In what he called an “historic gathering” of the St. John’s
community, University President
Rev. Donald J. Harrington, C.M. addressed over 1,100
administrators, staff and faculty over the course of three Town
Hall meetings held on September 9. Standing at the podium in
the Little Theater, and simultaneously viewed by community members
on the Staten Island, Manhattan and Rome campuses, Fr. Harrington
told his audience that “many of us think St. John’s University is
poised to become a really great University. We’ve made phenomenal
progress,” he said, “and great, great possibilities lie ahead of
us.”
“But,” he continued, “we can only accomplish this together and
that is why we are here today.”
St. John’s has a history of planning and past plans have been
“transformative,” Fr. Harrington pointed out, introducing
technology, establishing student residences on five of the
University’s six campuses, and shifting the academic profile
geographically and academically to attract better prepared students
from across the nation and around the world. “Our Vision Statement
is our dream,” he explained, “and the Strategic Plan is its
blueprint.”
While its predecessor asked “Whom do we wish to serve?” St. John’s
2008-13 Strategic Plan asks, “How do we wish to serve
students?” The answer to providing a truly exceptional education,
Fr. Harrington said, is to “transform the manner in which we serve
our students.” We do that by providing them with an excellent
education, leveraging our Catholic and Vincentian missions,
enhancing the levels of engagement of students and incorporating
the global perspective and experience.
It was a theme that echoed throughout the presentations that
followed, which focused on the new Plan’s three main
components—Mission, Student Engagement and Global.
Student Engagement
Executive Vice President and COO James
P. Pellow, Ed.D., opened his segment of the meeting with a look
back at transformative change in the past 10 years that resulted
from asking ourselves “whom do we wish to serve.” The
transformation from a commuter school to one with a resident
population allowed St. John’s to shift the academic profile by
bringing in students from the secondary market. “We not only
changed our geographic footprint, we changed who we are.”
“This third planning document is about how we as an organization
come together, how we change the organizational culture by working
together as a teamcommitted to the sacred trust that Father reminds
us of…Our student-centered approach will be shaped by a caring,
energized and nimble culture at St. John’s.” What’s required,
what’s critical, he noted, is “collaboration across all University
sectors.”
Dr. Pellow reported on the rising number of applications for all
campuses, the growing national component of the student population,
an enhanced honors program (“we’re dramatically stronger and better
prepared”), and the fact that we have not abandoned our Mission
profile, continuing to serve about 40 percent of the very high need
population. However, he said, retention rates have fallen
dramatically to a current 78 percent (up slightly from last year).
That number, he said, reflects our “failure to fulfill the promise
and that’s the gap we need to address”
We want to provide our students with a quality education for the
21st Century, Dr. Pellow continued, one that is “shaped by our
Catholic values and Vincentian charism.” He illustrated how
we can “Embrace our values to Achieve our vision and Create the
future.” With a nod to Einstein, he presented his “theory for
quality Vincentian and Catholic higher education”: E(ducation) =cm
(Congregation of the Mission)2. To attain that, he stated,
“we have to work together, to move ourselves together, collaborate
and communicate to make sure the entire organization is working so
that students have more opportunities to experience all three of
those key mission elements.”
He identified four specific objectives in the new Strategic
Plan: enhancing the academic experience; increasing student
events and activities; enhancing facilities; and technology. He
then walked the audience through a series of recent successes in
providing excellent service to students, including Living Learning
Communities; New Freshmen Orientation; the Early Alert System; and
the soon-to-open, “spectacular” D’Angelo Center as well as other
renovated and enhanced facilities.
Dr. Pellow also mentioned recent successes: the Academic Lecture
Series, the Faculty-in-Residence at Henley, the Student MVP
Program, and the Sustainability Initiative. He also nodded to the
future, emphasizing the plan’s focus on enhancing student
mentorship, upperclassmen advisement, internship opportunities, and
service to students in faculty members’ roles.
Global Education
In her presentation, University Provost, Julia
A. Upton, RSM, Ph.D., discussed the importance of the global
component of a quality education. “We have to focus on global
education, send students out, incorporate global themes in our
courses and bring the world to us,” she stated, citing a study that
reported that study abroad influences a student’s worldview,
personal development, academic commitment and future career
path.
