Uplift Valpo
The Journey Forward
The higher education landscape has seen remarkable changes across the country, and those changes have brought challenges to institutions looking to thrive in the future. Valparaiso University is no different. To meet these challenges, faculty, staff, and administrators have come together, along with input from students and alumni, to craft Uplift Valpo: Our Beacon for the Journey Forward.
Uplift Valpo
The Journey Forward
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Creating a thriving, dynamic collaboration center and think tank for all majors on campus that draws disciplines together into cutting-edge new programs and degree paths that will make our students stand out above graduates elsewhere
Success in 2023-2024:
Develop the Cohort Model of Student Learning around a second theme; develop a vision for interdisciplinary teaching and research on campus
Success (3–5 years)
Build out the cohort model to include at least one other track on another topic (e.g., global justice); Incentivize colleges to develop programs nimbly that respond to changing needs of the disciplines and marketplace; Make Valpo a destination for igniting students’ passions and finding the right major for them (programs for exploratory/undecided students)
Executive Sponsor: Kevin Goebbert
Owner: Joseph Bognar and Pete Johnson
Shaping the Valpo Student Experience for the needs of today and tomorrow.
Success in 2023-2024:
Team A: Secure approval of a re-imagined first-year experience, also through this lens. Team B: Develop and secure governance approval of new general education learning outcomes tied to the integration of leadership and service that are assessable.
Success (3–5 years):
Create a first-year experience that is exciting for students and energizing for faculty to teach in ways that enhance belonging and retention; reimagine the general education curricula through an intentional focus on equipping students to learn, serve, lead, and thrive throughout their lives.
Executive Sponsor: Team A: Lissa Yogan and Team B: Bagel Johnson
Owner: Team A: Lisa Jennings, Carter Hansen, Michael Chikeleze Team B: Bonnie Dahlke Goebbert, Reva Johnson, Sam Graber
Strengthening Music, the Arts, and Humanities to be a force multiplier in their own right, with robust majors and programs
Success in 2023-2024:
Establish a task force of innovative faculty and staff to work quickly to develop strategies for building a collective identity for the various arts and humanities units
Success (3–5 years)
Ensure that there is a clear and central place for the humanities and arts in context of all of our programs
Executive Sponsor: Jeni Prough
Owner: Stacy Hoult
Serve
To foster a culture of individual responsibility and drive organizational change across our institution’s culture, systems, and processes. Our primary focus is on addressing equity gaps and promoting inclusive excellence.
Success in 2023-2024:
Facilitate meaningful discussions on our Mission and Values while emphasizing the importance of Achieving Equity and Excellence in tandem will illuminate equity gaps that challenge Valpo’s advancing academic excellence. Additionally, we will explore Inclusive Excellence as a guiding framework to help Valpo close these gaps and work to actively integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion topics into our academic curriculum.
Success (3–5 years)
Welcoming and Belonging will be infused across campus, drawing together the work of the Action Agenda and its new incarnation, rethinking our spaces, processes, and curriculum to attend to welcoming all into the Valpo experience. All facets of life on campus will connect with this message and our structures will also reflect it.
Executive Sponsor: Angela Vidal
Owner: Carlos Miguel-Puyeo and Rachael Muszkiewicz
Create an innovative framework for courses and programs to compete domestically and internationally, specifically in the online/hybrid space, while also exploring alternative credentialing and certification options.
Success in 2023-2024:
Provide marketable and relevant online/hybrid experiences domestically and internationally, positioning Valpo as a unique and competitive option for students of all backgrounds.
Success (3–5 years)
New international and domestic partnerships and a substantial increase in Quality Matters Certified courses and programs.
