Affirming its desire to provide a distinctive and rigorous education in the liberal arts tradition while recognizing the significance of this transformational period in American higher education, Seton Hall University released its new strategic plan Monday afternoon.
Seton Hall President Joseph Nyre said the plan, entitled “Harvest Our Treasures,” is rooted in the faith and intellectual commitments that speak to the heart of the school’s 165-year mission.
View the plan here.
“‘Harvest Our Treasures’ fortifies our strengths and expresses our timeless values in innovative and exciting ways,” he said. “Thanks to the unprecedented involvement of the Seton Hall community offering their thoughts and feedback, our strategic plan establishes a bold vision that honors our past and defines our future as we stand ready to advance into a new era of achievement.”
The plan lists five strategic goals:
- Provide a distinctive and rigorous education in the liberal arts tradition that also informs curated professional and graduate programs and provides all students the education to become adaptable, imaginative, resilient, ethical and successful individuals;
- Support faculty in strengthening academic quality, advancing research and scholarship, and enhancing interdisciplinarity, equity and inclusion;
- Create a premier student experience that is equitable and consistent, enhances student support and retention, and prepares students to be impactful global citizens;
- Further cultivate and nurture a trusting and collaborative Seton Hall community that educates and empowers all its members to advance equity, inclusion and social justice on campus and in the wider world;
- Advance institutional sustainability by creating a nimble, responsive and innovative operational infrastructure and by making strategic investments in people, programs and partnerships to ensure that Seton Hall can achieve its mission for current and future generations of students.
As a Catholic institution of higher education with a strong intellectual and spiritual heritage, the plan reinforces Seton Hall’s commitment to certain principles whose purpose is the promotion of human flourishing in all its beauty, richness and depth. These principles are as follows:
- Seton Hall is committed to the whole person. Human beings are made in the image and likeness of God; they possess unique and inalienable dignity as children of God; the respect due to them is grounded in this divine kinship, and, as such, they must be cherished in their full humanity as spiritual, moral and intellectual beings;
- Seton Hall is dedicated to the common good. The university is a community among communities, attentive to the needs of all its members (faculty, staff, students, administrators and priests) and to the shared life made possible by its continued existence as a place of learning;
- Seton Hall is committed to serving and enriched by local, national and global communities. It is the largest diocesan university in the nation, and it embraces its continuing obligation to the Catholic community of New Jersey and beyond;
- Seton Hall is a place where scholars from every field engage in conversation within and between their disciplines; it is home to a mutually enriching dialogue between faith and reason whose purpose is the discovery of truth in an environment that upholds trust, respect, academic freedom and responsibility;
- Seton Hall welcomes individuals from all faith traditions and from none. Seton Hall’s Catholicism is an enabling vision, not a basis for exclusion.
The school said it embarked on a comprehensive strategic planning process in 2019, with the full support of the board of regents, the guidance of Keeling & Associates, and the dedication of community members who offered their thoughts and feedback in town halls, focus groups, surveys and in implementation planning committees.
The strategic planning process was led by Alyssa McCloud, senior vice president for enrollment management, and Andrew Simon, associate professor and vice-chair of the Faculty Senate.
Seton Hall described itself as an academically distinguished Catholic university with a national reputation for educating a diverse student body through the liberal arts and sciences and select professional programs infused with the Catholic intellectual tradition. The university expressed its commitment to supporting and strengthening quality scholarship as well as learning and academic advancement.
University Provost Katia Passerini said the plan will help guide the university.
“We pride ourselves as a university with outstanding student-faculty engagement that affords all students the academic opportunities, challenges and intellectual growth that characterize exceptional programs,” she said. “Over the next three years and beyond, ‘Harvest Our Treasures’ will increase our distinction, enhance our reputation as a home for great minds and lead us into the future with confidence to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.”
