The St. Thomas 2025 strategic plan provides a map to our future as a university.
sentence are “level of excellence, impact and reputation that distinguish.” We're not trying to be Notre Dame or Georgetown or any other university currently in the top 10.* We're not even trying to chase a ranking. But as we endeavor to achieve a reputation, we know we can have an impact bolder and broader than what we’ve achieved today. We want to achieve this in our own unique way, playing to our strengths, identity, history, traditions and dreams – who we are.
When talking about St. Thomas 2025, the university’s new strategic plan, people use the word “bold." Bold means confident and courageous. It means showing an ability to take risks. It also perfectly describes St. Thomas’ 10-year aspiration to rise to a level of excellence that distinguishes the nation’s top 10 Catholic universities.
With its ambitious strategic plan filled with six themes and 16 priorities that touch every part of the
An increased level of excellence and a focus on addressing the world’s great challenges will lead us.
university, St. Thomas is ready to raise its national visibility. “We are at an inflection point,” President Julie Sullivan said, “and what we do in the next three to five years will determine the trajectory of our journey for many decades to come.” The university was off to a running start with its last strategic plan in 2015; it guided impressive outcomes, including the
EVER PRESS FORWARD THROUGH INNOVATION
LEAN IN TO OUR CATHOLIC MISSION
What distinguishes the top 10 national Catholic universities when it comes to student outcomes? If you look at them as a group, they differ from us in a few ways. They tend to have somewhat higher retention and graduation rates than we do.
ENSURE ACCESS, ACHIEVEMENT AND OUTCOMES FOR ALL
STRENGTHEN CULTURE AS WE EMBRACE CHANGE
BUILD BELONGING AND PROMOTE EQUITY
That’s something we are extremely focused on and have improved over the last five years. We want to continue making improvements.
launch of the Dougherty Family College, Morrison Family College of Health, Center for Well-Being, Iversen Center for Faith and nearly $100 million in philanthropic gifts for scholarships.
WIDEN THE CIRCLE OF IMPACT
They tend to devote more resources to supporting their students. Many of themmeet a higher percentage of financial need for their incoming students than we do. We have improved on this greatly over the last five years, and our highest fundraising priority today is raising more funds for scholarships to support students. And then there’s visibility, which helps increase national awareness. If a high school student walks into a guidance counselor's office in Washington, D.C., and says “I’m interested in going to school in the Upper Midwest” or “I’m interested in going to a Catholic university and I want to study engineering,”
President Sullivan was candid when answering questions about St. Thomas 2025: Why is it important for St. Thomas to be considered a top 10 Catholic university? When we say we aspire to achieve the level of excellence, impact and reputation that distinguishes the top 10 national Catholic universities, the most important words in that
S T T H O M A S . E D U
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