Transylvania University, Kentucky’s first college, has released its new Strategic Focus — an agile, targeted, three-year plan for the future. Titled “Pursuing a BOLD PATH for Transylvania University: 2021-2024,” the Strategic Focus was approved in October by the university’s Board of Trustees.
“We are keenly aware that we have to prepare our students for ‘The Conceptual Age,’ developing their critical thinking, communication and creative skills that can’t be outsourced, automated or replaced by artificial intelligence,” President Brien Lewis said. “Our commitment to excellence in liberal arts education is unwavering, as we know that it prepares students to continually adapt in a complex world.”
The Strategic Focus is a targeted plan organized around four key goals: growing enrollment, leveraging the university’s capacities, diversifying the campus community and providing the financial support needed to implement these efforts. Specifically, the plan sets an aggressive enrollment target of 1,150 by 2024, highlighting the important role the university plays in educating students in Kentucky and surrounding states. It also seeks to ensure Transylvania has the best, most innovative liberal arts program and provides personalized support for students, while upholding the school’s commitment to social responsibility in a diverse world.
“This plan focuses our efforts on the next three years because we know just how quickly our world is changing. By concentrating our strategic planning efforts on what we can accomplish by 2024, we can meet specific objectives while laying foundations for the longer term,” Lewis said.
The Strategic Focus is the result of a comprehensive strategic planning process that began two years ago and was finalized after Lewis’ arrival at Transylvania in July. The Strategic Planning Committee, which was composed of faculty, staff, students, alumni and trustees, sought extensive input from the university community throughout the process.
“We’ve seen overwhelming support from our Transylvania community to the elements of our Strategic Focus, which is not surprising, given the dedication of our faculty, staff and trustees to the university’s mission and core values,” Lewis said.
The full Strategic Focus for 2021-2024 is available on Transylvania’s website, as is the 2020-2021 annual plan.