Strategic Plan for 2017-2022

• • Academic Excellence: We strive to inspire a culture informed by the joy and work of learning, in which curiosity, discovery, innovation, and excellence are the driving forces in everything we do. 
• • Ethical Citizenship: We seek to foster a culture of ethics, integrity and respect, such that it creates the fertile ground that motivates our work and work ethic. 
  • Personal and Professional Growth: We aspire to create a nurturing culture where all thrive and are supported in their own paths toward lifelong growth and leadership in personal and professional ways. 
  • Global Stewardship: We endeavor to advance global understanding, empathy and stewardship for people and the environment, embracing diversity and a sense of community in both local and global settings. 
  • Public Purpose and Commitment: We strive to construct a community that is committed to public purpose, informed action and service. 
  • Inclusive and Collaborative Community: We seek to encourage a supportive, diverse, collaborative and cohesive environment in which we learn from each other through informed, clear, and open communication.

FSU TODAY AND OUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE

Framingham State University places priority on teaching, advising, and helping students succeed. FSU believes combining an outstanding education with career-focused skills acquired through professional programs helps our graduates stand out in the workforce. Faculty, staff and students at FSU are part of a diverse, caring, friendly, and engaged community.

FSU is ideally situated to provide experiential learning opportunities for students and to have a regional impact as a resource and partner in the community. FSU’s staff and its faculty of teacher-scholars are highly committed to their roles and their students. FSU’s students are hardworking, diverse, and resourceful, eager to take initiative and able to hit the ground running when they graduate. FSU’s graduates are accomplished in their fields and engaged in their communities. Having gained relevant career preparation and a strong liberal arts foundation, FSU alumni are broadly educated learners and lifelong contributors in the workplace.

Looking ahead to 2022, the FSU community envisions a University that is a vibrant intellectual environment pursuing shared goals; an innovator in higher education and a leader in inclusive excellence; a thriving living-learning community committed to fostering each individual student’s success and providing a life-changing experience for all students who commit to take advantage of all that is offered here; a warm, welcoming environment for faculty, staff and students of diverse talents and backgrounds; a place where everyone’s role and contributions to the mission are valued; an institution that is deeply engaged with and meaningfully contributing to the MetroWest region and well beyond.

Innovation in pedagogy will be encouraged and supported, and the quality of teaching will be consistently high at every level. FSU will have added to or otherwise modified its undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education program offerings in proactive response to labor trends and student interests. More global connections and experiences will be available to faculty and students, and service/civic learning will be embedded throughout the curriculum and co-curriculum.

There will be even more faculty-student collaboration, a hallmark of FSU’s program. The University’s location will be leveraged to benefit and create more opportunities for students and, as a result, more students will be participating in internships, co-ops and other experiential learning. The University’s new acquisitions, including the Warren Center and potentially the Danforth Museum, will be expanding academic and student activity opportunities while also expanding FSU’s impact in the wider community.

Student support services will be responsive to and aligned with the diverse and evolving needs of students. Faculty and staff will be trained and supported to meet needs of a changing student demographic, and they will feel equipped to advise students in academic, career, personal or social matters. Opportunities for all students to engage in cultural experiences in and beyond the MetroWest area on weekends and during downtime will be vastly expanded.