President's Message

A strategic beginning

Even before I first stepped into the Dahl President's Home last year, I had a strong suspicion that this was an extraordinary community. Everything I had read about Augustana, or gleaned from conversations with those who were familiar with this institution, had made me aware of its strengths in terms of academics, finances and commitment to mission.

What I soon came to understand, however, is that those were simply the most apparent of this college's resources (well, along with a beautiful campus, of course). In getting to know the people of the place, I came to recognize and appreciate the shared community principles that serve as Augustana's most valuable asset.

Nowhere has this been more obvious to me than through the unfolding process of crafting our next strategic plan. Beginning with a series of listening sessions — each bringing together a cross-section of our campus — I began to discern just how much Augustana's faculty, staff and alumni care for this community, and how deeply they grasp the importance of their own and their colleagues' work in advancing our shared mission. 

As the listening sessions were underway, we formed a team that included an intentionally wide range of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences to consider the strengths, opportunities, aspirations and results that would need to be part of an effective plan for our future. That group, known as — you guessed it — SOAR, provided analysis to inform the work of a Strategic Planning Commission with tri-chairs representing faculty, staff and trustees. They convened over the course of four months to look at the strategic directions that would be most effective in enabling Augustana to thrive in the decades ahead. 

I am indebted to the work of this commission to bring into sharper focus the three lenses through which we will consider Augustana's future:

• Transform the academic and co-curricular experience to equip our students with problem-solving skills that make them in demand for tomorrow's jobs.
• Establish a position of national leadership as a student-ready and supportive college.
• Be a national model for what it means to be a good neighbor, a college that builds bridges, not walls.

Although I'm sure alumni will hear echoes of their own Augustana experience in these ideas, equipping today's students to do good in a world hungry for passionate, purpose-minded leaders will demand that we do things differently. This will require new learning structures, a panoramic view of the complexities we face, and flexibility the likes of which our forebears never could have imagined.

The challenge is considerable, but so are the resources we bring to meet it. What I have witnessed in my first year in this community gives me great hope that the course we are now charting will empower Augustana to continue its mission of preparing bold leaders equipped to solve complex problems, strengthen communities and shape a brighter future for us all.

Andrea Kathryn Talentino 
President of the College