Vision for a Sustainable Future

Community Feedback Addendum and Summary

Salem State University (SSU) strives to be a welcoming campus that is authentically student-centered and fully student-ready. We continually seek ways that allow us to better meet our students’ needs and help them be successful in reaching their professional and personal goals while also meeting the needs of society, both in our region and beyond. The Vision for a Sustainable Future is a planning document intended to support growth; to invest in student success; close opportunity gaps by 2030; prepare the university to become a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI); and achieve financial vitality.

The direction for The Vision for a Sustainable Future stemmed from the work and recommendations from the Sustainable Path Forward Task Force (SPFTF) and campus feedback on the SPFTF recommendations. While the original work and resulting document was intended to identify cost savings during a trying financial time, the vision and its direction continue to evolve as our financial position improved. Benefiting from the historic public funding received and the prudent management of last year’s budget, we’ve had the opportunity to recalibrate. Using input obtained through challenging and meaningful community discussions, the best course of action for our students and campus is clear for the years ahead. We will continue to adapt to changing times, with continued engagement with all in the campus community, and through the development of the next strategic plan.

The Community Feedback Addendum and Summary of the Vision for a Sustainable Future incorporates valued campus input from students, faculty, staff, and alumni obtained through open campus meetings, the online survey and direct communications to university leadership, including the MSCA poll. The feedback received from the initial report provided university leadership with a better understanding of the student and employee experience. The input was thoughtfully reviewed, considered, and incorporated as appropriate into this addendum by the President’s Executive Council to set a renewed path forward for the university. This evolution of the initial report allows us to better focus our efforts and resources on student success and growth so that SSU may thrive as a place of opportunity for generations to come.

The New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) review and the Vision Community Feedback Addendum, as well as the soon to be released New Undergraduate Experience (NUE) recommendations from the Department of Higher Education, are intended to provide guidance to the development of the next strategic plan, which will take place largely over the 2021-2022 academic year.