Looking Back at 2006-07

In the four years since Strategic Directions was launched by President Lyons in October of 2003, the university community has made significant progress in advancing the four strategic initiatives. On May 16, the President held an ice cream social for the faculty, staff, and student committee members to celebrate their progress. The social was a time to kick back with colleagues and enjoy premium ice cream while sharing experiences and reviewing accomplishments. Each committee displayed a poster highlighting their achievements during the past year. Please follow the links below to view the posters.      Catholic Social Thought      Inclusion and Diversity      Integrated Learning: First Year Experience      Internationalization      Associated Students Projects Five speakers offered brief testimonials about how their association with the initiatives has had a postive impact on their lives.

     Catholic Social Thought: Catherine Condiffe, graduate student
     Inclusion and Diversity: Stephanie Siordia, undergraduate student
     Integrated Learning: Nicole Caya, undergraduate student
     Internationalization: Frank Jacobitz, associate professor
     Associated Students Projects: Beth Yanez, undergraduate student

During this fourth year, the Strategic Directions initiatives have been guided by working committees of faculty, students, and staff. The working committees are being replaced by more permanent structural arrangements, as described below. Highlights of each initiative's accomplishments are available through the menu to the left. Briefly:

• Integrated Learning: First Year Experience: The new Torero Days orientation, the enhanced Preceptorial Program, and the on-campus residential experience continued to develop under the broad oversight of the FYE Advisory Board, jointly supported by Student Affairs and the College of Arts and Sciences. The board has been developing assessment strategies, and a new working committee has been charged to focus on students' experience in their second undergraduate year.
• Internationalization: An International Center on the third floor of Serra Hall, opening in September 2007 under the direction of an Associate Provost for Internationalization, consolidates several internationally-oriented offices in one location to promote cooperation, coordination, and communication. The International Gateway Web site was launched, funding was increased for faculty/staff grants and International Education Week, and new partnership agreements were established.
• Catholic Social Thought: After studying the integration of CST at several other Catholic universities, the committee formulated and approved a proposal to transition to an established place in USD's organizational structure. During the past year, they brought in a major speaker each semester – Fr. Kenneth Himes in the fall and Michael Naughton in the spring – and arranged several presentations for the campus community. The Transition Committee will continue this work during the next academic year.
• Inclusion and Diversity: The committee evaluated applications and awarded Circle of Excellence scholarships for a second year. The phone bank to contact underrepresented students has been adopted as standard practice by Admissions. They developed materials to assist departments in recruiting underrepresented faculty and hosted a two-part workshop. They awarded grants for faculty projects to foster inclusion and diversity. The committee's work will continue during the next academic year under the President's Advisory Board for Inclusion and Diversity.

Additional Initiatives
Eight additional themes were identified during the initial planning process as important contributors to the university's strategic goals. These themes have continued to develop under sponsorship of the university's vice presidents and deans rather than as university-wide working committees. Highlights of progress made in these areas include:

• School of Peace Studies: Rev. William Headley, formerly Counselor to the President of Catholic Relief Services, was hired as founding dean of the school and joined USD on August 1. He is actively soliciting feedback from members of the university, San Diego, and global communities to help define the school’s initial areas of focus. Dr. Lee Ann Otto is serving as associate dean. The Institute for Peace & Justice, the Trans-Border Institute, and the M.A. in Peace and Justice Studies program are now academically located within the new school.
• Information Technology: The infrastructure upgrade of USD’s entire campus network was completed in July 2007, over a year ahead of schedule. Internet connectivity has been significantly increased, and all USD buildings now have state-of-the-art wireless network access. New Mirapoint software handles e-mail, messaging, calendaring, and spam filtering. The Luminis student service portal is up and running, the two-year project to implement the Banner student record system is on schedule, and plans for scanning student applications and transcripts into the xTender imaging system are underway.
• Enrollment Management: The Enrollment Management Committee developed and presented its five year plan, which includes specific recruitment and enrollment goals, including number of freshman applications, admit rate, academic profile, discount rate, and size of incoming class. A tuition pricing study was completed, with recommendations presented to the Finance Committee, which resulted in a 5.5% increase in undergraduate tuition for 2008-09. The number of freshman applications continues to increase, with gains in applications from students of color and students in the top two academic tiers.
• Academic Master Plan: The Provost has been developing a master plan for the university, with each dean drafting a strategic plan that will be used to inform the final version. The University Senate approved an Academic Program Review process last September. Under this new process, all academic programs will undergo an extensive four-stage review every six to eight years, beginning with a rigorous self-study and culminating in recommendations for program improvement. The college and schools have identified programs to begin the self-study.
• Endowment: Preliminary figures for the university’s endowment activity indicate that approximately $3 million in new contributions was added during fiscal year 2006-07, bringing USD’s total endowment to $255 million by June 30, 2007. The total return on the invested endowment funds was approximately 18.1 percent. Final figures for fiscal year endowment activity will be available upon completion of the annual audit and will include any additional fourth quarter contributions and investment earnings.
• Marketing: University Marketing and Creative Services has established standards for communicating USD’s brand and visual identity. Their professional staff coordinate expressions of visual identity among campus departments by assisting with design, editing, event coordination, marketing, advertising, and copywriting. They have produced logos and official marks for all business systems, ranging from letterhead stationery to mailing labels to PowerPoint templates. Six chapters of the Official Visual and Graphic Identity and Communications Style Manual have been completed, with seven more to come.
• Student Life: Architectural plans for the University Center expansion have been completed, with groundbreaking scheduled for next spring. Opening in October, the Café and Fitness Center will provide a wellness-focused environment promoting healthy lifestyle choices and social interaction. The Borrego and San Buenaventura residence halls provide an additional 250 beds for on-campus living. A revised master plan for intercollegiate athletics, intramurals, recreation, and the sports center was completed and sent to city government to begin the process of obtaining the necessary permits.
• Scheduling and Event Support: All campus event schedulers have transitioned from EMS scheduling software to the new R25 system, which consolidates events in a single integrated system and displays all scheduled events online. The Space Committee has been updating office space data in R25 to prepare utilization studies. Classroom information has been entered in the system so that academic scheduling can be implemented in the spring. Executive Council is considering a proposal to more effectively integrate the facilities scheduling process.