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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
Promoting Integral Human Development. In addition to campus events, Laudato si’ has informed classroom discussions, new faculty fellow programs, and can be seen in the university’s newly adopted investment policy, which reflects the university’s commitment to social justice, stewardship of the planet, protection of human life and dignity, and promotion of the common good into its investments. USD was one of the first Catholic universities in the nation to take this step and receive this recognition by the Vatican. We also completed major elements of USD’s Renaissance Plan including the renovation of Founders, Camino and Sacred Heart Halls; the renovation of Copley Library; the completion of the Learning Commons; and construction of the Knauss Center for Business Education, home of the newly named Knauss School of Business, which is scheduled to open in fall 2022.
AS PART OF GOAL 4, the College of Arts and Sciences debuted the Africana studies minor, an interdisciplinary program designed for students eager to learn about Black history and culture as well as a new Arabic certificate. In addition to these academic programs, the college established the Anti-Racism Transformation Award, which recognizes staff and faculty members who have been advocates for and have actively promoted antiracism on campus. The Law School launched a speaker series called Perspectives on Justice, Equity, and the Law, and formed a DEI Task Force as well as a DEI Student Advisory Group. Its admissions office hosted a Mentors in the Law for the First-Gen Students event and partnered with Snell & Williams to host a Diversity in the Law panel and networking reception. The Law School is also co-sponsoring a diversity pipeline to the law program called Just the Beginning — Summer Legal Institute, a weeklong immersion experience on campus for more than 40 high school students. In addition to its faculty members publishing books related to DEI topics, SOLES launched a schoolwide book club, started a new speaker series, facilitated Multicultural Social Justice Committee workshops and a Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice Showcase, and welcomed two new diversity postdoctoral fellows. SOLES also has been awarded six of USD's new strategic initiative grants. Led by faculty and staff members across SOLES and the university, these six projects provide exciting new directions for increasing equity and diversity on the campus during the next two academic years.
FINALLY, IN AMPLIFYING GOAL 5, we launched our inaugural College Corps program. Participating students who complete 450 hours of service between August 2022 and June 2023 are eligible to receive a $7,000 stipend provided in monthly installments as well as an additional $3,000 Education Award, upon completion of the program. We are recruiting 95 undergraduate students to conduct public service work during the 2022-23 school year, which will be the first of a two-year partnership with the state initiative.
Now, more than ever, the world needs innovative Changemakers who will confront humanity’s urgent challenges. In this report, you will find myriad examples of how we are living up to that vision and why we are excited to look toward the horizon at what lies ahead as we empower students to live purposeful lives and prepare for our 75th anniversary in 2024.
Onward,
Table of Contents
1 Mission, Vision and
Core Values
2 President’s Message and
Executive Summary 4 Strategic Plan Explained 4 Strategic Initiative Grant (SIG) Program Explained 6 Goal 1: Enhancing Student
Inclusion and Social Justice
13 Goal 3: Improving Structural and
Operational 17 Goal 4: Elevating Faculty and Staff Engagement 21 Goal 5: Amplifying Local and Global Engagement and Reputation 26 Key Performance
Indicators by Goal 36 Governance and Leadership
James T. Harris III, DEd
