Each issue, we spend time talking with President Fulcher about important issues and news affecting the university. Have a question you’d like us to ask? Please send it to editor@pointloma.edu for consideration.
Viewpoint: PLNU has a new strategic plan called OnePLNU. It approaches strategic planning in a new way. What can you tell our Viewpoint readers about the purpose of the plan and what has been put in place so far?
President Fulcher: Well, we’re in a different day and age now. Things are changing so rapidly that the old understanding of a strategic plan — that you put it together and it serves you for the next 10 years — probably isn’t the way to go. And so what we really tried to do is identify what are priority themes that tend to be enduring? Things that, no matter what’s going on outside of us, are going to be important for us to pay attention to. And then recognizing within those, we might have initiatives that will change on a yearly basis, but it’s all under that particular theme. And so we chose what we think are four very enduring themes.
We want to be very clear about who we are and very intentional about the way we live that out.
Viewpoint: The first theme is “Mission Fidelity,” right? What can you tell us about this theme?
President Fulcher: We want to be very clear about who we are and very intentional about the way we live that out. The mission of Point Loma goes all the way back to our founding. I tried to highlight in my inauguration speech the many ways in which we’ve stayed faithful to that mission through the leadership of different people. [As we discussed in the last issue, Dr. Holly Irwin is now serving as vice president for mission and calling.] Holly’s position is one of those ways that we’re going to be very intentional about ensuring that we will continue to remain mission true. It also involves looking at all of our core documents, all of our hiring and evaluation practices, and all of our ways that we resource people along the way. There’s always going to be ways that we can improve and do better at that, and as our context changes, we ask: how do we then adapt within those contexts? So that’s the first one.
Shalom is a very rich Hebrew word that often gets translated as peace, but it’s really right relationship with everyone.
Viewpoint: Thank you so much for explaining that. What is the second theme?
President Fulcher: It’s about: how do we create a community where everybody feels like they belong? We’re using this language of “A Community of Belonging: Cultivating Shalom.” Shalom is a very rich Hebrew word that often gets translated as peace, but it’s really right relationship with everyone. It’s right relationship with God and right relationship with one another. Members of our community come from varied backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities, and experiences. To create a thriving community that reflects the body of Christ out of such a diverse group of individuals, it takes a lot of work. We have initiatives around understanding one another, learning how to communicate well with one another, and learning how to collaborate. Oftentimes, this also brings us across functional silos and helps to break those silos down. We are asking: how do faculty and staff work with one another? What are the barriers for them coming together and really understanding each other, appreciating the gifts that each other brings to the collective work that we do here as a university? So that’s the second one.
We can no longer really prepare someone for a job that currently exists and think that that’s going to sustain them for their life.
Viewpoint: The third theme is about academics, correct?
President Fulcher: Yes, the third one is really around ensuring that we are consistently keeping aligned with what is needed in our academic programs. The pace of change is so, so rapid these days. How do we ensure that the work that we’re doing is preparing students for the world of work that they’re going into? So this is why we called it “Tomorrow’s Academy.” It’s about always looking forward. What is it that our students need to be successful long into their future? We can no longer really prepare someone for a job that currently exists and think that that’s going to sustain them for their life. There are so many jobs that haven’t even been invented yet that these students are going to graduate and begin to take part in. So we are working to ensure that all of the programs that we’re offering stay fresh and market-aligned. We celebrate the good things that happen during the lifespan of a program that may, over time, need to either dramatically shift or maybe even go away, and we celebrate the new ones that are coming on that are now meeting the needs of the future students. So [Tomorrow’s Academy] is a key one for us. It’s way too big to go into in detail, but there are so many aspects of it that are critical.
We are blessed to be in a good position, but what can we proactively do to help secure and sustain our future?
Viewpoint: Thank you. What can you tell us about the last theme, “Resource Stewardship?”
President Fulcher: As we come up on our 125th anniversary, what does it take for us to be stewards and be sustainable for another 125 years? Or maybe even just the next 50? There are so many schools right now that are closing or struggling. We are blessed to be in a good position, but what can we proactively do to help secure and sustain our future? When you get into a crisis where you have to make a decision right on the spot in the thick of things, oftentimes the types of decisions that you make aren’t very fun. But if we can be proactive and think ahead of time, here are the things that are coming, we can ensure that we can stay sustainable moving forward. That involves creating a better culture of philanthropy and being more efficient with our current resources. We are trying to leverage things for maximum benefit rather than making redundancies. So it’s thinking outside of the box, but also incredibly important that we, and this is, again, part of that core OnePLNU idea, think across the functional silos, so we’re actually working together as an entire university. We’ve got all sorts of initiatives that we will cycle through over the next 10 years, but those enduring themes, I think, are going to be with us for a while.
Viewpoint: If people want to learn more or maybe see some of the current initiatives within the themes, how can they do that?
President Fulcher: We do have a webpage that is growing, so that’s probably the best place to go look at the overarching rationale behind it and some of the initiatives that we have currently going on.
Viewpoint: Thank you so much, President Fulcher!
Learn more about OnePLNU’s Mission, Plan, and Framework.