Dr. Upton noted that in one year’s time participation in study
abroad programs at St. John’s tripled, from 150—450 students. She
pointed to the addition of the Rome and Paris campuses,
facilitating the study abroad program for undergraduates. In
addition, plans for new graduate study abroad programs are
developing. (Currently the M.B.A. program and the M.A. in
Government and Politics are offered at the Rome campus.)
She also reported that faculty-led intersession programs and
semester-long programs at both European campuses are increasing and
many relationships with partners abroad add to the richness of the
global experience.
In addition, Dr. Upton reported, the recently acquired Tell Me
More® online language learning program is now available to all of
the University community and will assist students and faculty who
participate in global programs. She also discussed a new Global
Language and Cultural Center that will immerse users in the culture
and language of various countries around the world.
The University’s Academic Planning Committee, comprised of
faculty representing all schools and colleges, is currently working
to develop a comprehensive vision for study abroad, the Provost
said, and has disseminated a faculty survey to determine who was
incorporating the global perspective in their courses. They are
also attempting to identify additional global resources. A webpage
with links to global education resources at the University,
programs at other institutions/ organizations, best practices in
global education, and ways to assess global competencies is under
development
In closing, she encouraged faculty to work with the Office of
Global Studies on incorporating study abroad opportunities into
course work and urged the audience to share their ideas for
intercultural, out-of-class experiences and to tap into the wealth
of the diversity present in St. John’s student body.
Mission
Rev. Patrick J. Griffin. C.M., Executive Vice President for
Mission and Branch Campuses, opened his presentation with the
announcement that it was the feast day of Frederick Ozanam, a
college student who founded the St. Vincent de Paul Society to
carry out service in the community. “It’s the same mission that we
have for our students as well: to be good students and provide them
with a good education but also be involved in the mission of the
University, particularly in service,” he explained.
He then gave a description of how the Vincentian mission is
captured in one of the University’s early documents. Key phrases
included “solid education” “Congregation of the Mission,” “youth of
the city,” and “maintain the credoof Catholicity.”
“That is why,” he pointed out, “St. John’s University was founded
and that is the mission we try to capture today.”
He added: “That mission is not the responsibility of the Mission
Office, it’s the responsibility of every member of the University
community” and he then described this year’s Mission Plan, which
has three characteristics—formation, outreach for mission and
Catholic character.
One objective is to conductan audit of the Vincentian mission,
“where we are now, does it move us from words to action, do we have
an impact on our students and on society?” The audit will include
students, faculty, staff and administrators and at a later date,
St. John’s alumni. Upon its completion, he will identify an
interdisciplinary group that will look at the results, build on
successes, and find more responsive ways to serve students,
cooperate better at carrying out mission in an identifiable manner
and set measurable goals with assessment of outcomes.
Other efforts for 2009-10 will include: the celebration of the
350th anniversary of the deaths of Sts. Vincent de Paul and Louise
de Marillac; continuation of the Vincentian Mission Certificate
program; creation of a mission component for Discover New York that
includes learning, service, reflection and scholarship; an enhanced
outreach for mission, including Service Day and more interaction
with Bread and Life; and promoting the Catholic character of St.
John’s in courses, events (including the Three Things Talks) and
publications.
The second part of his presentation was a 13-minute videotape on
the University’s new Vincentian
Institute for Social Action (VISA), introduced by Fr. Griffin
as “one of our strong new initiatives to carry out mission at St.
John’s University.”
All three of the Town Hall meetings concluded with Question and
Answer periods during which attendees could offer thoughts and
comments on the presentations.
Afterword
“We are an exceptionally complex University…We need to work
differently and together and live and work in a cross-functional
way. We must break down institutional barriers. Very simply, no one
department or group can achieve for our students what we can
accomplish together. I urge you to consider the implications of
such cooperation. Only then can we accomplish our mission, only
then can we realize our dream and only then can we be faithful to
the privilege and responsibility we have to educate young people in
the 21st Century.”
– Rev. Donald J. Harrington, C.M., President, St. John’s
University.