In an effort to close a budget gap of nearly $20 million over the course of three fiscal years, SLU’s Board of Trustees announced in fall of 2024 their efforts to create a new strategic plan. This past summer, the Office of the President shared that they would forgo merit increases, limit travel and restrict hiring to essential positions in 2026’s fiscal year.
On Nov. 3, 2025, in an email to the SLU community, President Edward Feser announced the formal development of a new strategic plan and his appointment of a strategic planning steering committee to lead this process.
Feser’s strategic plan will assess the university’s challenges and aspirations in order to discern where to focus improvements and investments for the next five academic years. Throughout the next few months, community input and external data will be used to guide decisions on academic programs, research, student success and community initiatives. The Strategic Plan Steering Committee will then use the data collected and subsequent record of decisions to create further plans that will inform decisions made in the following academic years.
While this is not SLU’s first “strategic plan,” the university and higher education has more broadly undergone many changes since the last major plan was enacted in 2014.
Universities across the country are facing a number of challenges such as decreased enrollment, changing student demographics, federal cuts to funding, artificial intelligence and a societal questioning of the traditional value of a college degree.
Kasi Williamson, director of communications in the president’s office said that challenges to federal funding are changing the landscape in which the university makes financial decisions.
“A rigorous process of strategic planning [is] really trying to understand the shifting terrain in that landscape and to understand how we can define our challenges and opportunities so that we can intervene most effectively in them. So yes, the federal funding landscape is one part of that,” Williamson said.
Matt Goodwin, vice president of student development and member of the student success planning team, said that SLU also faces its own unique challenges regarding the size and scope of its academic programs, research and involvement in the city of St. Louis.
“We know we can’t do it all,” Goodwin said. “And so we have to make some bold investments and make tough choices about how and what we spend our time and talent on.”
The strategic plan steering committee is divided into four different planning teams focusing on enrollment, student success, research and athletics. The committee consists of members of the president’s office and leading faculty from various divisions and colleges.
Notably absent from the steering committee, however, are faculty members from the now defunct Division of Diversity and Innovative Community Engagement. Associate Provost and chair of the student success planning team, Steve Sanchez, said that his team will be working with other professionals, including those from DICE.
“That they don’t have a representative on our small planning team is not a reflection of how they will be involved,” Sanchez said.
The ongoing development of the new Office of Belonging raises questions about how and where the current DICE faculty will be incorporated into the strategic plan.
Student Government Association President Grace Lopiccolo said that she foresees these questions being part of the ongoing conversations around the Office of Belonging and the strategic plan.
“The goal is that belonging is part of our DNA, everyone should be thinking about it … [the committees] are very holistic and all compassing and that’s on purpose, but it wouldn’t make sense to just put almost a token DICE officer on each committee,” she said.
Given the current political and societal debate around DEI, many students feel anxious about how diversity and belonging will be tangibly incorporated into the university’s plans.
Goodwin said that SLU recognizes that students with specific identities require specific approaches to their success.
“Race is an important factor for us to take into consideration as we look at gaps in student success. And there are gaps we need to get serious in addressing,” Goodwin said.
Goodwin said that race is not the only factor, and the perspectives of students who come from low-income backgrounds, students who are the first in their family to attend college, students with disabilities, commuters, resident students and adult students are all important to the work of the student success planning team.
“The better we can get at engaging our students directly on what they need to thrive at SLU, the better we’ll be at creating a campus where everyone can succeed,” Goodwin said.
As the strategic plan formally proceeds in the following months, the committee plans to analyze SLU’s performance in a variety of areas and to assess the immediate needs and future goals of the SLU community.
Williamson said that the committee will start by analyzing institutional data such as enrollment rates, retention rates and the recent Mission Priority Examen, followed by surveys to be distributed across campus to students, faculty, staff and alumni. Community input will also be gathered through campus convenings which Williamson says “will be based on the collective discernment process that the Mission Priority Examen used,” where groups of faculty, staff and students gathered for reflection and discussion.
SGA is working closely with the committee to ensure that student input is consistently utilized at all steps of the process. SGA President Grace Lopiccolo said that she has been involved in the process from the very beginning.
“We are in the process of making groups that mirror each of [the planning teams] … I have assigned student chairs that will work with the administration’s chairs to ensure that the student voice is being heard at every step of the way,” Lopiccolo said.
Lopiccolo expressed confidence in the administration’s involvement of students in the Strategic Plan and said that SGA urges students to participate in the surveys and other opportunities for feedback.
“I think this is an opportunity that the administration is really asking us for input and we have a cool opportunity to actually make change for the future … and have our voices heard,” Lopiccolo said.
