Welcome Back: The Year Ahead for Academic Transformation

This message was shared with faculty and professional staff members on September 25, 2026.

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome back! As students return and classrooms, labs, studios and campus spaces come fully to life, we begin an academic year of particular significance for Drexel. This is our final year on the quarter calendar, the closing chapter of a system that has shaped Drexel for generations, and a bridge to the redesigned undergraduate experience launching in Fall 2027.

We enter this year with meaningful progress behind us. Our new academic units are in place, the semester program portfolio has been completed, and the preview academic catalog is available in support of the Fall 2027 application cycle. These milestones reflect years of thoughtful work across the University and mark an important transition from design to delivery.

What We Are Building Together

Academic Transformation began with a fundamental question: How should a Drexel education evolve to continue to serve a world in which industries, technologies and careers are changing rapidly?

Drexel enters this challenge with distinctive strengths: rigorous academics, leadership in cooperative education and experiential learning, interdisciplinary problem-solving, and powerful connections with employers and communities.

The redesigned undergraduate experience brings these strengths together more fully. From the first term forward, students will have more opportunities to apply, test and refine what they learn, helping them turn knowledge into demonstrated capability.

The Work Ahead

This year is about making that new experience work reliably for every student, faculty member and professional staff team. Together, we will:

Build the new experience by completing course design, plans of study and the academic elements that will define the Fall 2027 experience.
Support every student with clear transition plans, advising guidance and coordinated support through the change.
Prepare for launch by testing systems, aligning policies and operations, and equipping faculty and staff with the information, training and tools they need to support students through the transition.

This work will require sustained coordination across academic and administrative units. It will also require us to listen, learn and adjust as plans move into practice. The August 2027 launch is an important milestone, but it is not the endpoint. The full value of the transformation will be realized through how well we deliver and continuously improve the student experience.

I recognize that you have advanced this work while continuing to teach, conduct research, advise and support students, and sustain the University’s daily academic mission. I am grateful for the expertise, care and judgment you bring to these responsibilities.

The work of the coming year is clear: protect the student experience, coordinate across boundaries, surface risks early and prepare together for a successful launch.

Thank you for all that has brought us to this point and for the work ahead. I wish you a rewarding start to the academic year.

Sincerely,

Paul E. Jensen, PhD
Executive Vice President
Nina Henderson Provost