CRITERION ONE: MISSION and INTEGRITY
TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION...1.1 Committee Process...1.1 INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXTS...1.1 Saint Xavier University and Catholic Higher Education...1.2 University Sponsorship and Governance...1.3 The Sisters of Mercy Sponsorship...1.3 The Board of Trustees and Governance...1.5 The President...1.6 The University Mission Statement...1.6 University Mission: Evidence of Pervasiveness...1.7 Academic Expressions...1.7 Sacred Expressions...1.8 Public Expressions...1.9 University Mission: Challenges - Conflicts - Continuity...1.9 STRATEGIC PLAN AND VISION FOR THE FUTURE...1.11 Board Development...1.11 Strategic Planning...1.12 Institutional Initiatives Resulting from Strategic Planning...1.13 Cabinet and Academic Affairs...1.13 Office for University Mission and Heritage...1.14 Chicago Campus Master Plan...1.15 The School for Continuing and Professional Studies...1.15 Library...1.16 Technology...1.16 Diversity Action Team...1.16 Economic Impact Study...1.17 University Relations...1.19 Institutional Assessment Plan...1.19 Center for International Education...1.20 General Education...1.21 Faculty Course Reassignments...1.22 Keeping Track of Strategic Change...1.23 DECISION MAKING...1.23 Strategic...1.23 Board of Trustee Committees...1.23 President s Cabinet...1.25 Academic...1.26 Deans Council...1.26 Faculty Governance...1.27 Faculty Senate...1.27 Faculty Affairs...1.28 Rank and Tenure...1.29 Grievance...1.30 Sabbatical Leave...1.30 Curriculum...1.31 Financial...1.32 SPBAC...1.32 University Advancement...1.32 Student Affairs...1.33 Marketing...1.35 CONCLUSION...1.35 Strengths...1.35 Challenges...1.36 Summary...1.36 Future-Oriented...1.36 Learner-Focused...1.36 Connected...1.37 Distinctive...1.37 RECOMMENDATIONS...1.38
CRITERION ONE: MISSION AND INTEGRITY INTRODUCTION This chapter describes and examines institutional decision-making rooted in Saint Xavier University s distinctive philosophical and historical contexts, as well as recent changes to its sponsorship, vision, mission statement, core values, and educational philosophy. Most prominently, these changes have resulted in new administrative structures, set the conditions for future-focused strategic planning and budgeting, and advanced the University s ability to reflect upon and enact its academic, financial, student services, and community-engagement goals. While the University faces a number of challenges to more fully incarnate its mission through effective decisionmaking, this chapter will demonstrate that SXU operates with integrity to ensure the fulfillment of its mission through structures and processes that involve the Board, faculty, staff, and students. Committee Process This chapter is a result of efforts by several key individuals and teams. In the first stage, the Criterion 1 Committee began to assess whether and how the University was promulgating its mission in its existing documents and then analyzed the extent to which the University s actions supported it. Subsequently, the committee identified strengths, issues, challenges, and tensions around the realization of the University s mission and made recommendations for improvement. The committee also met with faculty and staff members to present tentative findings and to ascertain their challenges about this information. After completing a number of drafts and submitting a final version during November 2006, the chairs of the Self- Study next invited the Vice President for University Mission and Heritage to review the chapter and submit an alternative draft focusing more extensively on historical issues related to the mission, sponsorship, and Catholic identity. At the same time, the chairs asked the chair of Religious Studies to submit a draft identifying specific ways the University has manifested its religious mission over the past 10 years, as well as identify related challenges and recommendations. After receiving these submissions in January 2007, the editor of the Self-Study, with assistance from the University s HLC Self-Study project consultant, Rosemary Miklitsch, refocused the chapter on institutional decision-making within the various frameworks of Catholic higher education, Mercy sponsorship, the previous administration, and recent strategic planning initiatives with the purpose of determining to what extent the institution is mission-driven in its decision-making, resources allocation, programming, and staffing. INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXTS This section describes the philosophical and historical foundations of the University, as well as its progress toward financial solvency and a new era of mission-focused strategic planning. This section also examines the formulation of the 2005 Mission Statement. Thoughtful and inclusive, the process of restatement generated discussion and resulted in an expression of the University s mission that reflects its core values and focuses 1.1
CRITERION ONE Thoughtful and inclusive, the process of restatement generated discussion and resulted in an expression of the University s mission that reflects its core values and focuses efforts to direct and assess progress toward its realization. efforts to direct and assess progress toward its realization. The evidence here presented will affirm that the attention and effort that the University gives to its mission, both in its promulgation and in its implementation, is intentional, focused, and pervasive. The University s mission statement provides a clear and succinct formulation of self-understanding and educational goals. The mission statement, along with the core values, the Philosophy Statement, and the statement on the institution s vision of its Catholic identity, testify to the transformational power of education this academic community seeks to represent to students and to reflect to the wider community. Saint Xavier University and Catholic Higher Education Since its founding in 1846 by the Sisters of Mercy, Saint Xavier University has been a Catholic institution of higher education that shares in that rich tradition of the liberal arts in the United States. By promoting careful observation, reflection, critical analysis, thoughtful discourse, and excellence in the activities of teaching and learning, the University s educational programs advance disciplinary and professional excellence. Moreover, in striving to promote the dialogue between faith and reason that is at the heart of a Catholic university education, Saint Xavier University encourages students to make ethical decisions, to act with