Faculty Senators Engage at Transforming SLU Speaker Series Workshop
Members of the Faculty Senate and other faculty leaders participated in a workshop March 21 to discuss the Conversations for the Decade Ahead speaker series, a signature component of the Transforming SLU initiative.
The workshop was the first in a series of workshops that will be scheduled during the remainder of this academic year.
Senators considered SLU’s strengths, challenges and opportunities for the future in light of the general trends in higher education that were highlighted by the series speakers’ presentations.
Recognizing SLU’s fundamentally strong position based on our endowment, improving budget situation, extraordinary faculty talent and wide-ranging programs, the workshop invited faculty to:
- Consider and evaluate SLU’s “business model” and its financial and competitive position in the higher education environment
- Identify the ways in which operations at SLU support and inhibit innovation
- Recommend pathways to establish a culture of innovation at SLU
- Identify ways in which our policies, procedures and operations may need to be reconsidered or revised to enhance our ability to sustain academic excellence and operate effectively and efficiently
- Consider types of innovative new programs and approaches to delivering them
Finally, the workshop participants were asked to identify three-four priorities in which SLU should invest. Before the discussion got underway, University President Fred P. Pestello greeted the group and thanked the participants for their leadership.