Strategic Planning

Following the completion of the Strategic Framework in August 2024, three new working groups were formed to develop and prioritize day-to-day tactics to fulfill the framework’s key tenets.

Financial Sustainability Subgroup

• • Louise Hood
  • Kevin Newburg
  • Maria Masucci
  • Chris Apelian
  • Audra Tonero
  • Jill Shockley
  • Brian Hirchberg
  • Colby McCarthy

One University Subgroup

• • Stacy Fischer
  • Jonathan Golden
  • Chris Ceraso
  • Mecca Madyun
  • Jinee Lokaneeta
  • Steph Mazzarella
  • Kathleen Merusi
  • Jessica Lakin

Life-Long Learning Subgroup

• • Brianne Barker
  • Meredith Hoxie Schol
  • Mark Miller
  • Merel Visse
  • Steve Firestone
  • Leslie Sprout
  • Cassandra Davis
  • Jenna Corraro
  • Michele Yurecko

Strategic Planning Working Group Committee Members:

• • Brianne Barker – Associate Professor, Biology
  • Stacy Fischer – Executive Director, Launch
  • Louise Hood – Associate Vice President, Advancement
  • Dong Sung Kim – Assistant Professor, Hebrew Bible
  • Monica Madera – Coordinator, Diversity Program
  • Tami Navarro – Assistant Professor and Chair, Africana Studies Program
  • Christa Racine – Director, Athletics
  • Raúl Rosales – Professor, Spanish
  • Shawn Spaventa – Director, Instructional Technology

Introductory Meetings

• • October 24: Cabinet, Working Group, Theological School Dean’s Office
  • October 25: Arts & Sciences Dean’s Council, Representative Stakeholders Group 1, Drew Staff Association, CampusWorks
  • October 26: Arts & Sciences Dean’s Office, Representative Stakeholders Group 2, Representative Stakeholders Group 3, Representative Stakeholders Group 4
  • October 27: Theological School Dean’s Council, President Link, INTO Drew University

SWOT Matrix Review Meetings

• • November 3: Working Group

SWOT Summary and Conversation on Strategic Issues

• • November 10: Working Group
  • November 29: Arts & Sciences Dean’s Council, Stakeholders Group 1, Drew Staff Association Executive Board, Cabinet
  • November 30: Arts & Sciences Dean’s Office, Stakeholders Group 2, Theological School Dean’s Office, Stakeholders Group 3
  • December 1: CampusWorks, Theological School Dean’s Council, INTO Drew University, Stakeholders Group 4

Strategic Planning Process and SWOT Summary Review

• • November 29: Open Forum for Faculty and Staff
  • November 30: Student Government Leaders

Discussions to Narrow Down Strategic Issues

• • December 1: Working Group

SWOT Summary and Conversation on Strategic Issues

• • December 7: Board of Trustees

Initial discussion of Strategic Issues List

• • December 20: Working Group

Review of external ‘Who We Are’ messaging with Admissions, Advancement and Communications

• • January 12: Working Group

Continued discussion of “Who We Are” and Strategic Issues List

• • January 16: Working Group

Review of Strategic Issues Categories and creation of draft Master List.

• • January 19: Working Group

In-depth discussion of Strategic Issues

• • January 23: Working Group
  • January 25: Working Group
  • January 30: Working Group
  • February 7: Working Group
  • February 9: Working Group
  • February 13: Working Group

Review of Four Tenets with Strategic Questions

• • February 12: Drew Staff Association, Stakeholders, Theological School Dean’s Council
  • February 13: Cabinet, Stakeholders
  • February 14: Arts & Sciences Dean’s Council, Arts & Sciences Dean’s Office, Student Government Leaders
  • February 15: Theological School Dean’s Office, CampusWorks, Stakeholders, INTO Drew University
  • February 16: Board of Trustees

In-depth discussion of Strategic Issues

• • February 22: Working Group
  • March 6: Working Group
  • March 13: Working Group

Dear Faculty and Staff,

In October of 2023, just a few months after my arrival at Drew, I convened the initial stage of a  strategic visioning/planning process. At the time I wrote to you that I had been “struck again and again by hearing a shared interest in framing and communicating what a bold future for Drew will look like and how to get there”. In the 18 months that have followed, much has been accomplished to move us toward that future. 

