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| Dear AU community,
American University is ready.
Thanks to the hard work and creativity of so many across our community, our new strategic plan is complete. I am pleased to share Meet Our Moment: American University’s Pledge to Our Students and Our World. The new five-year strategy will prepare students for career and personal success, guide us to new achievements, and strengthen AU’s impact in Washington, DC and around the world. You can explore the full plan and related resources on the strategic plan website.
Meet Our Moment is a promise. We commit to each other, to our university, and to our world to be a step ahead and deliver new and enhanced value to current and future students. We will support faculty as they put our R1 status to work through impactful research. And we will build on the strength of our community, both on campus and across the Washington, DC region.
In a time of great disruption and opportunity in higher education and beyond, we will be the university where moments are met. Across our strategic imperatives, we will advance the skills to civically engage, solve problems, and enhance democracy. We will prepare students to graduate with real experience and in-demand skills. And as we have done since our founding, we will create impact at global intersections––economics and business, law and politics, arts and culture, science and discovery, democracy and media, athletics and competition, and research and learning.
The strategy features three key pillars–Readiness, Community, and Curiosity. The priorities and initiatives leverage our core strengths in experiential learning and career preparation, our deep connections to Washington, DC, and our unmatched scholarship that shapes policy, business, and cultural decisions around the world. The plan also stands on Foundational Elements that are the lynchpin of our daily work and will ensure our strategic priorities are possible.
The strategy focuses deeply on preparing students for lives and careers of meaning and achievement. Through our AU Ready pledge, every undergraduate student will have access to a $4,500 resource for a funded internship or research opportunity beginning in sophomore year. Intentionally designed career opportunities will start from day one, with professionalization courses, opportunities to connect on-campus learning with job opportunities and networks, and access to mentors and connections from our faculty, staff, and 160,000 strong alumni community.
Higher education must provide students with the knowledge and opportunities to be well-rounded and well-informed while simultaneously trained for a demanding world of new career paths. So, we are investing in the people and structures that help students find opportunity of all kinds. Through a “Curricular Sprint and Marathon,” we will update policies and procedures right away and engage the faculty in a comprehensive, thoughtful review that builds on the curriculum’s strengths and liberal arts and sciences foundation with leading-edge learning. We will also further leverage our Washington, DC home, merging classrooms, campus, and the community so students can explore interests, build networks, and experience all our unique location has to offer.
Our R1 national research university status is central to our future. “R1 the AU way” means faculty and students work side by side to tackle urgent issues—from democracy and AI to climate, health, and culture—and move ideas into action in Washington, DC and around the world. Building on our small classes and scholar-teacher model, we will bolster AU research opportunities for faculty and students and augment our leadership in translating findings into the decisions that shape policies, business outcomes, and futures.
There is much more. Please read the full plan on the website and take the digital pledge card with you every day!
Implementation begins now. Work is already underway in key areas such as preparing the 90-day sprint to update policies and procedures in the curriculum and building the infrastructure for the AU Ready internship commitment to begin in the fall. Additional initiatives will come online as we move forward, and regular updates will be shared on the website, through AU Now, and in other campus channels.
As we continue celebrating the opening of the Meltzer Center and the culmination of the historic student thriving investment, the strategic plan furthers our journey to AU’s future. With impactful new facilities and services in place to support our students, the plan will augment learning opportunities and produce real-world professional outcomes for them.
I want to thank everyone who contributed to the strategy. Exciting conversations and concepts from my initial listening tour blossomed through eight dedicated working groups. Our exploration of community, career, curiosity, curriculum, and civic pluralism furthered evolved in dozens of working sessions with more than 600 participants. All this collaborative work focused the best thinking across our community into a plan that elevates our strengths and pushes our possibilities.
Here is what I ask of you:
- Review the strategy and consider how you will be part of putting it in motion.
- Use the pledge card to keep track of our work.
- Think about the moments in your life and work and how AU is part of helping you meet them.
This is the future of your American University: aspirational, prepared, globally minded, and deeply connected. We will stand together as a model for a 21st-century university: relentlessly innovative, inclusive in spirit, and deep in purpose.
Sincerely,
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| Jonathan R. Alger
President, American University
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