Strategic Plan

Leading a Legacy: Ursuline College Strategic Plan 2017-2023

In spring 2017, a committee of administrators, faculty, staff, and trustees developed Leading a Legacy, defining a 10-year strategic direction, focusing on four strategic priority areas and laying out action steps to be addressed through 2020 for each of the four areas. In September 2017, the Board of Trustees of Ursuline College approved this three-year plan. Upon Board approval, the plan became immediately active and drove our planning for three years. In 2020, again with Board approval, we extended the plan through 2023 with new action steps and goals.

2027 Strategic Direction

Ursuline College will be recognized throughout the region as a women-focused college whose programs and community partnerships support an emphasis on women in leadership. We will refine and adjust our program portfolio on a continuing basis, centering on health care-related and other dynamic programs and directed toward providing a recognizable return on students’ investment. With effective implementation of these approaches, enrollment will grow substantially while we retain our personalized approach and maximize each student’s potential for success.

Strategic Priority Areas

• Women-Focused Institution
• Program Portfolio
• Marketing and Recruitment
• Retention and Graduation

Women-Focused Institution

As a leader in women’s education, refine our curricular and co-curricular activities, and develop a range of community partnerships, to provide our students with knowledge, skills, and experiences to foster their growth in leadership.

Action Steps

• Implement professional development on women’s leadership.
• Audit all programs for women's leadership focus.
• Develop a women’s center focused on research on and services to women, including web presence, partnerships, speaker series, and student scholars program.
• Develop and assess a plan for daycare.
• Explore pay scale.
• (New in 2020) Promote leadership, wellness, and academic excellence through Women’s Center programs that underscore the College’s mission and its commitment to promoting and celebrating diversity among students, faculty, and staff.
• (New in 2020) Achieve increased recognition, enrollment, and revenue for the College in the NEO community and beyond for helping women from diverse backgrounds advance in all aspects of their lives through the Institute for Women, Wellness, and Work.

Program Portfolio

Expand our mission-attentive portfolio by building on our health care-related and other dynamic programs, adjusting promoting our remaining programs, and supporting our students in their leadership development for a diverse society.

Action Steps

• Review the appropriateness and strengthen the effectiveness of the academic program decision-making process.
• Prune the number of current undergraduate majors and graduate programs.
• Create a process so that all new programs receive internal review and decision within 90 days.
• Develop a strategic process for creating college partnerships and community-based advisory boards.
• Create a student signature experience.
• Identify, implement and promote new academic programs.
• (New in 2020) Audit the curriculum to recognize how each program contributes to our mission and to lay a foundation for innovation and collaboration to advance it.
• (New in 2020) Enhance and extend existing programs and create new programs in ways that are consistent with Ursuline’s mission and commitment to diversity and that drive enrollment.
• (New in 2020) Prepare students for a diverse world by providing inclusive-attentive academic programs and enacting a more diverse and inclusive Ursuline College community.

Marketing & Recruitment

Develop and implement a marketing plan that leverages our women’s focus and our health care-related and other dynamic programs to recruit from targeted geographic areas to grow enrollment substantially, especially in the post-traditional student market.

Action Steps

• Conduct market research study on community awareness.
• Develop and implement a marketing communications plan to build awareness and boost enrollment.
• Develop strategic approach to establishing relationships with high schools and community colleges.
• Expand relationships with employers to increase enrollment and philanthropy.
• Conduct micro-searches to support recruitment.
• Conduct a review of pricing strategy to assess advisability of flat tuition.
• Complete renovation of science labs.
• Conduct a study to assess demand for graduate programs and competitor pricing.
• (New in 2020) Conduct a diversity and inclusion audit of College marketing and recruitment communications. Ensure that communications are oriented toward forming positive long-term relationships and fostering the College’s mission and diversity-driven focus.
• (New in 2020) Create a comprehensive enrollment plan for the post-traditional market and conduct appropriate external research to assist with market prioritization and creation of business plan for new or enhanced existing programs.
• (New in 2020) Create and implement strategy to strengthen communication of our value proposition across all student segments.

Retention and Graduation

Enhance our campus environment and our use of human, technological, and financial resources to improve student retention and graduation rates substantially by personalizing the student experience in our diverse community.

Action Steps

• Offer first year Pell persistence grant.
• Create competitive residential halls.
• Improve Ursuline’s technology footprint.
• Create a Student Union space.
• Expand opportunities for work study and student work on campus.
• Establish an Office of Student Success.
• (New in 2020)Demonstrate our commitment to student success through innovative leadership opportunities and engagement efforts that begin before arrival and continue after graduation.
• (New in 2020) Expand personalized academic support programs for students.
• (New in 2020) Enhance the campus environment and functionality, its technology equipment and services and its aesthetics; conduct a classroom and community space needs assessment.