As promised in my State of the University remarks in March, I am pleased to share with you a comprehensive compilation of Drew’s recent strategic planning documents. They show an ongoing evolution of where Drew has been, where it is now, and what we can become as we move forward and continue to evolve. 

The four documents included here and linked from our Strategic Planning site come from the work that was completed over the last year and a half by the dedicated staff members and faculty who served on four strategic planning groups. I am also including a pertinent document from 2020 that I feel continues to inform our process.

1. In April 2020, a working group of faculty undertook a project to look at signature experience of the Drew General Education curriculum around the idea of  Navigating Complex Problems. This was the same timeframe Drew developed LAUNCH, ensuring that all students would actively connect their coursework and outside-the-classroom immersive experiences leading to personal and professional success. 
2. In November 2023, a Strategic Planning Working Group began its work under the leadership of consultant Dr. John Mills. The group gathered campus-wide shareholder feedback through SWOT analyses and reviewed institutional and industry data. After several months of twice-weekly meetings they delivered a draft framework that included identifying the core tenants of the University. Leadership distilled their work into the Strategic Framework that was shared with the campus community in August 2024 and provided the opportunity for your feedback.
3. Coming out of the Working Group report, three subgroups were formed. After meeting for several months, they created a report in Spring of 2025 that focused on three discrete areas: Financial Sustainability, One University, and LifeLong Learning. Each sub group worked independently and provided their own document that was assembled into a single report.
4. Concurrently a “Tiger Team” was formed to focus on disruptive innovation in higher education (and at Drew). Although this group did not prepare a written report, their work has been summarized for the community.

As we continue to move forward in our strategic planning and innovation work, four groups have been formed bringing together members of the initial Strategic Planning Working Group, the subgroups, the Tiger Team, and additional community members–some who have “raised their hands” and others who have been volunteered by peers. Members of all of the groups can be found on the strategic planning site. We continue to add people as we move along; if you are interested in learning more and/or joining this process, please email me directly. These groups have just begun their work and will focus around themes that came out of the visioning work of the Tiger Team and innovative ideas brought forward in the strategic planning process. 

A clear theme that has come out of all of our work to date is that Drew is uniquely positioned to adapt and lead in a time of change and possibility. To help inform the next steps in our planning and innovation work, I invite you to share your boldest thinking on the core principles we hope our students carry with them after they leave Drew by completing a simple and meaningful sentence on this form.  

Dr. Michelle Weise will be leading the members of all the groups through a day-and-a-half workshop in late April. This session will involve envisioning a unified university-wide vision, integrating specific values across every experience at Drew, and preparing students to address urgent global challenges. The foundation for this workshop will be the bold thinking you share on the form above, the planning processes that have been completed recently and shared here with the community, and the ongoing innovation work being done in all areas of the university. After that workshop, we will begin sharing out the ideas and vision that is starting to form.

I want to reiterate that nothing is set in stone at this time–this is truly a “design-thinking” process that is iterative and evolving. As we continue to chart a new path forward for Drew, I look forward to continuing to share more about the exciting work that lies before us.

Hilary L. Link, Ph.D.
President

To the Drew Community,

As you are aware, in keeping with common practice for new institutional leaders and with the encouragement and support of the University’s Trustees, early in my first year as president I launched a “Strategic Visioning” process, with wide participation from our community including input from faculty, staff, administration, students and Trustees. This process was ably led by Dr. John Mills and the Strategic Working Group composed of:

Brianne Barker – Associate Professor, Biology
Stacy Fischer – Executive Director, Launch
Louise Hood – Assistant Vice President, Advancement
Dong Sung Kim – Assistant Professor, Hebrew Bible
Monica Madera – Coordinator, Diversity Program
Tami Navarro – Assistant Professor and Chair, Africana Studies Program
Christa Racine – Director, Athletics
Raúl Rosales – Professor, Spanish
Shawn Spaventa – Director, Instructional Technology

I want to personally and publicly thank these individuals for their incredible dedication and hard work in creating a process and product that was thoughtful, comprehensive and forward-thinking, while providing an honest and constructive framework of who we are as a community and institution. In addition to this group, my thanks go out to the many “stakeholders” engaged throughout the visioning process, whose input has been invaluable.

