For the past two years, President Tania Tetlow has held dozens of listening sessions to help inform Fordham’s new five-year strategic plan, which she will present at Thursday’s State of the University address.
To deliver upon the strategic plan’s core vision of becoming the first choice for students who want to matter to the world, Fordham identified three main priorities to focus on: centering students; advancing research and academic excellence; and forging community—not just among students, but also among faculty and staff.
“This plan is the embodiment of true discernment: listening deeply, digging into data, brainstorming together, and staying true to our mission,” said Tetlow. “The plan sets a direction and a framework for us to continue to construct our future, across every school and area. Fordham has become forever more strategic and nimble.”
To build this future together, President Tetlow is asking faculty and staff to closely consider the third priority: forging community at Fordham by building trust, embodying our Jesuit values, and becoming “One Fordham.” After her address at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 18, employees are invited to share their community-building ideas in breakout sessions at Keating First Auditorium at Rose Hill, this year’s location for the in-person address, and at each campus where it will be livestreamed—rooms 333 and 334 at 140 West 62nd Street at Lincoln Center; room 230 at the Westchester campus; and the conference room at the London campus.
One Fordham
A sense of community is already alive and well at Fordham—it’s present in our Ignatian programs, the Fordham University Association, intra-departmental committees, and many other initiatives. “One of the things that Fordham is really good at is the relational aspect,” said Mike Trerotola, vice president and chief of staff.
But the goal of the brainstorming sessions on Thursday is to think of ways that we can be better at building community across all of Fordham’s campuses. “I think that more than anything else is our real challenge,” Trerotola said. “You generally know the people on your campus that you’re primarily associated with. So how do we bridge that divide?”
Join the Conversation
Trerotola credits the ideas shared in past listening sessions with bringing about important changes at Fordham. For example, feedback about needing a more robust first-year experience for students led to larger conversations about student retention and success; as a result, Elizabeth Rainey joins Fordham this fall as our inaugural vice provost for student success. Faculty feedback about breaking down the silos within each academic discipline gave rise to an interdisciplinary research hub that will foster connections across departments—something that the Research Council is currently working on. And other staff feedback made it plain that the Fordham community desires more transparency and clarity—key functions of our internal communications program that began in January.
In other words: Your ideas matter.
“This is a chance to give ideas. President Tetlow really does read all the feedback from the community,” said Trerotola.
