The Way Forward is our long-term strategic plan to help guide Hardin-Simmons University’s community of students, alumni, faculty and staff to be good stewards of our present resources, to embrace the change required of us as we boldly prepare for the future while staying true to our past, and to be united in our mission of providing an education enlightened by Christian faith and values.
For many years, the HSU strategic plan has emphasized ten goals:
More than four years ago — and with many deliberations and much prayer — work began to position HSU for long-term success in an increasingly competitive marketplace. The Way Forward calls for ongoing evaluation of all academic programs to ensure HSU offers the right programs to better enable our students to compete in a constantly changing world. While requiring difficult decisions, the plan has been overwhelmingly endorsed by the Board of Trustees.
The Way Forward represents an investment in what HSU has always been about: people — not only people who come from our campus, but also those to whom we serve. Among other things, our plan includes buildings, enhanced technology, and expanded offerings, and we will use these elements to empower HSU as an ongoing community of servant scholars who engage the minds and nurture the spirits of tomorrow’s Christian leaders.
The Way Forward was born out of a desire to be good stewards of the resources that have been entrusted to us by current students and alumni, and by the generations of students who have preceded us. Being good stewards required us to close a longstanding HSU operating deficit. As we continue to pursue the plan, The Way Forward will help us plot a path that will allow us to preserve our precious resources for future generations of students, offering the programs current students want and future students will need in a cost-effective way. Our goal is to provide for the long-term financial stability of a university that is dear to our hearts.
Implementing the strategic plan has and will continue to require disciplined evaluation of all of HSU’s programs, including academics. In some instances, difficult choices have been made that have also reduced faculty and staff for those programs. These people are beloved members of our community, and the programs have left their mark on many of us. We appreciate that these changes have been challenging for some in our community. Rest assured these decisions were not made lightly or hastily. We are closing some doors in order to open many others and are intentionally making the hard calls to secure the future success of HSU.
Moving forward into the future, no matter how carefully, is always a venture into the unknown. HSU will continue to be guided in the days ahead by what is known to our community: the values and traditions which have made us who we are. Methods may change, but principles never do. For 129 years, Hardin-Simmons University has sought to “bring students to Christ, to teach them of Christ, and to train them for Christ.” That will never change.
The Way Forward is advancing HSU’s mission of providing an education enlightened by Christian faith and values. The measures we have and will continue to implement will better position HSU to fulfill this mission for the next 129 years and for generations yet to come.
Our commitment to excellence will continue as we develop and implement The Way Forward. We will put in place clear milestones and objectives for each of the plan’s major initiatives, including financial, enrollment, student life, academics and facilities. We also understand that it is our responsibility to keep you informed and to maintain an open dialogue throughout this process. We will make every effort to do so as we progress on these important initiatives.
