportunities.
  2. Develop an infrastructure that breaks through existing siloes to support stakeholders to work collaboratively in proposing, testing, vetting, and launching new programs and non-degree offerings (e.g., career acceleration programs) that serve all learners.
3. Hire and invest in faculty, librarians, and staff to ensure that the curricula and co-curricula endeavors reflect USF’s commitment to equity and inclusion.
  1. Increase faculty, librarian, and staff diversity in order to infuse the curricula with diverse and global lived experiences and enhance equity and inclusion.
  2. Support faculty, librarian, and staff development for teaching, with a specific (but not exclusive) focus on how identity/ power/ privilege/ oppression/ anti-racism are present in their courses and disciplines, and transform curricula and pedagogy to address these issues across all USF courses.
4. Develop a culture of responsive and evidence-based assessment that is inclusive and equitable, ensures programs of the highest quality, and improves relevant learning for all students.
  1. Engage all faculty, departments, and programs in meaningful ways to utilize assessment as a tool to improve academic rigor and equity-centered pedagogy.
  2. Identify meaningful, useful, and diverse assessment strategies/types to improve student learning.
  3. Examine culminating experiences and high-impact practices across all departments to develop a comprehensive student-centered approach to academic assessment.
  4. Develop holistic metrics for assessing the value of a USF degree.
  5. Develop processes for clear communication of internal and external assessment results and decisions based on those results that are on-going, active, and responsive.
5. Transform and leverage physical and digital technology spaces to support collaborative work, prioritizing innovative and interdisciplinary learning and research.
  1. Build or renovate structures/spaces — for example, Harney Science Center, Presentation Theater — to advance collaborative, local and global, interdisciplinary, and immersive experiences for students and faculty with technology, and cutting-edge and hands-on learning and research spaces.
  2. Leverage physical and digital workspaces at our Hilltop and other campus locations to launch centers focused on (1) science for justice, health equity, and environmental sustainability; and (2) art activism, social justice, and community engagement.
  3. Integrate the use of technology and technology-enabled teaching (technology-enhanced, flipped, hybrid, HyFlex, online) into university academic programming to better leverage and adapt the university’s capacity to support an innovative, equitable, and flexible education.
  4. Support technology-enhanced teaching innovation by promoting exemplary faculty work.
  5. Implement a transparent and inclusive process and structure for decision-making around space and safety that establishes open, frequent, and transparent lines of communication between all stakeholders to ensure that space usage and needs are understood in the context of different academic priorities and safety.

GOAL 2

INVEST IN AND PROMOTE THE SCHOLARLY, CREATIVE, AND COMMUNITY-FOCUSED ENDEAVORS that advance justice and address the pressing challenges of our time.

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Objectives Actions
1. Advance scholarly, creative, community-focused work that generates social action and leads to positive impact aligned with USF’s mission.
  1. Create fora where faculty, librarians, and staff engage with alumni and community members within and across disciplines in transformative community interaction.
  2. Expand research internships for students working with faculty.
  3. Seek increased external funding or start-up grants to bolster our investment in scholarly and creative activities.
  4. Convene an annual dialogue in which community members can discuss social, economic, and environmental justice issues, learn from experts, and develop strategies for how USF can better address these issues.
  5. Enhance globally-focused research and creative collaborations to support the continued flow of scholars and ideas vital to USF’s Jesuit and other international partnerships.
2. Hire, invest in and retain diverse faculty, librarians, and staff to ensure scholarly and artistic endeavors that strengthen academic excellence and reflect USF’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
  1. Increase faculty, librarian, and staff diversity in order to infuse scholarly, creative, and community endeavors with diverse and global lived experiences.
3. Elevate the public profile of scholarly and creative achievements through proactive media outreach, social media, and USF’s communication platforms.
  1. Promote faculty, librarian, and staff expertise through symposia, media relations, and regular community dialogues.
  2. Provide faculty, librarians, and staff with the tools and resources to raise public awareness of their scholarly and creative work among their own networks, as well as in academic and non-academic general interest publications and outlets.
  3. Improve mechanisms for promoting the scholarly, creative, and community activities of USF faculty, staff, librarians, students, and alumni.

