ɫ's Future as The Premier University in Nebraska

I am pleased to present the Our Time to Lead: ɫ University Strategic Plan 2023-2026. This plan builds upon the work of the ɫ 150 plan that was initiated but not fully implemented, due to COVID-19 and a change in leadership. Our current one-year strategic plan was a refresh of the ɫ 150 plan and provided guidance during the 2023-2026 strategic planning process. This process created opportunities for all university stakeholders to share their vision for the future of ɫ. These thoughts were incorporated into the plan’s final version.

The Our Time to Lead Strategic Plan reflects our core values that permeate all of our strategic goals: Inclusion, Integrity, Innovation, and Transformation. In addition to the vision and mission statements, the plan includes a purpose: “We Build Leaders.” A taskforce with broad representation defined the principles incorporated in this purpose. Finally, a faculty task force detailed what a ɫ education, immersed in the liberal arts, encompasses. These core values, purpose, mission, and vision, applied through the lens of the liberal arts, are reflected in each of our strategic goals.


Roger Hughes, Ph.D. '82
President

President Roger Hughes

Purpose -
We Build Leaders

Mission -
ɫ University’s mission is to create distinctive educational experiences, immersed in the liberal arts, to prepare our students for careers and lives grounded in inquiry, ethics, and a commitment to lead and serve in the global community.

Vision -
ɫ University will be a comprehensive university recognized for innovation, valuing the liberal arts and professional studies in order to empower and prepare students for life, career, and community engagement.

Values -
Inclusion: ɫ values creating an environment in which all individuals and communities are able to fully participate, belong, and thrive in authentic ways.
Integrity: ɫ values ethical and principled decision-making and taking responsibility for one’s actions.
Innovation: ɫ values forward thinking and the ability to develop and implement new or re-imagined ideas in a collaborative environment.
Transformation: ɫ values enhancing lives and developing potential.

Definitions -

  • Purpose - What we do.
  • Mission - Why we exist.
  • Vision - What we want to be.
  • Values - Approaches for achieving the mission.
  • Goals - What we want to accomplish and why.
  • Strategies - How we will accomplish our Goals.
  • Tactics - Concrete actions and plans to accomplish the Strategies (timebound and measurable).
  • Process - Steps taken to complete the tactics.
  • Metrics - Methods by which we measure the degree of success of goals, strategies, and tactics. It may be quantitative or qualitative.

 

Chab Weyers Education Building

We Build Leaders

At ɫ University WE BUILD LEADERS for success in life,
communities and chosen professions through...

L = Learning
Developing life-long learners who prioritize communication and inquiry.
E = Equity
Valuing equity, striving to eliminate disparities and promoting accessibility.
A = Advocacy
Empowering individuals to positively advocate for themselves and others.
D = Diversity
Embracing and supporting diversity in all its forms through an intersectional lens.
E = Ethics
Teaching and celebrating ethical decision making grounded in integrity.
R = Resilience
Providing the tools to persevere through adversity.
S = Service
Cultivating empathy and compassion through ongoing acts of service.

Liberal Arts Statement

At ɫ, we see a liberated mind as the surest path to intellectual fulfillment and professional achievement. As such, we embrace the liberal arts as the core of our curriculum. We conceive the liberal arts to be an expansive educational approach designed to foster critical analysis of the world and self-realization of the individual. Through exposure to a liberal arts education, we expect our graduates to:

  1. Collaborate and lead with imagination and humility born of understanding and appreciating multiple perspectives;
  2. Continue learning and growing throughout life, becoming iteratively more refined regarding their worldview, values, and vocation;
  3. Navigate the complexities of contemporary society with resilience, integrity, and freedom of thought;
  4. Critically and effectively discuss, debate, and deliberate the evolving issues of a constantly changing community, nation, and world; and
  5. Identify and innovate opportunities to create value in their communities and in the broader world.

doane students working in a chemistry lab

Strategic Plan Goals and Strategies

Goal:

Develop and support our academic programs to attract students, immerse them in a liberal arts education, and prepare them for careers and life.

Strategies:

  1. Enhance current academic programming.
  2. Explore new programs that are responsive to emerging opportunities and evolving student needs.
  3. Support students’ academic experiences.
  4. Equip students for their professional lives.
  5. Provide continuing education and professional development for faculty and staff.

Goal:

Create inclusive co-curricular experiences for all ɫ students to increase student satisfaction and success by utilizing data-informed decisions to prepare leaders to work and serve in their communities.

Strategies:

  1. Strengthen co-curricular and extra-curricular opportunities to foster student growth outside of the classroom.
  2. Emphasize and enhance health & wellness for the ɫ community through the nine dimensions of wellness (Physical, Spiritual, Emotional, Social, Cultural, Environmental, Financial, Occupational, Intellectual).
  3. Increase cohesiveness between Student Affairs and Academic Affairs, internal and external stakeholders to foster students’ academic success.
  4. Develop opportunities for students to identify and develop their personal leadership philosophy, style and strengths.

Goal:

Cultivate a thriving ɫ community by strengthening equity, belonging, and engagement for every member.

