Provost’s Office Strategic Priorities

This message was sent to students, faculty and staff by the Provost on February 4, 2022.

Dear Colleagues,

This fall marked two years in my role as Provost. During much of that time, the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the conversation to areas of pressing importance — prioritizing the safety and wellbeing of students, faculty and staff while maintaining a quality Drexel education and high-caliber research in a remote environment.

However, as we all know, other critical work has been happening to chart the future of this University. Many faculty and staff have been deeply engaged in strategic planning work, and now, implementation. Drexel’s 2030 Strategic Plan was designed with an eye to the challenges facing Drexel and higher education more broadly, and the unique opportunity that lays before us to significantly alter our practices at every level. At its core, the plan is about embracing the strengths that have defined us from the start — inclusion, innovation, partnership.

To advance the Plan imperatives and address the growing economic challenges in higher education, my office has defined strategic priorities that will guide our focus and resource allocation over the coming year and beyond. Priorities include:

Improving Drexel’s academic reputation and positioning the University to maintain R-1 status; identifying institutional research and teaching strengths, areas of increasing societal need and opportunities for global partnerships and research funding.
Developing a culture of continuous improvement to ensure programs are meeting student and market needs and driving increased enrollment and retention; revising the academic program review process and creating a central infrastructure to coordinate and support continuing education and lifelong learning across the University.
Building improved infrastructure and initiatives to propel curricular and program innovation, expand teaching support for faculty, grow Drexel’s partnership model, coordinate efforts across the University’s many hubs of innovation and entrepreneurship and demonstrate the global scope of our innovation ecosystem.
Creating a stronger, more diverse, equitable and inclusive University environment by addressing the recommendations of the Anti-Racism Task Force and furthering initiatives related to curricula, pedagogy, and hiring, advancing and retaining faculty.
Aligning budget and finance decisions with academic needs and planning to position the University for long-term financial stability and success, ensuring greater transparency and incentive systems to support collaboration and innovation.

The priorities above, along with current initiatives, are also described thematically on the Provost’s Office website. These pages will continue to be built out with more detail in the coming months.

To drive the strategy and execution of these goals, we have been restructuring the Provost’s Office leadership team. You can see the team on the Provost’s Office website. We have relaunched the search for a new Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. This is a critical role that will partner closely with Drexel Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer Kim Gholston. The search is being led by Kim and Erin McNamara Horvat, senior vice provost for faculty advancement and undergraduate affairs.

While much work has been done, much is still left to do. I look forward to working together to bring Drexel University into the next phase of its evolution. It has been a privilege to serve as your provost over the past two years, and I’m excited by what I know we can achieve next.

Sincerely,

Paul E. Jensen
Executive Vice President
Nina Henderson Provost