GOAL 3

PROVIDE A RADICALLY INCLUSIVE, INTERNATIONAL, AND WELCOMING CAMPUS EXPERIENCE that propels students to realize their full potential as leaders, social change agents, creators, practitioners, and lifelong learners.

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Objectives Actions
1. Improve equitable sense of belonging, retention, and success for all students.
  1. Provide formation experiences and co-curricular programs for all students that deepen understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity, intersectionality, and social justice, and the development of global awareness and anti-racism knowledge and competencies.
  2. Charge a revitalized Retention, Persistence, and Student Equity Committee to develop a comprehensive plan to improve retention and graduation rates and address policies and practices that undermine student success, equitable academic outcomes, and students’ sense of belonging.
  3. Increase the participation of first generation students, Pell Grant eligible students, students with disabilities, and students from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups in summer bridge and first-year experience programs, including living-learning communities, first-year seminars, and USF 101.
  4. Expand high-impact practices and resources to support diverse student affinity groups, strengthen cross-group community building, and increase efficiency of shared resources and support.
  5. Strengthen initiatives to enhance the success, belonging, and inclusion of international students.
2. Address our students’ housing, food security, and holistic mental health needs.
  1. Evaluate and expand student housing at our Hilltop campus to meet the needs of our diverse student population.
  2. Expand programs and resources for alleviating student food and housing insecurity.
  3. Extend support for the mental health and holistic wellness of our students.
3. Provide a climate free of sexual, gender, and racial violence, using a compassionate survivor-centered and trauma-informed approach.
  1. Expand proactive and mandatory education on harassment and sexual, gender, and racial violence to faculty, librarians, students, and staff.
  2. Promote the responsibility of the entire USF committee to keep our campuses safe by providing education and bystander training to challenge violence in all forms.
  3. Re-evaluate and enhance support services for survivors of violence.
4. Measure and improve the return on investment of a USF education and enhance the upward social and economic mobility of USF graduates.
  1. Improve how we gather and leverage data related to student post-graduation outcomes and alumni careers.
  2. Document and make visible the ways a USF education provides quality-of-life and earnings advantages to our graduates.
  3. Leverage alumni, industry, and government connections for mentoring, externships and employment opportunities that enhance the value of a USF education.
5. Develop creative, responsive, and collaborative data-informed strategies to expand undergraduate and graduate enrollment.
  1. Develop a comprehensive integrated strategic enrollment plan that addresses all aspects of the student experience, from recruitment to post-graduation outcomes.
  2. Rebuild total enrollment to 11,000: undergraduate enrollment to 6,500 and graduate enrollment to 4,500.
  3. Launch an international board of advisors to expand USF’s global network, presence, and visibility, and support international student recruitment and international alumni engagement.
  4. Establish a cross-campus working group to improve transition from enrollment decision to matriculation at USF.
  5. Develop initiatives to address equity gaps and support excellence and belonging for Latinx, Asian/Asian American, and Indigenous students, faculty, and staff, and better serve the educational aspirations of our diverse students.
  6. Create a comprehensive diversity recruitment plan for Black-identified, Latinx-identified, and Asian-identified students.
  7. Develop a Transfer Student Success and Belonging Initiative to improve the transfer student experiences and address the growing opportunities available to community college students.

GOAL 4

EXTEND OUR VISIBILITY, PROMINENCE, AND ACCESSIBILITY through strategic partnerships, public programming, and community outreach that extend our reach as people for and with others.

