Dear colleagues,
Thank you to everyone who joined the live Securing Our Future webinar on Monday, Aug. 5. We hope the presentation helped address questions and brought additional clarity to the process. If you missed the webinar but are interested in viewing the recording, you can do so on the Securing Our Future Teams site. The hourlong recording can be found in the webinar subfolder in “Files.”
Since our July update, the Securing Our Future Steering Committee has been analyzing and synthesizing input from:
- Members of the campus community who submitted via the ideas portal on Teams
- Unit leaders (deans, vice presidents, vice provosts, chiefs of staff and chief officers)
- Steering Committee members
- The external consulting team
All unit leaders (deans, vice presidents, vice provosts, chiefs of staff and chief officers) presented their respective recommendations to the Steering Committee in June and July. The committee then reviewed all recommendations and evaluated them using the following criteria, which were recorded and tabulated using Qualtrics:
- Likelihood of positive financial impact
- Ability to advance the university’s mission and vision
- Overall impact on Marquette
- Positive or neutral impact on equity and inclusion
- Feasibility within the Securing Our Future timeline and ongoing sustainability
- Alignment with our Marquette 2031 Strategic Plan and its priorities: thriving students, healthy campus and care for the world
Many of the recommendations from across campus focused on:
- Potential centralization or reorganization to reduce complexity, improve the employee experience, and create effective, efficient services
- Reducing our physical campus footprint
- Analyzing program enrollment and sustainability
- Optimizing net tuition revenue and setting a stable first-year class size to match our physical and human capital infrastructure
Here are the Steering Committee’s next steps as we transition into phase 4:
- We have met with each unit leader (deans, vice presidents, vice provosts, chiefs of staff and chief officers) to share which of the leader’s recommendations the committee recommends advancing, which of their recommendations are still being discussed, and which of their recommendations the committee does not recommend moving forward.
- We are meeting with University Academic Senate leaders and affiliated UAS committee chairs next week to discuss which recommendations call for shared governance processes — for those that do, we will work together to ensure the appropriate governance bodies take the proper steps.
- Timing could change based on discussion with unit leaders, but our plan is for the full Steering Committee to present its recommendations report to the Executive Leadership Team before Labor Day.
- ELT will review the Steering Committee’s recommendations in September and decide which of the committee’s recommendations to endorse. The financial impact of these recommendations will be reflected in the university’s multi-year budget, which begins with FY26, for the Board of Trustees to review in December.
- By late September, we plan to share a report with campus that outlines all of the Steering Committee recommendations with notations on which are approved by ELT.
Thank you to the Steering Committee, university leaders and many faculty and staff across campus who have engaged meaningfully with the Securing Our Future process throughout the summer. The process has allowed the Steering Committee to learn a great deal about the university and its financial position and has enabled the committee to develop recommendations to build on Marquette’s strong position.
As always, please visit the Securing Our Future Teams site for additional information, and contact us with any questions.
With gratitude,
Dr. 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
