Adopted by the Canisius College Board of Trustees
May 5, 2003
Introduction
Canisius College has taken a major leap forward in the past nine years. During this period Canisius completed the most successful capital campaign in its history. State of the art residence halls have been built. Old Main has become the new Old Main, and Lyons Hall has become a modern classroom, office and administrative center. The Montante Cultural Center and the Maday Theatre have given our performing arts programs spaces worthy of the tradition that the arts have always had at Jesuit universities. Demerly Hall has been developed as a first class home for the Health and Human Performance program. Seating in the Koessler Athletic Center has been replaced and the capacity has been doubled, and the new Lee Student Athletic Center has provided students with much needed recreational athletic space. The Winter Student Center and the Palisano Pavilion have given our students vastly improved opportunities for recreation and student activities. The many physical improvements to the campus have made Canisius a model of what an attractive urban campus can look like.
The intellectual life of the campus has been stimulated by the presence and activities of ten chairs for teaching excellence funded by the John R. Oishei Foundation. Our McGowan Learning Communities Program, supported by the McGowan Charitable Fund and the Oishei Foundation, has introduced unique methods of undergraduate instruction that have made students active participants in the learning process. The college is also recruiting greater numbers of students of color as a result of this program. Most of our classrooms are equipped with state of the art technology that has enabled students to learn in new ways.
We have indeed come a long way. But there is still so much more to be accomplished to enable Canisius College to be in Buffalo what Boston College is in Boston, or what Loyola is in Maryland, or what Fairfield is in Connecticut. When people elsewhere in the United States think of Buffalo we want them to think of Canisius, and we want them to come to Buffalo because that is where Canisius is. This is an ambitious vision and one that will take time and effort to realize. But it has been done before and there is no reason that Canisius cannot accomplish what other Jesuit colleges and universities did twenty or thirty years ago. There is a proven formula: improve the academic reputation of the school and increase demand from across a wider geographical area by providing quality residence halls, an impressive array of academic programs and teachers and a competitive athletic program. Our challenge is to follow this proven formula.
We have already taken the first major steps. We have chosen the path of academic quality. After the Quest program was eliminated, SAT scores and high school averages for entering classes improved greatly, although they have been on a plateau for the past five years. The principal academic centers on campus have been improved. Three residence hall projects have been completed. Artistic, recreational and athletic facilities have been added and improved.
Now, we must address three challenges that are at the heart of this strategic plan. (1) Improve the quality and selectivity of our student body. Students learn from one another. Every quality institution excels in quality students. (2) Continue to increase the quality and number of our faculty. Institutions are judged in terms of the quality and demonstrated accomplishments of their faculty. (3) Provide the enhanced programs, facilities, and equipment that are needed to attract and retain quality students and faculty. Our responses to these challenges must emphasize Canisius’ mission as a Jesuit Catholic college.
The strategic goals and the action steps outlined in this plan will move us to the next level of excellence. The centerpiece of this plan is the acquisition and redevelopment of the BlueCross BlueShield building. This is an historic opportunity for the college. The building provides Canisius with a 240,000 square foot building that sits squarely in the middle of the land-locked campus. Together with the 1400 space parking ramp, it is the last piece of the puzzle in redefining this urban campus.
The BlueCross BlueShield Building provides us with an historic opportunity to develop a world class Science Center for our programs in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, psychology, physics, computer science, environmental science and bioinformatics. The Science Center would allow the college to capitalize on its very successful Pre-Med program and its growing research programs. It would also create a center for bioinformatics and the related life science programs that will be created in response to the establishment of a Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics in downtown Buffalo and at the University at Buffalo. It allows for expansion of our physical education and sports medicine programs. It will provide much needed office space as the college seeks to increase enrollment and the size of its full time faculty.
We also need a major expansion of residence halls to accommodate the kind of student body we want. We need the financial resources to attract and retain high quality faculty. Academic programs that have been started with the help of foundation money and have given a great jump-start to the intellectual life of the campus now have to be supported by institutional resources. Our intercollegiate athletic program must reflect the high quality that we are emphasizing in other parts of the college. The strategic plan that follows outlines the five major initiatives that must be undertaken during the next five years.
This plan attempts to be very targeted and specific. By no means does it purport to outline all of the activities that the college will undertake over the next five years; instead, it highlights the four principal initiatives that will move the college to the next level of excellence. The realization of these goals will depend on detailed action plans contained in other documents such as the Plan for Academic Excellence and the college’s Integrated Marketing Plan.
Vision Statement
Canisius College will become a major regional university enrolling high quality students from geographically diverse areas.
Brief Mission Statement
Canisius College is an independent, co-educational comprehensive university conducted in the Catholic and Jesuit tradition. It offers undergraduate programs built upon a liberal arts core curriculum, leading to associate and baccalaureate degrees, plus graduate programs in business, education and other professional fields leading to the master’s degree.
Core Values
As an institution, Canisius College embraces the following core values and strives to use them as guiding principles for all decisions and actions:
- Care and Respect for the Whole Person
- Commitment to Quality, Excellence and Continuous Improvement
- Honesty and Integrity
- Commitment to Teamwork
- Personal Accountability
- Commitment to the Life of the Mind and Spirit
- Enhance the Intellectual Life of the Campus.
Enhance the intellectual life of the campus by pursuing the priorities of our plan for academic excellence.
a. Capitalize on the strength of the college’s many science programs and on the community’s investment in bioinformatics by consolidating all of the college’s science, mathematics and computer science programs in a first class life science building and office complex at the BlueCross BlueShield Building. As part of this plan, also complete reuse plans for Health Science, Horan O’Donnell and Koessler Athletic Center.
b. Secure permanent endowment funding for the Learning Communities Program and the Peter Canisius Distinguished Teaching Professors Program and for a select number of new initiatives designed to highlight the academic quality of the college in regional, national and international markets.
c. Hire and retain an excellent and more diverse faculty at salaries that are competitive among regional private comprehensive colleges and move toward a lower student:faculty ratio and a reduction in the standard teaching load to allow for higher quality scholarship and research.
d. Support learning and research activities that explore and extend the Jesuit Catholic tradition and heritage that animates Canisius College. - Improve Student Life.
Improve the quality of student life and the residential experience on campus.
a. Develop plans for two residence halls: (1) a residence hall on the Christ the King Chapel lot site by Fall 2005 and (2) a facility(ies) of up to 400 beds by 2010-2012.
b. Enhance coordinated programming and services during evenings and weekends to meet the increasing needs of residential and commuter students.
c. Expand existing programs (e.g. service learning, Service scholars, Leadership Canisius) and create new initiatives that focus on active and practical student learning. - Diversify and Increase the Quality of the Student Body.
Attract a more diverse, more residential and increasingly talented student body by increasing the undergraduate applicant pool from outside the Buffalo area, decreasing the acceptance rate, increasing minority and international student enrollment and enhancing the profile of graduate programs in regional, national and international markets. - Build a Competitive Athletics Program.
Develop a high-quality, competitive athletics program in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference consisting of 16 sports, using savings from discontinued sports and annual budget additions to improve remaining sports.