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Objectives Actions
1. Increase USF’s visibility in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond through a comprehensive awareness campaign, strategic investments in facilities and technologies, and community outreach.
  1. Launch a comprehensive awareness campaign and revitalize institutional branding to boldly reflect USF’s mission, identity, and promise.
  2. Complete the creation of the USF Social Change Museum as a gateway to USF, showcasing USF’s living history as an agent for equity, diversity, and social justice and using community-based co-design by faculty, staff, students, and community members to ensure that the museum is responsive, welcoming, and dynamic.
  3. Re-envision the physical and digital technology spaces that welcome visitors, prospective students, alumni, and the broader community to our campuses, with design and services that are accessible, responsive, and showcase USF’s mission, identity, and contributions.
2. Become a leading destination for career acceleration, lifelong learning, and both virtual and on-campus programming related to social justice, sustainability, health equity, and innovation.
  1. Develop a structure to support cross-university collaboration and resource-sharing for certificates, badges, and other career acceleration programs.
  2. Boost public engagement with cultural and scholarly events, programming, and digital content, and track and set targets for annual participation.
  3. Cultivate an intergenerational learning environment and broaden our university revenue streams by growing an age-diverse student body via expansion of age-friendly related programs, teaching, research, and community engagement at USF.
3. Partner with educational and community organizations serving K-12 students to extend college access and civic-engagement opportunities for local youth and USF students.
  1. Extend the Rising Dons Mentorship program and other programming for youth from under-resourced, resilient communities in multiple sites in San Francisco and at our regional locations.
  2. Generate more first-generation college students by providing pathways to USF, and to college in general, in partnership with San Francisco Bay Area middle and high schools and community-based organizations.
4. Create incubator spaces where USF students, librarians, staff, and faculty, as well as industry and community partners, can unleash creative and collaborative ideas and generate daring solutions.
  1. Partner with industry and community-based organizations to develop incubator and accelerator spaces at our multiple locations, offering a range of opportunities such as co-working, maker spaces, hyflex conference rooms, labs, cafes, and mentoring opportunities.
5. Leverage reciprocal local, national, and global partnerships to boost visibility, advance the common good, extend access to USF’s programs, and enhance civic engagement and professional development for students, alumni, and community members.
  1. Establish an Internship Lab to strengthen student learning, mission engagement, and employment success through greater integration of curricula and first-hand learning experiences benefiting educational, business, and non-profit organizations locally and globally.
  2. Extend the Alumni Mentor Program and develop a Digital Alumni Hub technology to increase mentorships and experiential learning opportunities between students and alumni, focused on solutions to the world’s most critical challenges.
  3. Increase internship and employment opportunities for international students through initiatives that enhance employer relations and employment pipelines.
  4. Leverage and enhance our community-based organizations’ data and alumni digital technology infrastructure to increase community stakeholder access and foster collaborations between students, faculty, alumni, and community partners.
  5. Deepen partnerships with community colleges to streamline the transfer process, provide greater transitional support, and enhance transfer student success.
  6. Develop new industry, government, and community partnerships to provide access to USF’s hybrid and online degree programs and professional certificates for their employees locally, nationally, and globally.
  7. Strengthen San Francisco Bay Area partnerships — for example, the Community Research Collaborative — to provide African-centered and anti-racist education, research training, and program evaluation to Black students and community stakeholders to study endemic racism and pathways to improve social and economic outcomes.

GOAL 5

ENSURE USF IS AN EQUITABLE AND EXTRAORDINARY PLACE TO WORK through developing an agile, highly-motivated, collaborative, and growth-oriented workforce.

