Dear colleagues,
Last month we shared an update following the many presentations from university leaders, and this month the Securing Our Future Steering Committee has been hard at work evaluating all unit recommendations, cross-checking against the financial data provided earlier in this process and formally rating each idea. During the past month, we have also shared status updates with the University Leadership Council and the University Academic Senate Executive Committee.
We’re grateful for the collaboration with university leaders and appreciate the Steering Committee members who’ve put in many long hours during the summer — a season that often demands more from individuals with professional development, family life and personal fulfillment opportunities.
Currently in phase 3 of the Securing Our Future process, we share below more about the evaluation process and what’s ahead in August when we transition into phase 4.
Evaluating early ideas, identifying committee agreement
In aggregate, 198 ideas from college and unit leaders were shared across 25 meetings with the Steering Committee. Members were asked to evaluate each idea from 1 (negative) to 5 (positive) across the following criteria:
- Likelihood of positive financial impact
- Ability to advance mission and vision of the university
- 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 new strategic plan and its priorities: thriving students, healthy campus and care for the world
Ratings were aggregated and organized by unit to show where there was strong committee agreement to move an idea forward and areas that had more disagreement. These data are informing additional Steering Committee conversations where members offer different viewpoints and pinpoint areas that need more information or further evaluation. We remain in this stage, and when we finish, we will have preliminary recommendations with strong committee support that will be shared back with the university leaders who presented ideas to us in June and July to validate and verify assumptions prior to finalizing committee recommendations for the Executive Leadership Team.
Join us for a live webinar on Aug. 5
Throughout this process, we have sought to share regular updates across a variety of channels. In addition to these regular Marquette Today updates and updates on the Teams site, we invite anyone with a Marquette email address to join us for a Securing Our Future live webinar on Monday, Aug. 5, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. No recommendations have been shared with university leaders yet, and certainly nothing is finalized. With that in mind, we cannot share specific recommendations and get ahead of the Steering Committee’s continued work and timeline. Instead, we will share more about the process and answer relevant questions from participants. We plan to record this webinar and make it available on the Teams site for those who are not able to attend.
Please register for the webinar to receive a link to this meeting, and make sure you save it on your calendars. When the webinar is live, participants will be able to submit questions to us.
Before submitting questions, please make sure you’ve read the latest FAQ on the Teams site and remember that the purview of Securing Our Future is specific: to make operational adjustments for the longevity of Marquette University and to create financial capacity to reinvest in our Marquette 2031 strategic plan. We will answer as many questions as we can as they relate to the specific work of Securing Our Future.
Phase 4: FINALIZE RECOMMENDATIONS (mid-August – early September)
Finalize recommendations and present to ELT
Here is what’s ahead in August following the webinar:
Following the conversations with university leaders for feedback on preliminary ideas, the Steering Committee recommendations will be affirmed or modified and then finalized. The full Steering Committee presents all recommendations to the Executive Leadership Team in late August, and they will ask questions and push us for clarification or background information, if needed, during that presentation.
We will share another update in Marquette Today in August when the fall semester begins and will continue to share progress at upcoming University Academic Senate and Staff Senate Meetings.
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
