Onward!
DeSales University's 2025-28 strategic plan provides a focused vision for our future.
The plan is the result of an inclusive and collaborative planning process involving over 115 members of our University community. Through this process, important priorities emerged: Academic Excellence & Innovation, Student Experience, Visibility & Growth, and Stewardship. These areas will serve as pillars to frame our decisions, resources, and innovation, in the future.
Mission as the Foundation
Our Catholic, Salesian mission both identifies and energizes us for distinction in all University activities and initiatives. The Gospel, our Salesian heritage and spirit, and the core values provide a foundation that guarantees a rich future, marks our relationships, and informs all decisions that will take us Onward!
DeSales is a Catholic, Salesian university that inspires transformative learning through the liberal arts and professional studies by energizing students to be who they are and be that well.
As the only Salesian University in the country and the only Catholic University in the Lehigh Valley, DeSales is uniquely poised for future growth. Our distinct identity and rich Salesian tradition serve as the foundation for this strategic plan which will strengthen and advance our Salesian values in all aspects of University life.
Pillar 1: Academic Excellence & Innovation
Transformative learning and instruction are the chief engines for the advancement of DeSales University, as we hold wisdom as a core value. The dynamic relationships among our students, faculty, and staff drive the education, research, and personal/professional development that heighten the quality of the DeSales experience. Connecting the Catholic intellectual tradition to new technologies, innovative teaching practices, and burgeoning ideas, the future of our academic programming stands prepared to address the unknown contexts our graduates will face in their careers, communities, and families.
- Goal #1: Conduct a comprehensive program review to ensure a competitive, sustainable, and mission-aligned academic portfolio that responds to the current and future workforce.
- Goal #2: Integrate the Catholic intellectual tradition with courses in the Connections Curriculum.
- Goal #3: Integrate AI into the academic curriculum to prepare graduates to use it ethically, responsibly, and creatively.
- Goal #4: Establish processes and systems that promote efficiency, collaboration, and innovation within the new college and school structure.
- Goal #5: Provide support and professional development opportunities for faculty to enhance teaching effectiveness and scholarship.
Pillar 2: Student Experience
The student experience honors, with gentleness as a core value, the individuality of all learners in our undergraduate and graduate programs. Focusing on and supporting their spiritual, academic, emotional, and physical well-being, the University invites students to be active participants in community life, where faith, fun, and friendship connect to their social responsibility for the common good and their neighbors in need. Attention will be given to developing further the role of the University’s athletic programs and facilities as a vehicle for strengthening our community life.
- Goal #1: Implement a comprehensive retention plan to support all students—traditional day, graduate, and adult studies—from recruitment to graduation.
- Goal #2: Strengthen the Be Well initiative to foster—institution-wide—resilience and holistic well-being and create an environment where students thrive emotionally, mentally, physically, socially, and spiritually.
- Goal #3: Enact a comprehensive study for DeSales athletic programs and facilities to support University-wide recruitment and retention efforts for all students.
- Goal #4: Coordinate the University’s schools and colleges and our alumni community into an interactive network to provide practical experiences and career development for all students.
Pillar 3: Visibility & Growth
Recruitment and retention—of students, faculty, and staff—remain among the top priorities of every University community member. Deepening our embrace of hospitality as a core value, we will strengthen the experience that welcomes new students and community members to our campus and its family, both initially and continuously, as they develop their relationship with DeSales and its mission.
- Goal #1: Enhance the DeSales welcome experience for all.
- Goal #2: Leverage the strengths of existing academic and other programs to advance our reputation and reach.
- Goal #3: Sustain total enrollment across all populations that optimize positive tuition revenues.
- Goal #4: Promote our Catholic, Salesian vision through the University core values.
Pillar 4: Stewardship
Impelled by gratitude for the mission we have been given and the strength of the University’s personnel, reputation, and campus growth, we will fortify and expand our temporal and human resources with aggressive fundraising, solid investments, and creative leveraging of our assets. Our ongoing commitment to care for creation undergirds all functions of University activities and initiatives.
- Goal #1: Attract, develop, and retain an exceptional community of faculty and staff who will contribute to the University’s overall excellence.
- Goal #2: Execute and achieve goals of the comprehensive fundraising campaign and broaden alumni engagement.
- Goal #3: Develop new revenue sources, leverage assets, and align resources with growth opportunities to best foster economic and environmental sustainability.
- Goal #4: Articulate and execute an integrated approach to external partnerships that aligns and supports the University’s strategic goals and mission.