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Objectives Actions
1. Co-create a comprehensive and mission-centered employee engagement and enrichment program that institutes concrete practices to support the formation, development, success, and retention of faculty, librarians, staff, and administrators.
  1. Establish a broadly representative employee Engagement and Enrichment Council (EEC) to develop and maintain a USF mission-centered model for employee engagement and development, and a related implementation plan.
  2. Leverage the capabilities of our human capital management system and other technologies to support employee engagement, development, and belonging through product solutions, data analytics, and metrics to drive informed planning and improvement.
  3. Examine and address the unique needs and challenges facing part-time faculty, librarians, and staff.
2. Provide ongoing leadership and management training for faculty, librarians, staff, and administrators at all levels for growth and advancement, and support a culture of collaborative, transparent, and values-centered leadership.
  1. In concert with the Engagement and Enrichment Council (EEC), develop varied training opportunities for current employees on leadership, conflict resolution, effective management practices, and career advancement strategies.
3. Advance strategies to foster the belonging and retention of diverse staff, faculty, and librarians, especially BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Plus), women, and caregivers.
  1. Develop and implement a comprehensive, data-informed university-wide plan to advance antiracism, equity, and inclusion across all university units.
  2. Ensure that the onboarding, formation, and professional development experiences for all employees deepens understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity and intersectionality, and the development of social justice and anti-racism knowledge and skills.
  3. Develop consistent orientation and training templates on diversity and equity for employee recruitment and hiring processes used by hiring managers and search committees.
4. Reimagine and implement contemporary and adaptive work practices to increase equity and employee effectiveness, engagement, and well-being.
  1. Evaluate how current work practices (e.g., remote work, job sharing, flex time) have changed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic to determine which practices improve employee satisfaction and performance, and extend those practices.
  2. In collaboration with the Engagement and Enrichment Council (EEC), examine best practices and emerging trends for effective and healthy work practices at comparator universities.
  3. Develop a program to pilot new and equitable strategies for work at USF with the goal of rapidly gathering data about their effectiveness and expanding implementation of strategies proven to be effective.
5. Extend cura personalis by fostering holistic wellness and the mental and spiritual health of USF and surrounding communities, with special attention to the needs of those impacted by injustice.
  1. Revive and expand USF clinic facilities to provide holistic mental health services to local communities, and create opportunities for learning and community service for USF faculty and students.
  2. Address the intersections of well-being with racial, gender, and economic injustice via a center focused on holistic mental health wellness and social justice that champions research, community service, learning opportunities, and related initiatives.
  3. Provide training for students, faculty, librarians, staff, alumni, and community partners focused on timely mental and spiritual health topics (e.g., trauma, anxiety, depression, substance use).
  4. Design and administer a survey to assess the prevalence of mental health and substance use concerns at USF and in surrounding communities, using results to develop a holistic mental health and social justice action plan.
  5. Develop and offer professional development opportunities for faculty, librarians, staff, alumni, and community partners on restorative justice, just culture, and trauma-informed approach.

GOAL 6

DEVELOP INCLUSIVE AND PARTICIPATORY SHARED GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES to harness the creativity, vision, and brilliance of our students, staff, faculty, and librarians.

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Objectives Actions
1. Define and implement an institutional shared governance structure to ensure inclusive and participatory decision-making, and strengthen transparency, communication, and trust.
  1. Create a task force to identify, appoint, and engage a widely representative deliberative body of full- and part-time faculty, librarians, staff, administrators, and students to develop and implement a stakeholder-informed definition of shared governance and an operational model for shared governance that connects existing structures and incorporates new structures as needed.
  2. Actualize a shared governance model that addresses and ensures regular and timely dissemination of updates and information, gathering of stakeholder input on important issues, and regular opportunities for inclusive and participatory decision-making among stakeholders.
2. Engage students in co-designing the educational experience through direct input and engagement in design and delivery of curricula and co-curricula.
  1. Leverage student governing bodies and representatives of the Provost’s Student Advisory Council in responding to USF’s current curricula and co-curricula, identifying gaps, and suggesting revisions and/or new programs.
  2. Develop tools and resources that will assist departments in engaging their students around more detailed discussions of curricula and co-curricular experience, and formation.

Join the Conversation

Email: strategicplanning@usfca.edu
Slack: usf-strategic-plan.slack.com