University of San Diego Strategic Plan Annual Report 2021-22

President’s Message and Executive Summary Dear USD Campus Community, As we continue to deliver on the goals related to our Envisioning 2024 strategic plan, we are filled with hope as we close out the 2021-22 academic year.

Our students, alumni, faculty and staff continued to show true resilience throughout the volatility of the global pandemic, leaving us with the strength we gained, the lessons we learned and the bonds we forged.

To date, as part of our Strategic Initiatives Grant (SIG) Program, USD has provided more than $2.8 million since the program’s initiation in 2017, and 48 projects have been granted to support the five goals and six pathways within our strategic plan. As we plan for the next academic year, we continue to remain focused on our five strategic goals: (1) enhancing student learning and success, (2) strengthening diversity, inclusion and social justice, (3) improving structural and operational effectiveness, (4) elevating faculty and staff engagement, and (5) amplifying local and global engagement and reputation.

IN SUPPORT OF GOAL 1, USD was granted a 10-year reaffirmation of accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges’ Senior College and University Commission. We also qualified for the Thematic Pathway for Reaffirmation process, a shortened accreditation process for institutions with an already healthy fiscal condition, strong student achievement indicators and sustained quality performance.

OUR SECOND GOAL is fueled by our continued work on the Horizon Project, a campus-wide initiative to create a more inclusive and more diverse university. The College of Arts and Sciences began an extensive diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring process aimed at hiring from three thematic clusters: climate change and environmental justice, the human and technology, and borders and social justice. As a result, 15 new faculty members, 73% of whom are either diverse or women in underrepresented fields, will start teaching in the Fall 2023 semester. The Knauss School of Business embarked on a nationwide cluster of hiring effort with a focus on diversity as well. This resulted in 11 new tenure-track faculty members, as well as a new associate dean of student success and associate professor of marketing who brings extensive relevant experience to their new role, which will help the school deliver on its promise to make possible an unparalleled level of student success. The School of Law hired an associate director for community engagement and inclusion. The School of Leadership and Education Sciences (SOLES) hired new members for its Center for Race in Education, Leadership, and Mental Health as well as a new professor in the Counselor Education and Supervision program.

Our Center for Inclusion and Diversity held its inaugural Diversity and Inclusion Impact Award ceremony this spring. The award was created to recognize outstanding faculty members and staff from the College of Arts and Sciences, SOLES and the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering for their work with helping communities of color, as well as those who are underserved and marginalized. We also continue to make great strides in our efforts to be designated as a Hispanic serving institution (HSI). Today, we have the most diverse student body and faculty in our history, yet we recognize that there is more we can do to benefit the learning and success of all students, advance educational equity and become a first-choice university for underrepresented students.

UNDER GOAL 3, the university made a bold and decisive move by signing a commitment to officially become a University of Laudato si’, as acknowledged by the Vatican Dicastery for