Executive Sponsor: Eric Johnson
Owner: Ed Finn, Bharath Ganesh-Babu, and Sanjay Kumar
- Serve 1 – Student Centered Campus
- Serve 2 – Transfer Friendliness
- Serve 3 – Valpo Success Initiative
- Serve 4 – Summer Bridge (Bloom) Program
- Serve 5 – Sustainability
Lead
Introduce new academic, resident hall space, and athletic facilities at our university which would bring a host of exciting benefits to our campus community. These state-of-the-art academic spaces will foster a dynamic learning environment, equipped with cutting-edge technology and collaborative areas that inspire innovation and academic excellence. The remodeled residence halls provide comfortable and inviting living spaces, creating a vibrant campus life and enhancing students’ overall well-being. Additionally, a new athletic facility would offer world-class training spaces and venues that empower our athletes to excel and showcase their talents. These facilities not only elevate the quality of education and living experience for our students but also contribute to the sense of pride and unity within our university community, positioning us as a beacon of academic and athletic achievement.
Success in 2023-2024:
Be in a position this year to have commitment from the Board of Directors to move forward with a fundraising plan for the CONHP building and the athletic arena project. Acquire funding for the residence hall renovation project. Begin a fundraising plan for the CONHP building and athletic arena project. Begin design and ultimately construction on the residence hall renovation project.
Success (3–5 years):
Complete residence hall construction, near completion of a new CONHP building, and be nearing ground breaking on a new athletics facility.
Executive Sponsor: Jose Padilla
Owner: Jason Kutch
Create a community commitment to promoting the Valpo brand through development of faculty and staff as true brand ambassadors committed to telling our story to the world.
Success in 2023-2024:
A formal brand training program ready for presentation to campus departments and constituencies by September 1 of 2024-2025 academic year.
Success (3–5 years):
All departments of the campus are using the brand identity as expected in print, online, in their offices, and on merchandising items.
Executive Sponsor: Jill Schur
Owner: Brian Beckstrom, Kristen Knoerzer, Steve Janowiak
- Lead 1 – We are Valpo — Leadership in Action
Thrive
Establishing competitive salary and benefits for all faculty and staff, as well as non-compensation benefits.
Success in 2023-2024:
Define the compensation philosophy for the institution; define gaps, and develop plan to make-up the gaps.
Success (3–5 years):
Building into the university culture a faculty and staff compensation program that is sustainable, measurable, and mission driven.
Executive Sponsor: Mark Volpatti
Owner: Deondra Devitt and Kevin Jantzi
Laying the groundwork for increased enrollment of Latinx students.
Success in 2023-2024:
Identify recruitment strategy; begin to transform campus to be welcoming, supportive, and ready.
Success (3–5 years):
Meet the criteria for HSI status, and have a campus that supports and reflects our Latinx students.
Executive Sponsor: Rebekah Arevalo
Owner: Bianca Villarruel
Ensuring a sustainable future for the academic and administrative organization of the university.
Success in 2023-2024:
Complete data collection and analysis with partner to assess opportunities for efficiency in the administrative and academic programs within the University. Propose and implement changes to better support student success and institutional sustainability.
Success (3–5 years):
Strong fiscal health, with sufficient financial resources to execute the mission and vision of the institution.
Executive Sponsor: Jose Padilla
Owner: Eric Johnson and Mark Volpatti
Operationalization moves strategic planning initiatives from prioritization (i.e. milestone tracking) toward being normalized on campus. The Operationalization initiative identifies the needs of, and barriers to, strategic plan initiatives that have moved beyond the strategic planning process so that attention is given to longer-term assessment and embedness of these programs within the fabric of university operations.
Success in 2023-2024:
Create and test a framework that off-milestone initiatives can apply to move further into being fully operationalized and toward regular measurement for program improvement and future decision-making.
Success (3–5 years):
Initiatves that come out of the Uplift Valpo Strategic Plan are woven into daily operations of the university, have measurable success metrics, and the evidence from those metrics is regularly used to make programmatic adjustments.
Executive Sponsor: Trisha Mileham
Owner: Bonnie Dahlke Goebbert
Uplift Valpo