Today I share with you our draft Strategic Framework, based on the work of and the document produced by the working group. The document does not include specific tactics for the items in the Strategic Framework, though many of the tactics suggested by the working group have been incorporated into the document and will be more fully fleshed out this fall.

You are invited to provide feedback on the Strategic Framework via this link. Your input will inform the finalization of the Strategic Framework and the development of the tactics and day-to-day operational plans.

Please save the date for my State of the University Address on Wednesday, September 18 at 4:15 p.m. in the Concert Hall which will be followed by a reception.

Thank you for all you continue to do for Drew. With gratitude for our community and optimism for the future, I send my best wishes for the end of the summer and the launch of the academic year.

Hilary L. Link, Ph.D.
President

I am very pleased to share the names of the nine faculty and staff who were selected by the Cabinet and myself to comprise Drew’s Strategic Planning Working Group. They will engage closely with John Mills and me on Drew’s strategic planning work:

Brianne Barker – Associate Professor, Biology
Stacy Fischer – Executive Director, Launch
Louise Hood – Assistant Vice President, Advancement
Dong Sung Kim – Assistant Professor, Hebrew Bible
Monica Madera – Coordinator, Diversity Program
Tami Navarro – Assistant Professor and Chair, Pan-African Studies Program
Christa Racine – Director, Athletics
Raúl Rosales – Professor, Spanish
Shawn Spaventa – Director, Instructional Technology

Thank you to these colleagues for committing to this important work for Drew’s future. John Mills has already met with this group via Zoom and shared, “I was impressed with the diversity in the group and its commitment to the project. The stakeholders at Drew should feel confident they have the team to accomplish the tasks ahead and openly communicate our progress.”

John will be on campus for his first round of in-person meetings this week. He will make several trips to Drew and there will be a number of opportunities announced soon for all campus stakeholders to share their ideas, give feedback, and weigh in on the plan as it is developed.

Stay tuned!

Sincerely,

Hilary L. Link

I am excited to update you all on upcoming efforts to develop an exciting new Strategic Vision and Direction for Drew University.

As I have been meeting with many colleagues across campus and beyond, I have been struck again and again by hearing a shared interest in framing and communicating what a bold future for Drew will look like and how to get there. A strategic visioning/planning process is a way of framing this effort as an inclusive and actionable set of goals, while also addressing the funding structures needed to get us there. As you may know, universities typically undergo such a process every five to ten years. Drew has not had a true strategic planning process (nor strategic plan to follow) since 2011. What I have heard, as well, from many of you is that there has perhaps been a lot of planning initiatives over these past years but not a lot of “taking action” or deciding on a long-term vision and then sticking with it to reap the benefits down the road. I have taken all of this under consideration as I have framed out this process.

It is of course important to note that this effort will accomplish the Middle States Commission on Higher Education’s recent request to provide further evidence of comprehensive long-range planning processes in our Supplemental Information Report due in September 2024.

To lead this community-wide process, I have decided to engage my close colleague and mentor Dr. John Mills, who has served as president of Northern Vermont University, Paul Smith’s College (NY), and Mount Aloysius College (PA) and has led a variety of institutions through five strategic planning processes. John and I will lead this process together, and I am so thrilled he has agreed to work with us. Given John’s experiences with many different types of institutions, I am confident that he will provide to us all both expert guidance and important outside perspective. The Cabinet has already had the pleasure of meeting John, and I am confident that you will all enjoy working with him. John will be on campus to kick off this process later in October. His bio is attached.

There will be many different ways for members of the Drew community to get involved in developing the new strategic plan over the coming months, and we will communicate those opportunities to you as the project unfolds. Keep an eye out for a website to document progress, access documents, review past meetings, and announce upcoming meetings for our community. I am simultaneously continuing my meetings with various stakeholders in our community throughout the coming year, and I continue to be excited about all the future holds for Drew.

I look forward to working with you as we set out on this important journey.

Sincerely,

Hilary L. Link