integrity in word and deed, and to serve the common good. Such an approach is not only consistent with the heritage of its Sisters of Mercy founders but also with the type of Catholic higher education that Pope John Paul II envisions in Ex Corde Ecclesiae. In this Apostolic Constitution, the Church recognizes the fundamental dignity of all persons who seek truth, including religious truth, and supports academic freedom in the search for truth. As a Catholic and Sisters of Mercy institution where the search for truth is at the heart of the University s life, as reflected in its motto Via, Veritas, Vita (The Way, the Truth, and the Life), Saint Xavier University also works to create a Catholic institutional ethos for those who teach, study, serve, and minister at the University. The University expresses the Catholic ethos by fostering learning for life and a critical and unimpeded search for truth, especially religious truth, by supporting a serious search for God and the study of the texts and traditions that inform such a search, by promoting the vigorous discussion of religious ideas, by offering opportunities to reflect, pray, worship, and access the sacraments, by engaging in the faithful transmission of the Catholic faith, its intellectual tradition, and its social teachings, by linking the expression of one s faith to the opportunity to learn about and serve others, just as Jesus served the least of his brothers and sisters, by the tasteful and appropriate renderings and placement of Catholic Christian signs and symbols throughout the University, by promoting respect for and supporting others who want to learn 1.2
SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY about and express their religious beliefs, regardless of faith tradition, by teaching the bases for making ethically sound judgments, and by promoting a campus climate that is respectful, compassionate, hospitable, and open to diverse people holding diverse opinions about how to advance the common good. Because it is particularly Catholic to engage and to celebrate all faith traditions, the University invites all people, including those professing no religious belief system, to seek truth, to search for God, and to learn about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. More specifically, the University promotes a serious search for God, a dialogue between faith and reason, the vigorous discussion of religious ideas, and the study of the Church s texts, teaching, and traditions in its curriculum and programming. These activities are particularly evident in offerings of the Department of Religious Studies, the Pastoral Ministry Institute, the Bishop Gorman Institute for Leadership in Catholic Education, the Center for Religion and Public Discourse, the Office for University Mission and Heritage, the Mercy Ministry Center, and the newly approved General Education Program with specific learning goals on individual and social responsibility. University Sponsorship and Governance The Sisters of Mercy Sponsorship The University s link to the Catholic Church comes through its governance relationship to the Sisters of Mercy who serve as the sponsor of Saint Xavier University. This sponsorship relationship that the University has with the Sisters of Mercy is fundamental not because of nostalgia about its founders and its past but rather because of the civil and canonical structures that make Saint Xavier University a sponsored ministry of the Catholic Church and because of the civil and canonical responsibilities shared by the Sisters of Mercy and the Board of Trustees. Specifically, the sponsorship relationship the University has with the Sisters of Mercy ensures the University s future as a recognized official Catholic ministry of higher education, a status that the University has enjoyed for over 160 years. While there are many ways the Sisters of Mercy have exercised their sponsorship of the University, their legal control over areas critical to the mission of the University is reflected in the Reserved Powers of the University s Bylaws. 1.1 Specifically, these are powers reserved to the Members of the Corporation who are the Sisters of Mercy, first through the Sisters of Mercy, Regional Community of Chicago, and more recently due to an organizational restructuring of the regional communities of the Sisters of Mercy, to the Conference for Mercy Higher Education (CMHE), a newly created structure to be described subsequently. Largely passive powers insofar as the Corporate Member approves what the University brings to it for approval rather than activities that the Member itself initiates, the reserved powers include amending the Articles of Incorporation, amending the bylaws of the Corporation, NOTES: 1.3
CRITERION ONE the University promotes a serious search for God, a dialogue between faith and reason, the vigorous discussion of religious ideas, and the study of the Church s texts, teaching, and traditions in its curriculum and programming. changing or restating the Corporation s mission or purpose, approving nominees for the Board of Trustees, approving finalists for the position of President, selling, leasing, exchanging, or disposing of real property, buildings, and improvements of the Corporation for a sum or with a fair market value in excess of 10 million dollars ($10,000,000), borrowing or refinancing of a thenexisting borrowing of a sum in excess of 10 million dollars ($10,000,000), merging or consolidating the Corporation, and dissolving the Corporation. Once held by the Sisters of Mercy, Regional Community of Chicago, these reserved powers were transferred to the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, the national headquarters of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, on April 30, 2007. Acting in their capacity as sponsor, the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas authorized the formation of the Conference for Mercy Higher Education to assume certain governance responsibilities in relation to Saint Xavier University and the 15 other Mercy sponsored or co-sponsored colleges and universities. In this relationship, the Board of the Conference for Mercy Higher Education now serves as the Corporate Member of Saint Xavier University and replaces the Sisters of Mercy, Regional Community of Chicago, the Member for most of the 10 year period covered in this Self Study. The Conference of Mercy Higher Education is a two-tier corporation governed by the Canonical Sponsor Council and the CMHE Board. The Canonical Sponsor Council is a 16 member board composed of one Sister of Mercy appointed by and from each