STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE DIVISION OF STUDENT AFFAIRS 2006-2011

Goal One: Cultivating Campus

We will improve the student experience along five dimensions: high-quality student services, student-centered facilities and policies, active and engaging campus environment, partnerships with Academic Affairs, and enrollment and retention.

Together with Academic Affairs, we are dedicated to deepening and improving the on-campus student experience through highly effective student services and learning centered activities and policies. We are committed to creating an active and engaging campus environment conducive to holistic student learning and development. We look to continue to improve the quality of the living and social experience of our students through student-centered facilities and programs. We recognize our role and responsibilities in contributing to enrollment and retention.

OBJECTIVES

A. We will provide high quality student services.

• Students will be highly satisfied with student services.

B. We will create student-centered facilities and policies.

• Student will have access to multiple outlets for recreation, intramurals, club sports, and varsity athletics.
• Students will have access to multiple outlets for informal gatherings, leisure time, co-curricular pursuits, organization meeting and storage space, and performing and fine arts.
• Students will be comfortable in on-campus housing options that meet their complex needs.
• Students will feel continue to feel safe and secure on campus.

C. We will create an active and engaging campus environment.

• Students will support athletic teams.
• Students will participate in intellectual, social, and spiritual opportunities on campus.
• Students will participate in the cultural, social, recreational, intellectual, and spiritual life of the city of Cleveland.

D. We will forge strong and meaningful partnerships with Academic Affairs in order to create a seamless learning environment for students.

• Students will view Student Affairs professionals as actively engaged in their learning and the achievement of their academic goals.
• Students will take advantage of opportunities to live in residential learning communities.

E. We will participate as active stakeholders in efforts to increase enrollment and retention.

• Prospective students will be highly satisfied with programs, services, and facilities that they encounter prior to enrollment.
• Prospective students will feel welcomed and encouraged to become a part of the John Carroll community.
• Prospective students will be well informed of the expectations and opportunities in the John Carroll experience.
• Current students will feel welcome and included as a mattering member of the campus community especially students who have been traditionally underrepresented at John Carroll University.
• Current students will know Student Affairs personnel to be helpful, positive, ethical and attentive resources during their John Carroll experience.
• At-risk students will be identified and personally contacted to remove barriers and introduce resources for successful persistence.

Goal Two: Cultivating Character

We will facilitate the development of character in our students, particularly: respect and responsibility for self, respect and responsibility for others, and ethical and spiritual development.

The mission of John Carroll University is unequivocal in its emphasis on developing leaders of character who demonstrate commitment to a set of core values. Character involves the ability to discern ethical, spiritual, and social consequences of decisions and actions and the ability to act in socially and personally responsible ways. The University is committed to the values of responsibility, respect, honesty, and fairness. Character development involves educating students to make informed and responsible choices and underscores both the responsibilities and rewards of living in civil society. We are committed to educating students to take personal responsibility and to reduce the distance between their professed and lived values.

OBJECTIVES

A. We will work to create innovative and effective solutions to develop students who are respectful of self.

• Students will have a better understanding of alcohol misuse and how they can reduce their risk.
• Students will have an increased understanding of the personal responsibility associated with sexual behavior.
• Students will take personal responsibility for themselves and their actions.

B. We will foster an inclusive campus environment that values and encourages respect for others, in particular for dimensions of difference (i.e. gender, race/ethnicity, age, ideas, religion, culture, privilege, sexual orientation, political ideology, citizenship, and ability) within the framework of the Jesuit, Catholic mission.

• Students will appreciate individual differences.
• Students will respect the dignity of other persons.
• Students will act respectfully both on and off campus.

C. We will promote the value of ethical and spiritual development and action by forming (educating) students in the practices of discernment and formation of conscience, and by assisting students in learning how to responsibly take action in support of their ethical and spiritual values.

• Students will understand how to reflect on moral and ethical issues based, in part, on the teachings of their religious faith tradition.
• Students will understand what resources are available and how to use those resources to help them further their own spiritual development.
• Students will have opportunities to learn about and reflect on the moral and ethical teachings of the Catholic tradition and Jesuit mission.
• Students will be supported in the fulfillment of their own religious commitments.
• Students will have the opportunity to reflect on how their moral and ethical choices and actions impact others at the personal, local and global level.
• Students will be presented with information on how to take personal actions that further their moral and ethical choices.
• Students will be taught the value and process of reconciliation and forgiveness when their own moral and ethical actions or those of others create situations of pain or harm.

Goal Three: Cultivating Community

We will promote civic engagement and concern for the public good as central characteristics of a JCU graduate by: working with student leaders to develop traits of ethical and effective leadership, encouraging and supporting on-campus involvement for all students, and building understanding of and communities of practice on issues of justice on the local, national, and international level.

We are committed to developing students' abilities and opportunities to be civically engaged through leadership and involvement with others. We will find new ways to help students identify with their campus, to practice good citizenship, and to contribute in meaningful ways to their communities. We hope to engender a commitment on the part of members of the campus community to transcend the physical boundaries of the University community in an effort to change oppressive societal forces through solidarity and informed action. We will embrace the Jesuit ideal of magis and encourage students to strive to do more and to become more for the greater good.

OBJECTIVES

A. We will continue to develop and improve opportunities for students to learn and engage in effective leadership, from positional, non-positional, and mission-centered perspectives.

• Students will develop a value of being oriented for the good of others, especially the poor and vulnerable.
• Students will participate in leadership development opportunities in order to enhance their leadership skills.
• Students will be included in decision making.
• Student leaders will practice ethical decision-making in their leadership behaviors.

B. We will support and increase students' involvement.

• Students will report high levels of involvement in academic, co-curricular, service, and social opportunities, both on and off campus.

C. We will identify and develop opportunities for students to connect with the John Carroll campus and community.

• Students will be aware of shared campus traditions.
• Students will participate in campus traditions.

D. We will contribute to students' understanding of and engagement with civic responsibility.

• Students will vote in on-campus and off-campus elections.
• Students will possess an increased knowledge and awareness of local, national, and global events.
• Students will develop an increased knowledge and awareness of social justice issues.
• Students will regularly participate in community service activities.
• Students will participate in international experiences.