As the strategic plan starts to move forward, it also starts to leave behind Loyola’s past — Pathways.
According to university president the Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., and Edward Kvet, provost and vice president for academic affairs, the strategic plan won’t bring back programs that were cut by Pathways.
Wildes said Pathways was a plan developed to bring stability to Loyola after Katrina.
“It was a reorganization of the university to make sure that we build on what we had and to get us to a level of stability,” he said.
Just as the current strategic plan, Pathways had specific goals that focus on student learning, faculty and staff development and university outreach.
Pathways consolidated colleges and created new ones, as well as suspended and discontinued programs.
The Joseph A. Butt, S.J., College of Business Administration became the Joseph A. Butt, S.J., College of Business. City College was dissolved. The College of Arts and Sciences split to become the College of Humanities and Natural Sciences and the College of Social Sciences. The School of Law was renamed the College of Law and the former College of Music became the College of Music and Fine Arts.
Pathways suspended language programs such as German and Japanese, and discontinued undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science, elementary education and broadcast journalism, among others.
According to Wildes, those programs were under-enrolled before Katrina and Loyola could not afford to offer them anymore.
“I don’t think any of that has changed now,” he said.
Wildes said the administration analyzed the enrollment pattern in those programs and the cost to operate them to make a final judgment.
Pathways accomplished its goals
According to Kvet, after Katrina, Loyola was presented with a tough reality – the loss of students.
“I’m not sure people were even sure what the future enrollment for the university would be,” he said.
Pathways, however was created to target that reality. Kvet said Pathways was developed to get university through the post-Katrina times.
“The importance of (Pathways) was that it was a plan to move the institution in the immediate future, to where we are right now,” he said.
According to Wildes, Pathways took Loyola to times of stable enrollment.
He said the university could also benefit from what Pathways accomplished. The reorganization of departments created more interdisciplinary programs — something that the new strategic plan contemplates for Loyola’s future, he said.
According to Kvet, interdisciplinary programs have broadened aspects across different colleges such as the current music industry program which brings business and music courses together.
Pathways moved Loyola away from the post-Katrina crisis and made it possible for the institution to start crafting its next strategic plan which intends to define the institution financially and academically.
“I know we have moved beyond Pathways for sure,” Kvet said.
Strategic plan to emphasis retention
In order to start a strategic plan, the administration must revise previous planning.
According to Kvet, the strategic plan takes into account all of the other types of planning, including Pathways.
The role of the Jesuit values and students’ learning have been present in previous planning, he said.
Retention, however, is new to the strategic plan.
Although the administration had talked about retention before and after Katrina, Kvet said retention hasn’t been a line item of previous planning.
According to Kvet, around 2003 there was a study on retention, but it wasn’t taken into consideration.
Kvet said the University Planning Team elevated retention from what might be just a part of the general plan to one the three main areas of the plan, being reputation and mission the other two.
“It is such a critical issue that we think it needs to be fronted center, especially for our short-term future from our revenue stand point,” he said.
“By putting it fronted-center on this agenda we keep calling people’s attention.”
Andrea Castillo can be reached at [email protected].
