Strategies

So how will we get the job done? What strategies are in place to reach the goals of the Blueprint? What are the concrete plans? How are we going to actually fulfill the bold aspirations we have laid out for the future?

This is the place where we roll up our sleeves to tackle the task before us. This is where we will succeed or fail. This is the focus of action for our whole effort, the place where we will hold ourselves accountable.

And so we have been very deliberate in this strategy section. We have crafted clear and concrete breakout strategies in five critical areas. These strategies define precisely how the overall blueprint will be put in place. Our leaders have clear assignments in each of these areas, timelines are set in place, and teams are hard at work to make sure we are making progress. These strategies will give focus to our work over the next 10 years. They will guide our investments and help us align all of our resources as we reach for the next levels of excellence we have defined so clearly in the Blueprint.

Strategy 1

We will recruit and graduate outstanding students, dramatically increasing our applicant pool, selectivity, persistence rate, and graduation rate.

We are building a sizable qualified applicant pool, a key indicator that the demand for an SPU education is very high. We have carefully defined a profile for mission-fit students and crafted enrollment strategies to achieve specific targets. The ability to fulfill our vision begins with recruiting the right students.

Strategy 2

We will execute an aggressive, focused plan for faculty recruitment and support.

A premier university is built around an outstanding faculty. Our blueprint sketches out the contours of an ongoing plan to support our faculty at the highest levels — through compensation, professional development, facilities, and resources. In addition, we will transform our recruiting process to ensure that we are attracting and hiring faculty from across the nation who are ready and willing to invest their talents in the vision.

Strategy 3

We will cultivate the next generation of partners.

We must extend our reach, broaden our base, lock arms with a whole new generation of partners who have caught our vision to change the world. And so we have developed a national target cities strategy to connect in meaningful ways all across the country. We are building a Council of Regents and strengthening our Board of Trustees. Standing on the shoulders of the generations that precede us, now is the time to gather the next generation who will go with us into this bold future.

Strategy 4

We will aggressively expand our national positioning and branding.

It is now critical that we articulate and communicate our vision nationally, and we have a strategy in place to do just that. We must make the case for our vision in new pockets of potential support. Building on the strong visibility and brand we have achieved regionally, now is the time to take the message across the nation.

Strategy 5

We will transform our resource paradigm, increasing and diversifying our revenues.

Goals for each critical resource area — our giving, our endowment, our net tuition, and our facilities — are now aligned with the standards of excellence for a premier, national Christian university. It is critical that we raise the bar significantly in each of these areas. We have benchmarked our targets and have systems in place to monitor and measure the results.