Greetings from Concordia University, Nebraska, where we strive to faithfully equip men and women for lives of learning, service, and leadership in the church and world. During the past triennium, Concordia has launched its new Salt and Light strategic plan. The vision driving the current strategic plan is to “cultivate a community of academic excellence grounded in the Word of God and the Lutheran Confessions to be SALT and LIGHT in the home, church, and world.” Concordia’s new strategic plan includes five priorities: • Enrollment – Establish a clear and compelling picture and plan for undergraduate and graduate enrollment that enables us to achieve a predictable and manageable overall enrollment.
- Philosophy of Christian Higher Education – Distinguish a shared educational philosophy that explains and clarifies what is distinct and shared about a Concordia education and that clearly communicates what prospective and current students can expect.
- Outreach – Communicate a clear and compelling picture and plan for living out our mission while reaching, serving, and blessing audiences beyond the campus community with the knowledge, wisdom, and gifts of the Concordia community.
- Lifelong Faith Formation and Flourishing – Demonstrate a clear and compelling picture and plan for ongoing, community-wide faith formation, workplace culture and climate, and professional development that equips us to strengthen our impact and ability to boldly, faithfully, and effectively live out our mission.
- Financial Strength – Devise and implement a financial model that creates greater strength and stability from which to live out the university mission while removing financial barriers for students to attend and graduate without debt that would hinder their life and callings post-graduation.
Within priority one, Enrollment, is a focus upon strengthening and building on our commitment to Christ-centered academic excellence, establishing distinct, inspiring, and holistic academic communities in areas such as music, church work, our honor’s program—the Luke Scholars Program, the classical liberal arts, and a forthcoming Timothy Scholars Program focused upon preparation of faithful service and excellence in healthcare professions, agriculture scholars, and business scholars. Other priority areas will
emerge as the plan moves forward and funding is secured to launch new efforts. A second aspect of priority one of the strategic plan is refocusing our graduate and online programs with the primary audiences of Lutherans serving in Lutheran organizations, Christians serving in Christian organizations, and Christians serving elsewhere who want a truly and distinctly Christian graduate education. As such, one objective under priority one of the plan is to offer meaning rich, academically rigorous, and Christ-centered graduate programs that address the needs of Christians in the church and world and regularly serve at least 825 or more graduate students annually by 2027 with a term-to-term retention rate of 90 percent and a graduation rate of 65 percent. The first new program launch with this renewed focus, based upon in-depth feedback from leaders in Lutheran schools, is a new Graduate Certificate in Advancement for Christian Schools, providing guidance on fundraising, recruitment, Lutheran mission and identity, and the distinctions of marketing and communication a Christian school. The second priority of the plan, Philosophy of Christian Higher Education, is an intentional effort to clarify the shared convictions and commitments of faculty regarding why, how, and what we teach. The goal is to come to an agreement on shared “signature practices” that embody this shared philosophy and enable us to make the stated vision a reality. The third priority, Outreach, involves the creation of new outreach arms of the university in the form of institutes. This includes strengthening and expanding the impact of existing institutes while adding new ones as well. Each institute is expected to align with the university mission, have an audience beyond the campus that it seeks to serve and support, engage current undergraduate students in the work of the institute, and operate with a self-sustaining financial model. Current institutes include the Institute on Aging and the Family, the Institute on Rural and Small Town Ministry, the Institute on Religious Education, the Center for Liturgical Arts, the Institute for Ethical Leadership, the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Trinity Academy—a new, intentionally small Lutheran high school in the classical liberal arts tradition, scheduled to launch in the fall of 2023. Additional centers may launch in the near future, but that is dependent upon securing funding. The fourth priority, Lifelong Faith Formation and Flourishing, focuses on ensuring that faculty and staff are well-supported and provided with opportunities for ongoing professional development and Lutheran catechesis that assists each person in joyfully, confidently, and faithfully living out their callings as they support the mission and strategic plan of the university. This has already included the launch of a one-year Mission, Vision, Values, and Promises program, a course required of all new faculty and those serving in other leadership roles. Lessons will be learned from the first-year pilot and used to refine subsequent offerings. We anticipate expanding to a robust and wide array of learning opportunities for faculty and staff. All of this is inspired by the conviction that we must continually learn and grow in order to fully and faithfully equip students for lives of conviction, character, courage, and compassion as they embrace callings to be a blessing in their families, churches, communities, workplaces, and world. The fifth priority, Financial Strength, focuses on ensuring a financial model that adds strength and stability to the university and helps remove financial barriers for students. Concordia has been blessed by generous donors for many years, as evidenced by the completion of our most recent fundraising campaign that exceeded
$90 million (over $25 million beyond the campaign goal). We have been immensely blessed with generous partners in the Gospel. At the same time, the current net tuition for an undergraduate student at Concordia is between $12,000 and $13,000, which is several thousand dollars per student less than what it actually costs to educate students. This means that fundraising and building and expanding our endowment, as a means of removing financial barriers for students while being financially viable, is a high priority as we begin plans for the next fundraising campaign. As part of this priority, we are in the early stages of developing a new program for select students that has potential to completely remove major financial barriers for attendance. We look forward to being able to provide more information on that program in the near future, but granted success with the endeavor, it may prove to be a first of its kind program in American higher education, offering inspiration and examples for other schools as well. This is a bold endeavor that will take the generous support, prayers, and collaboration of many people to be successful. These five priorities summarize the key initiatives for the university through 2028, building upon our legacy and strengths while responding to risks and challenges of the current social and educational landscape. In it all, Concordia University Nebraska remains firmly committed to supporting the mission of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod as a higher education institution that is dedicated to equipping students for lives of learning, service, and leadership in the church and world. Our prayers are with the delegates during their convention deliberations. May God bless richly the 68th Synod convention as we work together to proclaim the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ throughout the world. Together in His service,