A Jesuit University of Distinction for a Time of Change

Remaining Anchored in our Jesuit and Catholic Character

Seattle University’s Jesuit and Catholic character is the very foundation of its mission and identity. From our commitment to educating the whole person to our dedication to inclusive excellence, it suffuses everything we do. Seattle University will discern how to continue to live out its Jesuit heritage in light of the transition to lay leadership for the first time in its 130-year history. We will explore organizational and programmatic changes to honor, sustain and enhance Seattle University’s Jesuit identity, ensuring it is represented at the highest level of the university’s leadership. Additionally, we will commit to institutional participation in Pope Francis’ Seven-Year Journey Toward Integral Ecology, through the Laudato Si’ Action Platform and in community with other Catholic universities.

Reimagine and Revise our Curriculum

“We will comprehensively reimagine and revise our curriculum in order to deeply embed practices and qualities that make our education more distinctively Jesuit and empowering.”

• As a comprehensive university in the humanistic and liberal arts tradition, we are preparing our students to respond to the great challenges facing our society, including sustainability and climate change, racial injustice and widening economic inequity, and rapid technological change and its societal and economic impacts.
• Reimagine and revise our curriculum with an emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches and employing Ignatian pedagogy that responds to the changing needs of students, aligns with the mission and ensures academic quality.
• Build our national leadership in community-engaged learning and provide opportunities to significantly advance and distinguish ourselves in professional formation and career preparation.
• Develop and enhance the partnerships, infrastructure and funding to provide students with a range of experiential opportunities that contribute to career success
• Demonstrate our academic excellence nationally through faculty scholarship and creative work, honors and distinctions earned by students and by seeking to host a Phi Beta Kappa chapter

Strengthen Professional Formation for All

“Seattle and the Puget Sound region offer extraordinary opportunities to the university and its students. We will leverage and build upon this location and our connections."

• Ensure that Seattle, a global hub for technology, philanthropy, health care, creativity and innovation, becomes a natural extension and integrated part of the student experience.
• Develop and enhance the partnerships and infrastructure that provide all students with a range of experiential learning and professional formation opportunities.
• Supporting our alumni in their lives and careers, we will more fully integrate them into university activities and campus life.
• Institutionalizing the Advance Grant initiative, Seattle University will model a new standard within higher education for faculty work and recognition.
• We will enhance the opportunities for staff to grow professionally, focusing on internal pathways for growth and advancement.
• Fully integrate the Fr. Stephen Sundborg, S.J. Center for Community Engagement/Youth Initiative into the ongoing professional formation of our students, faculty and staff.
• Become a site of civic energy and engagement in ways that inspire and contribute to a vibrant local community.

Enhance the Student Experience

“We are building a campus environment that engages, enlivens and educates all students—one that values and celebrates the diverse identities that comprise our community.”

• Develop activities, programs and engagement opportunities that bring joy, school pride and human connection to learning.
• Nurture student persistence and deepen learning by more fully linking curricular and co-curricular opportunities.
• Strengthen our advising, learning assistance, spiritual discernment, wellness and mental health services.
• Create meaningful campus events and traditions that cultivate students’ sense of belonging and encourage a lifelong relationship with the university.
• Build greater opportunities for leadership and service and provide intentional moments of discernment on the strengths and core truths that bring each person meaning and purpose.
• Bring Seattle University to students wherever they are, increasing access to services, support and programs, and moving further into hybrid and online education.

Promote Inclusive Excellence

“Because diversity, equity and inclusion are integral to our Jesuit and Catholic character, our values and to the excellent education we provide, we will strengthen our institutional DEI structures to ensure progress with impact.”

• Fully implement the LIFT SU initiative: recruitment and retention of BIPOC students, faculty and staff, bias prevention and campus climate care, narrative through art and symbols, and build capacity and invest in infrastructure.
• Prioritize inclusive recruitment, hiring and retention practices and provide a range of programs and learning opportunities that help all faculty and staff thrive in a diverse environment.
• Mature our shared governance to ensure our best institutional decision-making and build trust and collaborative relationships.
• Strive to offer our distinctive and high-quality Jesuit education in ways that are financially attainable for more students and thus foster economic diversity.
• Engage alumni in our campus community's diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, creating connections and a network with and through our alumni to help our students find opportunities and success.

Reposition For Growth

“We will build the strategic, institutional and financial capacity that undergirds the success of these strategic directions.”

• Serving diverse populations of students in many degree programs, we will develop the operational capacity and integration needed to manage the full complexity of a comprehensive university in the 21st century.
• Develop multi-year enrollment, tuition and aid strategies, and financial plans that provide affordability and access for students to an excellent education while assuring the university’s financial viability.
• Foster high performance, accountability and capacity to change, assign clear responsibility for this work, track and report on our progress toward our goals.
• Evaluate and address the university’s capital needs, defined broadly to include physical spaces, supportive infrastructure and human capital.
• Engage in a comprehensive review of key administrative functions to understand the current organization and seek new, more efficient and effective ways to organize and deliver these functions to the university community.