of the Mercy Regional Communities that sponsors a college or university and helped found the Conference for Mercy Higher Education. The Canonical Sponsor Council appoints and removes the CMHE Board members and approves changes to CMHE bylaws that affect mission, purpose, and sponsorship authority. The CMHE Board has 14 members, both Sisters of Mercy and laypersons, whose academic credentials and higher education experience are consonant with the Board s responsibilities. It is the CMHE Board that exercises those reserved powers identified in the Saint Xavier University bylaws and enumerated above. In addition, because the Sisters of Mercy value the sponsorship relationship, and not just its legal aspects, each CMHE Board member serves as a liaison to one or more of the participating Mercy-sponsored institutions of higher education. The liaison for Saint Xavier University is Sr. Mary Aquin O Neill, a Sister of Mercy, a theologian, and a former university faculty member, is responsible for becoming familiar with Saint Xavier and for facilitating communication between Saint Xavier and the CMHE Board. The initial introduction of this liaison took place at the May 2007 meeting of the Board of Trustees, with plans to have her lecture at the University celebration of Founders Day, December 3, 2007. The purpose of this change in sponsorship is, at least, threefold: 1.4
SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY 1. To provide stability for the Mercysponsored/co-sponsored colleges and universities during a period of rapid transition in the congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas 2. To maintain and strengthen the Catholic identity and Mercy ethos of Mercy-sponsored institutions, even as the number of Sisters of Mercy available for ministry in higher education diminishes 3. To bring persons, both lay and religious, with expertise in higher education to the sponsorship role rather than simply electing a Sister of Mercy to this type of leadership whether or not they are familiar with Catholic higher education Despite such strengths, the change in the sponsorship model means that Saint Xavier will not have the geographically proximate relationships to the Sisters of Mercy and the Members of the Corporation as the University had in times past. In addition, both the CMHE Board and the University leadership will have to develop new relationships with the Church leadership in both the Archdiocese of Chicago where the University resides and the diocese where the CMHE headquarters is located, currently Omaha, Nebraska. The Board of Trustees and Governance Board decisions occur within the context of the University s mission and the articles and bylaws that define not only the powers reserved to the Members of the Corporation but also those granted to the Board of Trustees, the President, and other administrative officers, and to a range of University committees, offices, and academic units (see Appendix K). Collectively, the Board of Trustees has the overall responsibility for the wellbeing of the University and, according to the articles and bylaws effective April 2007, exercises its duties of care and duties of loyalty within the following areas: 1.2 a) Safeguarding and advancing the University s educational and religious mission and purposes, especially its Catholic-Mercy character b) Setting university policy and ensuring its implementation c) Appointing, supporting, and evaluating the President d) Increasing the assets of the University e) Ensuring strong financial management and future fiscal stability, including approving of the annual budget and reviewing the annual financial audit f) Ensuring the academic quality and the well-being of faculty, staff, and students g) Ensuring compliance with relevant laws and regulations h) Monitoring and assessing the performance of the Board i) Electing successor trustees j) Approving and assessing the strategic plan In addition to these collective responsibilities, the bylaws enumerate the responsibilities of each trustee as an individual. These include avoiding any conflicts of interest, providing counsel and support to the University and, in general, promoting the University s best interests. To fulfill these responsibilities, the University actively seeks trustees who represent diverse races, cultures, and religious traditions. At the same time, the University recognizes the directives NOTES: 1.5
CRITERION ONE The integration of the University s mission into its Catholic context is not only evident in its curricula, chapels, or in its Campus Ministry programs, it is also evident in the conscious attention the University pays to incorporating religious artwork, and signs and symbols of its Mercy and Catholic heritage throughout its two campuses. in Ex Corde Ecclesiae and tries to recruit committed Catholics and those conversant with and respectful of the Catholic tradition. The President Subject only to the Board of Trustees and to express limitations in the bylaws, the President is the executive officer of the corporation, and in general supervises and controls all of the business and affairs of the corporation, including all matters of academic requirements and prescriptions and governance of faculty matters. Thus, the President is responsible for all operations of the University, either directly or indirectly, and provides essential vision and leadership for the institution. Assisting the President with these responsibilities is the President s Cabinet composed of the Provost, seven vice presidents, and the Executive Assistant to the President/Secretary of the Corporation. The University Mission Statement Saint Xavier University, a Catholic institution inspired by the heritage of the Sisters of Mercy, educates men and women to search for truth, to think critically, to communicate effectively, and to serve wisely and compassionately in support of human dignity and the common good. This mission statement, adopted by the Board of Trustees and approved by the Members of the Corporation in October 2005, was the result of a significant process of study and reformulation that involved all segments of the University community. This 2005 formulation replaces the 1996 Mission Statement which identified the University s primary purpose as developing and sustaining challenging undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs, marked by superior teaching. 