About the Planning Process

The Strategic Plan was constructed through a widely collaborative process that included review of assessment data, examination of external trends and opportunities, campus-wide surveys and fora, and discussions with a variety of committees and governance groups. This process drew extensively from outcomes and pathways identified through institutional assessments, including our 2019 comprehensive Middle States Accreditation Self-Study, and the 2018 Mission Priority Examen, a holistic review of our mission and mission-related activities.  

Officially launching the strategic planning process, members of the Board of Trustees and President’s Cabinet considered two fundamental questions as part of strategic planning retreats in fall 2019:  What opportunities lie ahead, and what challenges do we face? How do we assure that our mission and Catholic, Jesuit identity remain central to our way of proceeding as we meet and explore these opportunities, and address challenges?  They invited members of the University community to likewise consider other strategic issues facing the University:

• the urgency to address changing student demographics, expectations, and needs;
• the imperative to practice proactive stewardship of our resources to assure financial strength and sustainability, and support student access and financial need;
• sustaining our commitment to undergraduate liberal arts education, balanced with shifting market demands, growth opportunities in professional and graduate programming, and evolving learning pathways and modalities;
• supporting equity, diversity and inclusion in all its many facets;
• and, assuring that our Catholic, Jesuit mission remains vibrant, and central, in navigating these issues.

As a result of these discussions, the University Planning Committee and President's Cabinet endorsed a set of five preliminary strategic goals, which were approved by the Board in February 2020.  Although the University's pivot to remote learning and work in late March due to the COVID-19 global health pandemic limited our ability to pursue planned on-campus activities, our commitment to planning continued through a variety of remote discussions and electronic feedback opportunities. This input resulted in the affirmation of these five preliminary goals, and the development of a cohesive suite of supporting objectives. Updated drafts of the plan were reviewed by the campus community during the spring and summer of 2020, with a final version submitted to and approved by the Board of Trustees on September 25, 2020.  We believe the plan's goals and objectives present our university with unique opportunities to re-commit to the fundamentals of our mission, while re-imagining how we deliver a Scranton education and achieve our vision.

View the Strategic Plan Development Timeline

Strategic Plan 2022 Update

One of the early commitments of our planning process was that the strategic plan should be a living document, a flexible, evolving framework that, while unequivocal in its core commitments, is able to adapt to meet the changing needs of our industry and our community. In spring 2022, responding to recommendations from the Diversity Planning Team, the University Planning Committee submitted a recommendation to update the previously titled "Diversity and Inclusion" strategic plan goal and objectives to include the term "equity," better reflecting the true scope of our strategic and operational needs.  In addition, this recommendation included the additional commitment that our diversity, equity, and inclusion plan and related efforts be "regularly assessed." These changes were approved by the University's President's Cabinet and Board of Trustees in May 2022, and have been updated in official strategic plan publications and this website.