Dear colleagues,
We often speak of the deep love for Marquette that is embedded in our culture, and how Marquette transcends any individual’s experience. Like all of you, we were heartbroken by President Lovell’s passing and miss his inspiring presence.
One of the hallmarks of President Lovell’s decade of leadership at Marquette was that he tirelessly sought improvements and pursued possibilities to ensure the university had a strong future. Our efforts for Marquette 2031: Securing Our Future continue, knowing the importance of this work and channeling President Lovell’s focus on improvement and possibility. Before the Gift of Time, we wanted to share an update and a short preview of the next phase.
Learning from leaders and uncovering big ideas
As we mentioned last month, during Phase 2 of securing Our Future, leaders from each academic and administrative unit have been meeting with the Steering Committee to share their initial plans and recommendations. Of the 25 total meetings scheduled, we’ve completed 23. The full list of completed and scheduled meetings can be found in the Updates file folder on the Teams site. Our goal is to finish the leader meetings with the Steering Committee in early July.
We’ve been encouraged by and grateful for the way our leaders have taken this seriously, working with their teams to identify what’s possible and putting forth compelling ideas that could have broad potential and help us reach the $31 million target.
Reminder: ideas portal closes tomorrow
As we near the transition to Phase 3 of Securing Our Future, we will close the idea submission portal at the end of the day tomorrow, June 28. We opened the portal on March 25, and after three months, the campus community has shared more than 375 submissions with us. We’ve vetted and routed these to university leaders for their consideration and inclusion in their presentations. Please submit final ideas by tomorrow so they can be considered as the Steering Committee refines and prioritizes all ideas submitted and shared in the meetings with university leaders.
Phase 3: PRELIMINARY RECOMMENDATIONS AND GATHER FEEDBACK (July – mid-August)
Evaluate body of proposed plans and develop early recommendations for feedback
Here is what’s ahead following the Gift of Time.
Steering Committee:
- Complete meetings with unit leaders
- After leadership meetings, review ideas and discerns recommendations to advance
- Members identify additional recommendations that address common themes among unit presentations where ideas could be scaled more broadly
- Steering Committee will assess ideas from consultant
- Co-chairs discuss early recommendations with any unit leaders whose teams would be affected to check assumptions, identify effects, uncover details and evaluate alternatives
- Recommendations affirmed, reevaluated or modified; recommendations in progress are finalized in next phase
University leaders and their teams:
- Leaders who shared initial plans with Steering Committee meet with co-chairs to discuss recommendations that advanced, applying their expertise to evaluate feasibility, efficacy
- Leaders share updates with their teams, bring in team members with relevant expertise, if needed
Thank you for your contributions to the shared work of Securing Our Future, especially amid the heaviness of the past few weeks.
We hope everyone has a restful Gift of Time.
With gratitude,
Jill Guttormson
Dean of the College of Nursing, co-chair of Marquette 2031: Securing Our Future
Ralph Weber
Vice president and general counsel, co-chair of Marquette 2031: Securing Our Future
