CHARTING A PATH TO A BRIGHT FUTURE

In August, the Lipscomb University community heralded the beginning of its first complete fall semester under a new presidential administration with the rollout of a new strategic vision and plan. A year in the making, Lipscomb Impact 360 is designed to set a bold course, keep the institution on-track and ensure realization of the vision to lead as a top-tier, nationally recognized university.

During the years of the Apollo missions when scientists were working to fulfill President John F. Kennedy’s famous charge to send an American to the moon, the president regularly toured NASA facilities. One of these visits was famously captured.

He noticed a janitor diligently doing his work and stopped to introduce himself. “Tell me what you’re doing,” he said to the man, who stopped his work, looked up at him and proudly said, “Mr. President, I’m helping to get a man to the moon.”

This story, told by Lipscomb President Candice McQueen to kick off the rollout of the university’s new strategic plan, Lipscomb Impact 360, represents how a clear and compelling focus can engage every level of a community.

“In the past year, my first year as Lipscomb’s president, we have focused on uplifting and leaning into our own compelling mission and vision,” said McQueen at the August event. “Our focus is and has always been one that points to our larger purpose within God’s Kingdom. Our work today, as we share Lipscomb Impact 360, is to intentionally align to this purpose and work relentlessly to achieve results.”

Throughout the 2021-2022 school year, the Lipscomb community embarked on a process to develop a clear and unifying mission, vision and plan for the future grounded in common institutional priorities.

The listening phase included 1,000 students, faculty, staff, alumni and donors surveyed; 200 one-on-one and small group listening sessions; 11 Be A Light Tour meetings with alumni across the region; roundtable discussions with more than 400 faculty and staff and 125 alumni as well as 100 individuals who served on ad hoc and steering committees.

This feedback was collected and analyzed over about a six-month period and structured around a SOAR analysis—an examination of the strengths upon which we could build, the opportunities inherent in those strengths, what the institution should aspire to accomplish and the results those efforts might yield. This provided a foundation upon which key elements of the plan were built.

“The Lipscomb community rolled up its sleeves and worked diligently and with great care for this institution and all those who claim it while developing the plan,” said McQueen.

Anchored in our Christ-centered mission, Lipscomb University will lead as a top-tier, nationally recognized institution. We will excel in teaching, learning and research; be ambitious in our service to others; and be driven by continuous improvement.

The Impact 360 framework provides the entire Lipscomb community what scholars say are the best ingredients for making an impact: clarity around your purpose, focus on outcomes and fuel for action, she said.

In April 2022, the Lipscomb University Board of Trustees unanimously approved the outcomes of the Impact 360 development process: a vision statement, a mission statement, eight core values, core tenets and six goals.

The vision statement serves as a “destination postcard” on Lipscomb’s journey into the future, said McQueen.

“The signposts—top-tier, nationally recognized university; excellence in teaching, learning and research; service; and continuous improvement—will help us determine if we are on track. Our vision sets the metrics for us to see if we are going in the right direction,” she said.

The mission statement defines “who we are,” said McQueen. “As such, the statement declares that our mission is Christ-centered and describes what we ultimately do: provide rigorous academics and transformative experiences.

“Students come here because they are desiring something bigger than themselves,” she said. “What that is, is not quite clear to them. Which means we have an amazing opportunity to help them clarify who they are, who they can become, what they can do and where they can do it.”

How we do that work is just as important as the work itself, said McQueen.

“How we interact with students, how we act with peers and certainly how we act with our larger community, are the stories people will tell about us in 10 years,” she said. “That ‘how’ is defined by our values: how we act with one another.”