A Letter from Dr. Jake Bucher
“Lifted by our Anchor”
You have recently heard, or will soon hear, about the University’s strategic adjustment to a smaller student population, and I have been asked in multiple conversations about how this will impact our academic vision. I have not considered ever changing our vision – and in fact, to address what we are doing with our academic vision, we are re-anchoring ourselves in our foundational vision.
That vision includes being a teaching institution with a liberal arts base that manifests itself in and through vocational discernment and professional pathways. We will maintain and evolve the diversity of our academic portfolio – offering programs across degree levels, student populations, and modalities. We will continue to support and pursue academic excellence, provide high-impact practices, innovate, and ensure relentless efforts for belongingness. This academic vision was and remains framed and supported by our key Jesuit values and our mission, and will continue on a smaller and more agile scale.
Doubling-down on our vision is not meant to ignore or dismiss the substantial change Regis is experiencing – it demands and protects our change. Deepening our shared commitment to a future that preserves our vision requires us to rebuild the vessel, delivering that vision to a smaller population. As such, we have been preparing for and have been initiating work to strategically modify our academic program portfolio.
Sterile words like “strategic” and “modifications” are accurate, but incomplete given the personal impact of these changes. There is not a single program or colleague impacted by these changes that is not valued, that has not made transformative contributions to our students and community. I have not and will not approach any decision with a mindset of what/who we can do without, it is what/who we have to do without in our new future. These are difficult and painful changes, again motivated and informed by our vision, to sustain our vision.
In a past letter I acknowledged the intense reality of change fatigue, as well as the inevitability and permanency of fluid changes facing higher education. For those who have felt “cuts” over recent years, this likely feels like a continuation of the same rhetoric driving us towards scarcity. What is different now is that while we have been reducing our expense budget over the years, we have not aligned that with an appropriate drop in spending, and we have maintained ambitious revenue goals. In other words, we have been trying to lower expenses to match our revenue but have kept that revenue at an overly optimistic projection. We are now setting a more conservative revenue projection, and will need to match expenses to that revenue. Doing so will allow us to sustain through this unpredictable socio-political climate and market demand for higher education, and will allow us to establish a contingency within our budget.
The President and Senior Leadership will be holding a Townhall this week to further address the overall state and future of our institution. I will then host an Academic and Student Affairs Townhall to dive deeper into our efforts. Alongside these events, we continue to collaborate with Associate and Assistant Vice Presidents, faculty and staff, and welcome any connections and conversations. Please take good care of yourselves and of each other.