By Jon Dusza, News Editor
On Monday, April 3, right before spring break began at Canisius, the school’s Strategic Planning Committee held a public meeting in which they presented a draft of the committee’s proposal.
The meeting was the third and final time the committee met this semester. The first meeting sought to solicit input from Canisius stakeholders, and the second meeting established the pillars around which the plan was formed. In this meeting, the committee presented a draft of their final proposal, based on the previous meetings and discourse.
In the draft presented, the first pillar is called “Academic Excellence & Innovation,” . The draft proposes a focus on diversity in education, seeking to increase the quantity of perspectives taught in classes and give every undergraduate student “at least three transformational educational experiences.” Jesuit values are also an area of focus in the proposal, saying that Canisius should “ensure that every degree program addresses ethics and justice in its curriculum.” The pillar also calls for greater flexibility among academic programs in the school, including more pathways for degree completion.
The second pillar is called “Student Success & Engagement.” The draft talks about an effort to create stronger bonds between students and faculty, including giving more opportunities for extracurricular teacher-student projects. It also calls for investment in new student spaces, as well as a focus on new modes for student engagement with each other based on common interests.
The third pillar is called “Campus Culture.” For that, the draft proposed a new effort to diversify ways to promote engagement on campus, like having an easily accessible calendar with all the events at Canisius listed, as well as increasing resources for opportunities for student engagement.
The fourth pillar, called “Community Connections,” deals with Canisius’s relationship with the Western New York area. In addition to making a greater effort to connect with the Buffalo area, the committee also recommended an increased role for alumni to play in Canisius, like having internships and mentoring opportunities by alumni. It also proposed making an effort to expand Canisius’s footprint beyond Buffalo.
The fifth and final pillar is called “Investing in Resources to Achieve Operational Excellence.” The draft proposes that Canisius re-evaluates existing technology at Canisius, both physical hardware and software. It also proposes new ways to invest in faculty and other educational resources. This includes a look to “ensure [that] employee compensation and total rewards program is to attract and retrain people” and to establish a new review process for campus happenings that are not living up to Canisius’s needs.
The ideas put forth in this draft were responded to by the Canisius community in a survey sent out by the committee last week. When the final draft is agreed upon, the plan will be put into place over the course of the next few years, with the goal being implementation by 2029.