The Horizon Project will highlight the nexus of academic life: where innovation and faith cut across disciplines; and education is framed in terms of action and understanding so that new ideas, new approaches, and new hope will create lasting impact well beyond the edge of what we can see now and imagine for our future. This is the time for more action and over the next five years, we will dedicate the time, energy and resources necessary to build a more inclusive campus community by achieving one of the key pathways in our strategic plan: Strengthening Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice. As a university that recognizes the challenges of a more diverse, multicultural and global world, we now stand at a liminal moment in history, and we must look to the horizon as our path forward. The Horizon Project will illuminate the way.
Horizon Project Goals
By the fall of 2026, the University of San Diego will:
Be recognized as a Hispanic Serving Institution
Be one of the 100 most diverse, independent universities in the country
Be a leader among our national Catholic peer universities for
- Percentage of students of color enrolled
- Percentage of Black students enrolled
- Retention and graduation rates of students of color
Increase in the number of full-time Black faculty within each of the Professional Schools and the College of Arts and Sciences.
A Call to Action
As the only contemporary, Catholic university uniquely positioned at the edge of an international border and on the horizon of the Pacific Rim, the University of San Diego defines "community" differently than other universities. In addition to our advantage of being on an international border, the neighborhoods near our campus encompass a diversity of communities comprising of dozens of different cultures and traditions that reflect a myriad of experiences and perspectives. From this backdrop and coupled with a rich Catholic intellectual tradition informed by the liberal arts, we are determined to derive inclusive excellence that coalesces faith and reason, languages and cultures, and by deliberately focusing our attention on three key elements to ensure we achieve inclusive excellence: people, policies and practices.
Coalescing people, policies and practices
Strategies
From the Enrollment Perspective
The Horizon Project includes a number of specific initiatives that will bring us closer to reaching our goals of being an Anchor Institution, improving Access & Inclusion, and Setting the Standard for an engaged, contemporary Catholic institution.
These initiatives include:
Growing our Student Support Services program (SSS)
- USD Student Support Services currently serves 420 students. By increasing enrollment in the SSS transitional Bridge program to 100 (from 80) each year, and adding an additional staff resource, we will be able to assist 20+ incoming freshman and transfer SSS students from first generation, low-income, disability, and/or underrepresented backgrounds
Strengthening our commitment to transfer students
- We have updated and improved our articulation agreements with our local community colleges
- We have redesigned our transfer credit policy to provide a faster and more detailed review of students’ credits prior to their commitment to USD
- We have added a merit scholarship of $10,000 per year for high achieving transfer students
Expanding our Torero Promise to include local public high school students
- Planning is underway with Kearny High School and Hoover High School on creating additional pathways for these students to attend USD. These plans include additional financial support, partnerships with Mesa and City College, as well as major-specific pathway programs
Becoming an Hispanic Serving Institution
- The HSI Task Force will be making a series of recommendations at the end of the Spring semester on how USD can better prepare for this designation, which we hope to achieve by 2025