Many things look different at Franciscan University compared to other universities. You can see the difference in the packed Masses and hear it in hundreds of voices lifted in song. It’s evident in the intense athletic competitions that conclude in prayer with the rival team. It’s in the ah-ha moments that come when a professor seamlessly integrates Catholic thought into the day’s lesson.
That Franciscan difference is found even in administrative tasks such as developing a new strategic plan.
Outwardly, the process here looks pretty similar to planning at other universities.
Every three years, Franciscan refines our vision for the future, conducts research, identifies goals and objectives, polls constituents, crunches and re-crunches numbers, consults with consultants, and writes the plan.
The difference at Franciscan, says President Father Dave Pivonka, TOR ’89, is a reliance on the “invisible Consultant.”
“We invite the Holy Spirit to inspire and lead our planning from beginning to end,” he says. “In addition to the many listening sessions with faculty, staff, students, alumni, trustees, and donors, to whom we are so grateful, we spent time in prayer, listening to the Spirit, our invisible Consultant.”
With so many pressing current needs and so many ideas and dreams for the future, “we need the Holy Spirit to help us discern where to invest our time and resources for the greatest impact,” Father Pivonka says.
Brenan Pergi ’98 MBA ’02, senior vice president of Franciscan University, identified the three overarching goals that resulted from the year-long strategic planning and discernment process.
“Guided by the 2024 Be Light Strategic Plan, the University will do more to prepare our students to go forth and transform their communities, workplaces, and parishes. We will also extend the University’s impact to the world far beyond our hilltop campus. And, finally, we will galvanize the support we need so the University can serve future generations as well as our current students,” Pergi says.
The name of the strategic plan comes from Matthew 5:14: “You are the light of the world.”
As Father Pivonka explains, “Jesus tells us we are the light of the world—not that we could be or should be the light of the world. He says his disciples already are. We need to be the light our world needs now as we continue working to rebuild the Church and sanctify the world. By God’s grace, we will shine his light everywhere—and ‘Be Light.’”
Goal 1: Educate, evangelize, and form students to engage fully with the world and make a transformative impact.
Franciscan University will:
• Dramatically expand our undergraduates’ personal vocation preparation through a range of curricular and co-curricular activities. Our goal is to engage every student with opportunities for formalized mentoring, experiential learning (including paid internships), and leadership development. By cultivating students’ academic acumen, emotional intelligence, and professional identity with the same intensity we bring to their spiritual formation, we can ensure they will be in demand with both employers and graduate programs.
• Align degree programs and modalities—including those at the doctoral level—with audience demand, market potential, emerging fields and sectors, and societal needs. We will create or reinvigorate external advisory boards to work with every academic unit in the review and renewal of our academic portfolio, leading to measurably impressive learning outcomes and maximum post-graduation employability and graduate program admission.
• Bring a new level of intentionality and expansiveness to the Franciscan University network. We will connect and consistently engage students, alumni, benefactors, and adult conference participants in a lifelong community that offers not only formation and spiritual support, but also access to job opportunities, workplace-tested career knowledge, and other employment-related resources. We will continuously engage 50 percent of alumni in our campus community through lifelong learning, ongoing formation, networking, and student mentorship.
Goal 2: Extend the University far beyond our hilltop campus.
Franciscan University will:
• Increase online, for-credit enrollment from 1,000 to 1,500 students by May 31, 2027, to 2,000 students by 2029, and to 5,000 students by 2034 through new and expanded programs including high school dual enrollment, Franciscan Advantage, and Advanced Placement alternatives.
• Fully launch Franciscan University of Steubenville Encounter, encompassing various non-traditional offerings including the Catechetical Institute, faithandreason. com platform, certificates, badges, Continuing Professional Education courses (CPEs), and lifelong learning—growing current engagement in these areas from 40,000 to 65,000 individuals annually by May 31, 2027, to 75,000 by 2029, and to 125,000 by 2034.
• Dramatically grow conferences and outreach efforts from our current participation of 30,000 to 50,000 participants by May 31, 2027; 70,000 participants by 2029; and 100,000 participants by 2034. This includes a special focus on our Youth Conferences, which are a unique way Franciscan University lives out our call to evangelize and share the Gospel. Our success in growing the conferences in a post- COVID world demands fresh thinking in everything from programming to marketing to formats and locations.
• Establish a Washington, D.C., hub, with 150 students engaged in the D.C. Extension, and a dozen alumni working in D.C. to change the culture of our national government. We will also research and identify a handful of other major metropolitan areas for potential presence, adding at least one other active location by May 31, 2027.
Goal 3: Galvanize the faithfully Catholic university of the future.
Franciscan University will:
• Continue to build on our success in creating a hilltop home that’s worthy of our dreams and our audiences’ expectations, in keeping with our campus master plan. We will add, expand, or renovate several hundred thousand square feet of residential, student activity, sacramental, and academic facilities, and update our technological infrastructure. Each new project brings us closer to our goal of the Steubenville campus of the future, creating optimal conditions, services, and facilities for learning, living, worship, formation, community, and encounter.
• Rededicate ourselves to supporting our exceptionally talented and mission-dedicated employees—from our processes in recruiting, hiring, and retention to the resources we commit to rewarding, professionally developing, and spiritually nurturing them. This includes the continual evaluation of all processes and procedures to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.
• Galvanize and rapidly expand our family of donors, enlisting them as true partners in our vision. Donor support will be particularly important in stabilizing our discount rate while reducing the average cost of an undergraduate degree by 10 percent.
• Develop sustainable financial and operational models that enable us to be both resilient and ready for new opportunities. We will simplify and improve processes and remove unnecessary obstacles to progress and advancement. This will allow the University to be nimble and flexible as both challenges and opportunities arise.
• Undertake more sophisticated data collection and analytics so we can make evidence-based decisions on how to innovate, grow our audiences, and expand our mission.
Read the entire 2024 Be Light Strategic Plan and watch Father Dave’s video: franciscan.edu/be-light.
