Leadership Provides More Insight to Xavier's Newest Strategic Plan

Mar 21, 2023

A few weeks ago, Dr. Hanycz unveiled elements of Xavier’s new Strategic Plan – Xavier 200: The Greater. The Better. The More. – in front of an enthusiastic crowd of faculty, staff and students in the Cintas Center.

The Strategic Plan will continue to focus on academic excellence, while deepening our commitment to our Jesuit Catholic heritage, which includes pursing a more universal good through deeper care for oneself and others. Additionally, the Strategic Plan hopes to successfully see the university into its third century while also redefining what Xavier means for generations of Musketeers to come.

Although the Xavier Family will see the first phase of this plan launch as early as August 2023, planning began way before Dr. Hanycz’s announcement.

“The plan started in July of 2021 when Dr. Hanycz came on as Xavier’s newly appointed president,” said Rachel Chrastil, provost and chief academic officer. “She tapped into who we are and then provided leadership for where we’re going.”

Colleen Hanycz, Ph.D. was appointed the 35th president of Xavier University on July 1, 2021., as the university’s first woman president since its founding in 1831. The Strategic Plan was Hanycz’s biggest incoming project.

“She immediately held a series of listening sessions, where nearly 300 faculty and staff came out in the fall of 2021,” said Chrastil. “Out of those sessions came ideas about where Xavier is strong in and what Xavier should do in the future.”

Additionally, a team of co-chairs including Chrastil, Associate Provost for Academic Affairs Rashmi Assudani Ph.D., General Counsel Becky Cull, and now Associate Provost for Strategic Initiatives Gary Lewandowski, Ph.D., formed to hear from the larger Xavier family.

“In the spring of 2022, we held several town halls, virtually and in person, we talked with current students, and out of those conversations we developed what should be the headline priorities for the strategic plan,” Chrastil said.

That summer, the co-chairs invited five Idea Labs to generate more specific initiatives that informed the Strategic Plan.

“In the end, the Strategic Plan took on the form that you all saw during Dr. Hanycz speech – the four curas, the 16 priorities – four under each cura – to help orient the entire campus toward where we are going,” said Chrastil.

The Four Curas

The four curas, grew out of conversations with the Xavier family about what is fundamentally important to them.

“Cura personalis, is care for the whole person. “It’s the way we care, not only as a student academically, but about your moral, spiritual, physical, financial and mental health,” Chrastil said. “It’s all the ways that we aspire to wrap our arms around students, faculty and staff.”

Cura apostolica, is care for the work. Chrastil said, “It’s care for our mission and who we are as a Jesuit Catholic institution. It’s care for our financial stability and strength. It’s care for our operations and making sure that we function in the best way possible.”

Cura studiorium, comes out of the Jesuit focus on education. “It’s been around for 500 years,” said Chrastil. “We care about high impact, distinctive education programs that are rooted in the liberal arts.”

Cura propria, is the way that Xavier will care for the individual development of students, staff, and faculty. “It’s an individual’s development in terms of their vocation, their pathways, and being the best person that God is calling them to be.”

Chrastil said staff and faculty will see these curas play out in several ways. Here are a few examples: “For curas personalis, there will be a series of efforts to focus on mental health. For cura studiorium, Xavier will consider expanding academic programs in the health sciences. A cura propria initiative will help students before they get to Xavier and after they graduate with their vocation, which is broadly understood as more than a career but a calling.”

Since the Strategic Plan's launch, Xavier is currently finalizing which of the many initiatives will go forward in year one (2023-2024), and they are looking for faculty and staff to help as plans unfold.

“This is an exciting time for Xavier. As we build out our goals for next year, staff and faculty will be invited to share the excitement and put these initiatives into practice.” said Chrastil.

This year for the first time U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges list recognized Xavier as a “National University” among the largest and most influential universities in the country.

Chrastil believes such opportunities bring greater responsibility to the Xavier community.

She continued, “Our status now as a national university invites us, and calls us, to be and do the greater and the more for our institution, students, and community. That's what excites me and gets me up in the morning – thinking of how our education can better."