Rachel Stalker, ‘Doah Staff Writer
March 18, 2015

Last semester, President Tracy Fitzsimmons asked all members of the Shenandoah Community to participate in a survey to help the university gain feedback on what the strategic plan for 2025 should focus on. In light of this feedback, the President’s office and the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment could further analyze the meta goals for 2025.

There are four meta goals that have been established as the strategic plan for the university to work on over the next 10 years.

The first goal is to “engage students in transformative learning,” in which the university “will focus on rigorous, innovative programs and engaged student learning.” From the survey, many of the responses for this goal focused on making the College of Arts and Sciences the center of the liberal arts program at S.U. For a liberal arts-based university, Shenandoah has a very small number of programs in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Another suggestion for this goal was to increase the number of internships available to students and possibly require internships for all students. This would allow all students to gain real experience in their fields and be more competitive after graduation.

The second meta goal is to “prioritize student success.” S.U. will “dedicate its time, ideas and resources to provide the highest level of quality in career and graduate school preparation, life preparation and degree completion.” For this goal, the university wants to focus on improving advising, redefining Learning Services Center and adding rigorous programs. One major suggestion for this goal will be to “raise admission requirements. Our students come unprepared and then we question why they aren’t successful.”

Junior chemistry and psychology major Annie Everett says, “I like the plans for making S.U. students more competitive and purposeful by adding more strenuous programs/classes. It will put S.U. on the map a little bit more. Graduates can get jobs better than entry level positions, and it will create graduates that are really involved in their work. The more academic rigor we add, the better our name and reputation will be at S.U.”

The third goal is to “build and create a world class learning environment,” where the university is looking to renovate, maintain and construct buildings from a new athletic center to new residence halls.

The final meta goal is to “achieve an adaptive and sustainable financial and educational model,” where the university “will improve the value equation to the student while increasing the University’s financial viability in a changing educational market (in a changing marketplace).” One major sub-goal of this meta goal is to “ensure that a Shenandoah education is accessible to lower income and middle class families.”

If you want to read through these meta goals, offer feedback on Shenandoah 2025 strategic plan and help make Shenandoah better, go to www.su.edu/strategic-plannning/ and click on the links to each goal to find the survey.