1.3 In addition to its focus on excellence in teaching, the 1996 Mission Statement gave prominence to the University s Catholic identity, developed as well in its statement Our Vision of Our Catholic Identity. Further, the 1996 Mission Statement referenced the Mercy tradition of intellectual rigor and service, especially to women and children, and discussed the types of students the University sought to attract. Further, it explained the University s commitment to educating these students through programs in the liberal arts and professions within a context of ethical concern and social responsibility. Its concluding sentence supported academic freedom, high academic standards, and freedom of personal religious expression. Despite substantive content in the 1996 Mission Statement, trustees and others recognized that it was too long and wordy to inspire conversation, enthusiasm, or commitment. Prompted by discussions between the President and members of the Board of Trustees, the University community engaged in a process of re-stating, not changing its mission. The goal was to affirm the mission in a more succinct, accessible, and motivating statement. In the process of re-stating the mission, the University community agreed on the importance of several key concepts, most of which they argued, should be in a mission statement or featured prominently elsewhere. These concepts included: Catholic Mercy 1.6
SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY Liberal Arts Diversity Teaching and Learning Service Academic Excellence/Rigor Scholarship Search for Truth Compassion Academic Freedom To honor the University s discussion about the importance of these concepts, the Office for University Mission and Heritage asked the Faculty Senate to compose a new educational philosophy statement for the University. This philosophy statement reflects language taken from the 1996 Mission Statement and includes a comprehensive view of how various constituencies contribute to the University s academic mission. This document was approved by the faculty, the Board of Trustees, and the Members of the Corporation in Spring 2006. The University now has a compendium of statements about its mission and character. In addition to the Mission Statement, these include the Eight Core Values, the University Philosophy Statement, a description of the University s Mercy heritage, a statement of the University s vision of its Catholic identity, and a statement of the University s expression of its Catholic identity. University Mission: Evidence of Pervasiveness Missions exist within a context. The context for the University s educational mission is Catholic and Mercy.As a sponsored educational ministry of the Catholic Church, the University reflects and extends the teaching mission of Jesus. Within the 160-year history of Saint Xavier University, as described in First in Chicago: A History of Saint Xavier University by Sr. Joy Clough, R.S.M., there is ample evidence of how consistently serious the institution has taken its sense of mission and Catholic identity. 1.4 Academic Expressions The Department of Religious Studies revised its philosophy statement to reflect its commitment to the Catholic theological enterprise within the context of the disciplines appropriate to a department of Religious Studies. The Catholic systematic core of courses was refreshed and reorganized into a more coherent whole, a minor of Catholic Studies is available, the service-learning course is cross listed with the Pastoral Ministry Institute, and course work also includes courses with a pastoral orientation in order to address contemporary issues of consequence to the life and practice of the Catholic faith. The department is the home of the Sister Josetta Butler Lecture and Scholarship program that provides a biannual lecture in religion and sponsors a scholarship program for students interested in the relationship between religion and society. Additionally, in 2001, the Graduate Certificate in Pastoral Studies was established following a 1999 request by Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago, to the Catholic universities in the Archdiocese to develop a theological and spiritual formation program for lay ecclesial ministers known as TIGS Together in God s Service. The Department of Religious Studies and NOTES: 1.7
CRITERION ONE Infusing this community of shared concern are the distinctive qualities and values of Saint Xavier University, including the belief that faith and reason can interact in mutually fruitful ways. the Pastoral Ministry Institute, in collaboration with the Catholic Theological Union, developed a fivecourse graduate level Certificate Program in Pastoral Studies specifically to serve lay ecclesial ministry candidates. This program partially meets the theological curriculum expectations of the Archdiocese of Chicago and the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) Standards for Lay Ecclesial Ministerial Preparation. Also within the context of Catholic higher education and the mission is the newly adopted General Education Program and curriculum. 1.5 Designed in part to strengthen the relationship between general education and the characteristics of a Catholic and Mercy education, the mission and learning objectives promote a concern with the social and spiritual nature of human beings, a conviction in the fundamental significance of the religious dimension in human life both in its varieties and in Catholic tradition, the felt imperative to recognize and respect faith and reason together, and the demand that integral understanding and a vision of the whole only reach completion in the integrity and whole vision of human beings committed to working for justice and the common good. This is further evidenced in the general education curriculum learning goals, specifically those related to individual and social responsibility, including: Civic responsibility, engagement, and concern for the common good Ethical reflection Intercultural knowledge and sensitivities Propensity for lifelong learning Service to, care for, and empowerment of others Sacred Expressions The University also expresses its Catholic identity by offering opportunities to reflect, pray, worship, and access the sacraments. The Mercy Ministry Center and the McDonough Chapel facility, MercyCare, and the Pastoral Ministry Institute are three key components of pastoral care in the traditions of the Sisters of Mercy and ministry in higher education. Although Catholic in a very particular sense, the University also strives to be catholic in a universal sense. For example, while dramatically expanding opportunities for Catholics during the past 10 years, Campus Ministry also offers ecumenical and interfaith opportunities, including Bible study groups organized by students from a variety of Christian denominations and, for the University s growing number of Muslim students, space to observe the daily calls to prayer. The integration of the University s mission into its Catholic context is evident in its curricula, chapels, and in its Campus Ministry programs. It is also evident in the conscious attention the University pays to incorporating religious artwork, and signs and symbols of its Mercy and Catholic heritage throughout its Chicago and Orland Park Campuses. For example, in 1999, the Catholic Identity Committee designed and implemented a funding effort for a crucifix project, and now every classroom and public space on all campuses of the University displays a crucifix. 1.8
SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY Public Expressions The year 2006 marked not only the 160th anniversary of the founding of the University but also the 40th anniversary of the 1966 Saint Xavier College Pope John XXIII Symposium: The Theological Task Confronting the Church Today. Approximately 4,000 people attended some part of the fourday symposium. First in Chicago: A History of Saint Xavier University describes the The Theological Task Confronting the Church Today Symposium as an event of unprecedented proportions at Saint Xavier College a feast of the mind the stuff of legend and the source of enduring consequences (pages 139, 146, 148). On November 2, 2006, on the occasion of the 160th anniversary of the year of its founding, the University offered a series of events entitled Remembering the Pope John XXIII Symposium: A Forty-Year Retrospective and raised the timeless question in the present moment: What are the principal theological tasks confronting the Church today? This special anniversary event offered opportunity to reflect on the vision, wisdom, and daring that produced such an extraordinary episode in the history of the Sisters of Mercy of Chicago and the University. Within the past decade these two hallmark events, the 1997 conference Children in the World: Exploring the Rights of the Child and the 2006 event Remembering the Pope John XXIII Symposium: A Forty-Year Retrospective and Prospective The Theological Task Confronting the Church Today, are bookends and apt examples of the ways the community of the University strives to be faithful to its mission as a Catholic institution inspired by the heritage of the Sisters of Mercy, educating men and women to search for truth, to think critically, to communicate effectively, and to serve wisely and compassionately in support of human dignity and the common good. 1.6 Additionally, as one of the earliest organizational responses to the University s Strategic Plan, the Office for University Mission and Heritage (UMH) has been charged with focusing the University on all dimensions of its educational mission, especially in its Catholic and Mercy context. In addition to developing a variety of programs, including ones for mentoring of new faculty and staff, UMH also sponsors the Catholic Colloquium Series. The purpose of this series, which features nationally renowned theologians, is two-fold: first, to draw the University community into discourse about the relationship between theology and university life, and second, to lead colleagues from surrounding Catholic colleges and universities in an ongoing dialogue about what it means to be a Catholic university in the 21st Century. It plans to continue these discussions by using some of the interest from the $1 million endowment the Sisters of Mercy established for the Office in 2006. University Mission: Challenges Conflicts Continuity As referenced earlier, while the University s Catholic identity may have been more obvious when the administration, faculty, and staff were NOTES: 1.9
CRITERION ONE Through recent broad-based and collaborative strategic planning, administrative reorganization, and institutional selfassessment, the University is better positioned to recognize its strengths, identify its challenges, and determine the best way forward. predominantly habited Sisters of Mercy, it cannot assume that this operative ethos has been transmitted to those coming to the University during the past 30 years. Faithfulness to its educational mission in its Catholic context cannot rest exclusively in theory or fact with its Sister sponsors. Neither does responsibility for this identity reside within one department such as Religious Studies, one office such as University Mission and Heritage, or one program such as the Pastoral Ministry Institute, nor in adherence to the norms of Ex Corde Ecclesiae.Rather,the University has begun to make more focused and intentional steps that support attention to the mission and its consequences to the entire organization. While some may be quick to embrace this responsibility, others may be reluctant. Therefore, it is important that the University continue to sponsor each year opportunities and venues to discuss what it means to be a Catholic university in the 21st Century. As students may come to be engaged in these conversations, the University s approach, reflected in its Philosophy Statement, is to respect the freedom of personal expression within its religiously diverse student body wherein an estimated 60% of the students selfidentify as being Catholic. Infusing this community of shared concern are the distinctive qualities and values of Saint Xavier University, including the belief that faith and reason can interact in mutually fruitful ways. Therefore, the University membership encourages a full search for truth, including religious truth, while respecting freedom of personal expression. It also promotes a vigorous and compassionate dialogue among the various faith traditions, and between them and the academic disciplines. Repeated in the University s statement Our Vision of Our Catholic Identity is the recognition that the vigorous discussion of ideas and the religious perspectives that inform them make the University s search for truth not only broad but also Catholic. The University continually challenges itself to promote the vigorous discussion of religious ideas. This conversation should strive to include the myriad voices of the Catholic tradition, past and present, as well as the voices of teachers and students from all traditions. It is a particularly Catholic purpose to understand the differences among these voices clearly and distinctly, to celebrate these differences, to discern what these voices have in common, and to engage them in conversation about the Catholic tradition. In this regard, the Office for University Mission and Heritage has recently constituted a University Mission Committee to assist in evaluation and strategic planning for the University. Representing faculty and staff, this committee has conducted focus groups to assess perceptions about the Catholic and Mercy contexts of the University and challenges that should be addressed. The University will continue to develop communication, programming, and dialogue that raise awareness of Catholic intellectual tradition and religious ideas imbued in the distinctive mission of the University. 1.10
SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY STRATEGIC PLAN AND VISION FOR THE FUTURE Dr. Judith A. Dwyer, the institution s 17th president and first laywoman to hold this position, was elected by the Board of Trustees in 2003, and she immediately embarked upon an ambitious plan to help Saint Xavier become recognized as a leading comprehensive Catholic university in the Midwest. Through recent broad-based and collaborative strategic planning, administrative reorganization, and institutional selfassessment, the University is better positioned to recognize its strengths, identify its challenges, and determine the best way forward. Board Development Acknowledging the important role that an active board plays in governance, policy-making, and fund-raising, President Dwyer has devoted substantial time to board recruitment and development. For skill development and to locate the University within a national higher education context, President Dwyer has encouraged both trustees and senior staff to attend national seminars of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB). Further, working with board leadership, she has engaged the AGB to assist in the Board s self-evaluation process, and in the Board s efforts to identify and recruit new trustees. 1.7 Additionally, for the past three years, the Office of the President and the Office of University Mission and Heritage have developed and implemented a twoday mission orientation program for news trustees. Beginning with information sharing about the University s history, board responsibilities, and shared governance, the orientation engages new and mentor trustees in case studies that illustrate issues in Catholic higher education. In particular, they consider the differences in the governance and management of for-profit businesses compared to not-for-profit universities where governance is shared, and the tensions that sometimes arise around Catholic identity. Especially appreciative of the new orientation format where discussion replaces presentation, both new and senior trustees report that the 2006 board orientation was interesting, provocative, helpful, and a good preparation for participating in board discussions. While the benefits of board development reap rewards for the University and its trustees, the Board faces a challenge of turnover, recruitment, diverse representation, and fundraising. Term limits for trustees demand the ongoing recruitment of new trustees interested in the mission of Catholic higher education. The presence of six other institutions of Catholic higher education in the Chicago area, and the attractiveness of a number of other Catholic ministries in secondary, elementary, and inner city education, and in health care and social service increase the competition for potential trustees who understand the duties of care and loyalty required of them. Unlike many formerly women s schools that have boards composed mostly of men, the University does well at recruiting women, including alumni. It has not, however, achieved as much success in recruiting a board that is racially diverse. Moreover, the Board NOTES: 1.11
CRITERION ONE In October 2003, President Dwyer articulated a new strategic vision that positioned SXU to be among the leading Catholic comprehensive institutions in the Midwest. struggles to fund the quiet phase of fundraising for the library component of the new Campus Master Plan. The Board is aware of these challenges and the Trusteeship Committee is working closely and aggressively with the President to identify and recruit new trustee prospects. Strategic Planning While the University had engaged in successful planning activities in prior years, the arrival of Dr. Dwyer presented an excellent opportunity for the University community to reflect upon past achievements and to contemplate future possibilities. In October 2003, President Dwyer articulated a new strategic vision that positioned SXU to be among the leading Catholic comprehensive institutions in the Midwest. From the onset, it was her clear and unequivocal intention to base all strategic planning activities squarely in the mission, core values, and heritage of the University. She appointed five members of the Cabinet to lead study teams of faculty, staff, and students in an intensive process of inquiry and evaluation pertaining to five areas of institutional life. A set of guiding questions provided a framework for the first phase of planning that took place in Winter and Spring 2004. 1.8 These questions emerged from a survey to the entire community on future institutional directions followed by a University-wide forum about strategic possibilities. 1.9 The work of the study teams proceeded with an understanding of the vision and that a set of 20 private institutions identified as Schools of Aspiration would be examined as examples of best practices and institutional excellence for future consideration. The schools of aspiration were identified by members of the Cabinet on the basis of several criteria pertaining to size, program mix, and standings in the annual rankings of U.S. News and World Report. Eight other private institutions, similar in size and standing to the University, were also identified as Peer Institutions to serve as a baseline for future planning (see Appendix D). Another working assumption was that plans for future change would remain faithful to the core values and rich Catholic and Mercy heritage that are embodied in the University s mission. To this end, the strategic planning team for Mission, Integrity, Catholic Identity, and Sponsorship devoted a significant amount of effort in a community-based re-examination and re-affirmation of the institution s core values that are addressed and supported across all planning activities. While the articulation of the mission statement may change in the future, the core values and the Catholic and Mercy heritage will not. Thus, the team for Mission, Integrity, Catholic Identity, and Sponsorship identified eight core institutional values in collaboration with representatives of faculty, staff, students, alumni, and the sponsoring religious congregation of the University, the Sisters of Mercy, Regional Community of Chicago. These core institutional values were incorporated into the vision endorsed by the Board of Trustees in May 2004. They are promulgated widely across the University, on the University home page, in unitlevel worksheets for strategic planning, in 1.12
SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY numerous publications, in orientation and mentoring programs, and in staff performance appraisal processes. After engaging in discussion of these questions and benchmarking activities, a new strategic vision, core values, and Eight Strategic Directions emerged from recommendations and priorities developed by the study teams. 1.10,1.11 These were subsequently approved by the Board of Trustees in May 2004. These values and strategic directions continue to guide the University s planning efforts as demonstrated in this and the following chapters. 1.12 Since adoption of the Eight Strategic Directions by the Board of Trustees in May 2004, University planning activities have proceeded to address all of the directions concurrently under the assumption that attainment of the strategic vision requires advancement on all of the directions. Although there is growing evidence of progress on all of the directions, there needs to be greater specificity on how the University will attain long term strategic goals for each of the strategic directions. 1.13 This requires a clear articulation of institutional measures and outcomes that will define incremental progress in the coming years. To this end, the Strategic Planning and Budget Advisory Committee (SPBAC) identified a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure future progress. The next step, to be accomplished in 2007-2008, is an identification of targets for these measures that will better define what it means to be a leading comprehensive Catholic University in the Midwest. Institutional Initiatives Resulting from Strategic Planning Specific strategic actions in the last several years aim to deliver upon the study teams recommendations and include changes in administration as well as several advancements in Catholic intellectual tradition activities, the quality of campus planning, institutional research, public relations, technology, international education, and academics. Cabinet and Academic Affairs Among the most significant administrative changes have been the restructuring of the President s Cabinet and the Office of Academic Affairs. Members of the Cabinet now include the seven vice presidents who supervise the areas of University Advancement, Business and Finance, University Relations, Student Affairs, University Mission and Heritage, University Research, Planning and Assessment, and Information Resources and Technologies, and the Executive Assistant to the President/Secretary of the Corporation Another member of the President s Cabinet is the recently designed position of the Provost. The Provost is the University s chief academic officer, providing academic leadership to its college and schools, and promoting excellence in all of the University s academic programs and initiatives. The Provost reports directly to the President, and devotes significant time to issues of academic planning, program development, and advancement of scholarship and pedagogy. The Provost also is the designated second officer of the University, serving in lieu of the President when the President is away for NOTES: 1.13
CRITERION ONE This Vice President consolidates all technology support into a single Information Resources and Technologies department which includes the Library, Instructional Technology, Media Services, and Information Services. a significant period. Because this is a relatively new change in administrative structure and responsibility, the full development of these responsibilities is ongoing. With this change, the Office of Academic Affairs was restructured to include two associate provosts responsible for special projects and coordinating academic goals with academic support services. In addition, two new assistant provost positions were established in the Office of Enrollment Services and the Office of Records and Advising a newly created administrative unit combining the previous offices of the Registrar and Academic Advising and Testing. These changes were implemented to take advantage of the synergy between expertise in curriculum, enrollment, advising, scheduling, registration, and record keeping. In addition, the University has recently completed a search for a Vice President for Information Resources and Technologies, its chief information officer (VP/CIO). This Vice President occupies a high organizational position and possesses firsthand knowledge of the full range of technology issues involved in instructional technology in order to lead institution-wide strategic planning in this integral area of University life. The scope of this position is broad and includes the support for the design and implementation of new and enriched curricula, creating a technologically advanced, user-centered, service-rich Library that provides efficient and effective support to all constituents, budgeting for information technologies, and coordinating and integrating all University information technology matters. This Vice President consolidates all technology support into a single Information Resources and Technologies department which includes the Library, Instructional Technology, Media Services, and Information Services. This Vice President reports directly to the President and serves as a member of the President s Cabinet. Finally, the University changed the name of the School of Arts and Sciences to the College of Arts and Sciences to reflect the robust role of the unit as central contributor to the University s undergraduate General Education Program, as the home of the arts and sciences disciplines, as the center for liberal learning at the University, and as the sponsor of select graduate programs tied to undergraduate areas of study in the arts and sciences. Office for University Mission and Heritage As one of the earliest organizational responses to the Eight Strategic Directions, the President established the Office for University Mission and Heritage in May 2004 and charged it with focusing the University on all dimensions of its educational mission in its Catholic and Mercy context. In addition to developing a variety of programs, including ones for mentoring new faculty and staff, UMH now oversees the Center for Religion and Public Discourse, sponsors the Catholic Colloquium Series, holds seminars for faculty on Catholic social teaching, introduces religious artwork and mementoes to the University community at major celebrations, assists in new employee orientation, and coordinates 1.14
SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY two major annual events: Mercy Day and Founders Day. Probably the most influential of these programs are the Mentoring for Mission programs, comprehensive because, in alternating years, there is one for new faculty and one for new staff members. Funded in its first realization by a grant from the Lilly Fellows Program, the programs are now funded by the Office of University Mission and Heritage. Mercy Day recognizes the Mercy and University core value of service when the University commissions for service its leadership at all levels: faculty, staff, students, trustees, administrations, and sponsors. Preceded by opportunities to meet Sisters of Mercy and followed by the Mass of the Holy Spirit, the Mercy Day leadership commissioning ceremony provides campus leaders with the opportunity to affirm their service to the University and have the University community pledge to support them in that commitment. A second major occasion to celebrate the Mercy heritage of prayer and service and the University s tradition of education in the liberal arts and sciences, Founders Day activities now attract over 300 people to the different components of its celebration. Honoring faculty, staff, and students for excellence in service or for their work in the liberal arts, as well as prominent Sisters of Mercy, Founders Day is perhaps the best evidence of how the University continues to be inspired by the heritage of the Sisters of Mercy. Chicago Campus Master Plan Initiatives related to the Campus Master Plan are concerned with better utilization of and upgrades to current space and the addition of new facilities. Several projects in the first category include relocation of offices and classrooms within the main campus. For example, classrooms have been added across 103rd Street in the recently gifted Driehaus Center and in the Pulaski Center. The University has also added new on-campus housing in an effort to create a more traditional and residential student body. Recently purchased or contracted off-campus apartments nearby also support this strategy. Other facilities planned for in the long term include a new library, science building, campus center, and parking structure. These, however, will be dependent upon significant fundraising. 1.14 The School for Continuing and Professional Studies Housed at the Orland Park Campus, the primary mission of the School for Continuing and Professional Studies is to assist adults in finishing undergraduate degrees that they often began to seek at a community college. The school offers two unique majors: Liberal Studies and Professional Studies. Both programs are designed to facilitate degree completion for adults who have the Associate of Arts degree or the coursework and credit hours equivalent. Programs are offered at the University s Chicago Campus and Orland Park Campus, though the latter serves as the operational base for the school. The school has taken a leadership role in accommodating the unique needs of employed adults. It has designed accelerated degree programs, offers most of the University s current online courses, and schedules coursework evenings and weekends. NOTES: 1.15
CRITERION ONE Other facilities planned for in the long term include a new library, science building, campus center, and parking structure. The Dean of the School for Continuing and Professional Studies also serves as the chief administrative officer for the Orland Park Campus. Recently the school established a Center for Outreach and Professional Development. It is the mission of this office to extend University expertise to businesses, corporations, and governmental agencies by providing training and staff development programs. The center s services include needs assessment, customized training, and continuing education units (CEU s). Library The Byrne Memorial Library has undertaken many initiatives to improve its resources, services, and connections to the ever-growing campus community. Most significant among these are the substantial acquisition of electronic resources for teaching and research, the relocation of some materials to off-site storage, dramatic improvement in the array and quality of computer hardware and related equipment in the Library, and the transfer of the audiovisual collection from Media Services to the Library. Recently, in the summer of 2007, the Library began conversion from the Dewey Decimal classification system to the Library of Congress classification system. It is anticipated that the conversion will be completed within a year or two. Technology The Information Technology Advisory Committee (ITAC) was formed early in the strategic planning process to establish an updated technology plan and strategy for guiding the ongoing purchase, training, and use of various technologies on campus. By May 2005, ITAC completed a multi-year technology procurement and replacement plan to ensure that computing and equipment requirements for academic excellence are met or exceeded and that adequate faculty development occurs. Additionally, the Technologies in Instruction Advisory Committee (TIAC) in conjunction with ITAC began soliciting competitive proposals from faculty and adjunct faculty demonstrating their increased use of modern electronic information and communication technologies to support instruction. 1.15 Diversity Action Team Saint Xavier University was recognized as the eighth most diverse campus in the greater Midwest in the most recent U.S. News and World Report s college rankings. Also, though the statistics for the entering class of 2011 are not final, the class of 2010 was racially and ethnically diverse, with 35% being African American or Hispanic. The University s student population already has the diversity many institutions are striving to achieve. At the very beginning of the strategic planning process, Saint Xavier University began planning and supporting an effort to enhance the University s commitment to diversity and multiculturalism. The objective is to be a community that is open and welcoming to diverse people, ideas, and perspectives as well as engaging faculty, staff, and students in activities and programs that promote diversity as one of the University s core values. In response to the University s desire to build future excellence through a diverse learning and working environment, and 1.16