Strategies:

  1. Increase the support for our diverse students, staff, faculty, and trustees–as our university community becomes more reflective of society– through policies, processes and structures with an intentional focus on inclusion, equity and access.
  2. Continue diversifying curricular and co-curricular offerings and increase opportunities to engage with diversity, equity and inclusion available to university students across residential and non-residential campuses and among undergraduate and graduate students.
  3. Enhance professional development opportunities at all levels for students, faculty and staff, to grow inclusive leadership competencies.
  4. Continue strengthening and institutionalizing best practices in shared governance.

Goal:

Improve financial sustainability through enrollment, revenue, contributions, expense management, and strategic allocation of resources to achieve ɫ’s mission.

Strategies:

  1. Pursue opportunities for growth in enrollment revenue.
  2. Pursue opportunities for growth in other revenue.
  3. Develop and complete the comprehensive campaign.
  4. Support decision-making through data & analytics including understanding our competitors and benchmarking to allocate resources and improve cost effectiveness.
  5. Modify and use the master plan to strategically use facilities and maintain physical assets.
  6. Increase brand awareness.

Goal:

Leverage technology to improve the student experience, increase employee productivity, increase alumni engagement, and position ɫ as an educational leader in the digital age.

Strategies:

  1. Create and invest in an adaptive plan for technology, data analytics, and environmental sustainability to address technical debt and positively impact evolving needs for the future.
  2. Ensure privacy, access, cyber security, and data governance compliance in accordance with industry-standard rules, regulations, and related best practices.
  3. Emphasize professional development to increase awareness, utilization, and innovation of existing and new technology, system-wide, for a digital-first and data-informed culture.
  4. Develop a plan for innovation centers to be used as academic and economic development drivers to create new opportunities.

Goal:

Create and strengthen relationships with alumni, community partners, industry leaders, government agencies, and educational institutions to achieve strategic and mutually beneficial opportunities.

Strategies:

  1. Create a shared conversation with our communities to learn from, collaborate with, and deepen relationships and awareness.
  2. Establish a comprehensive university structure to develop, coordinate, sustain, and evaluate partnerships that prioritize community needs and are reflective of the diverse communities that we serve.

Goal:

Develop and support our academic programs to attract students, immerse them in a liberal arts education, and prepare them for careers and life.

Strategies:

  1. Enhance current academic programming.
  2. Explore new programs that are responsive to emerging opportunities and evolving student needs.
  3. Support students’ academic experiences.
  4. Equip students for their professional lives.
  5. Provide continuing education and professional development for faculty and staff.

Goal:

Create inclusive co-curricular experiences for all ɫ students to increase student satisfaction and success by utilizing data-informed decisions to prepare leaders to work and serve in their communities.

Strategies:

  1. Strengthen co-curricular and extra-curricular opportunities to foster student growth outside of the classroom.
  2. Emphasize and enhance health & wellness for the ɫ community through the nine dimensions of wellness (Physical, Spiritual, Emotional, Social, Cultural, Environmental, Financial, Occupational, Intellectual).
  3. Increase cohesiveness between Student Affairs and Academic Affairs, internal and external stakeholders to foster students’ academic success.
  4. Develop opportunities for students to identify and develop their personal leadership philosophy, style and strengths.

Goal:

Cultivate a thriving ɫ community by strengthening equity, belonging, and engagement for every member.

Strategies:

  1. Increase the support for our diverse students, staff, faculty, and trustees–as our university community becomes more reflective of society– through policies, processes and structures with an intentional focus on inclusion, equity and access.
  2. Continue diversifying curricular and co-curricular offerings and increase opportunities to engage with diversity, equity and inclusion available to university students across residential and non-residential campuses and among undergraduate and graduate students.
  3. Enhance professional development opportunities at all levels for students, faculty and staff, to grow inclusive leadership competencies.
  4. Continue strengthening and institutionalizing best practices in shared governance.

Goal:

Improve financial sustainability through enrollment, revenue, contributions, expense management, and strategic allocation of resources to achieve ɫ’s mission.

Strategies:

  1. Pursue opportunities for growth in enrollment revenue.
  2. Pursue opportunities for growth in other revenue.
  3. Develop and complete the comprehensive campaign.
  4. Support decision-making through data & analytics including understanding our competitors and benchmarking to allocate resources and improve cost effectiveness.
  5. Modify and use the master plan to strategically use facilities and maintain physical assets.
  6. Increase brand awareness.

Goal:

Leverage technology to improve the student experience, increase employee productivity, increase alumni engagement, and position ɫ as an educational leader in the digital age.

Strategies:

  1. Create and invest in an adaptive plan for technology, data analytics, and environmental sustainability to address technical debt and positively impact evolving needs for the future.
  2. Ensure privacy, access, cyber security, and data governance compliance in accordance with industry-standard rules, regulations, and related best practices.
  3. Emphasize professional development to increase awareness, utilization, and innovation of existing and new technology, system-wide, for a digital-first and data-informed culture.
  4. Develop a plan for innovation centers to be used as academic and economic development drivers to create new opportunities.

Goal:

Create and strengthen relationships with alumni, community partners, industry leaders, government agencies, and educational institutions to achieve strategic and mutually beneficial opportunities.

Strategies:

  1. Create a shared conversation with our communities to learn from, collaborate with, and deepen relationships and awareness.
  2. Establish a comprehensive university structure to develop, coordinate, sustain, and evaluate partnerships that prioritize community needs and are reflective of the diverse communities that we serve.

Strategic Planning Documents

Current Plan

Previous Strategic Plans