Sustaining Excellence
Assessing the present. Ensuring the future.
Sustaining Excellence: Xavier’s Path to Success is a comprehensive transformation project that will study the university’s entire operation with a focus on identifying opportunities for revenue growth, refining processes, managing expenses, and emerging with long-term institutional viability as we continue our Jesuit Catholic mission into our 200th year and beyond.
Key Areas of Focus
Sustaining Excellence will take a holistic look at Xavier’s enterprise, organized around five areas:- Identifying opportunities for revenue growth and diversification
- Implementing strategic expense management
- Optimizing technology systems
- Adopting operational process improvements
- Enhancing our organizational structures
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently asked questions will be updated regularly. To raise a question, please feel free to directly reach out to any member of the working group. Members of our community are also encouraged to submit feedback or questions anonymously through the Faculty Committee Virtual Suggestion Box or Staff Committee Virtual Suggestion Box.Mission Statement
Since its founding nearly 200 years ago, Xavier University has been in a constant state of transformation and reanimation.
As we approach the bicentennial celebration of this special place in 2031, we know the Xavier of today cannot be the Xavier of tomorrow if we are to continue our mission to educate each student we encounter – intellectually, morally and spiritually.
In recent years, Xavier has faced challenging headwinds tied to several factors: a declining college-aged population, rising costs, a national narrative questioning the value of higher education, and more. As a result, the institution’s core operation has run significant and unsustainable deficits as a stopgap.
This fall, Xavier’s Board of Trustees and senior leadership have directed the institution to reposition itself around a significant transformation project that will study every aspect of how the University operates.
Xavier University will organize this work around five categories:
- Identifying opportunities for revenue growth and diversification
- Implementing strategic expense management
- Optimizing technology systems
- Adopting operational process improvements
- Enhancing our organizational structures
Our principles through this process will be the same that have made Xavier what it is today. Leaning on core institutional values, given to us by our Ignatian heritage, we will reflect, discern and find the more universal good as a community.
We are committed to university-wide engagement, transparency and honesty through this process. In turn, we challenge every Musketeer to join us on this journey, bringing a willingness to participate and adapt for the bright future we all hope to build.
Together, we will emerge from this process on more stable footing – an institution transformed to be student-centric in all we do, financially healthy, resilient, and responsive to a changing industry within the scope of Xavier’s mission and Jesuit Catholic tradition.
All for One, and One for All.
Core Team
Vice President for Institutional Strategy and Director of Athletics Greg Christopher will chair the transformation effort, with five other SLC members joining the core team including:
- Dr. Ivy Banks
Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Inclusion - Dr. Rachel Chrastil
Provost and Chief Academic Officer - Jeff Coleman
Vice President for Risk Management - Becky Cull, JD
General Counsel - Eric Sundrup, S.J.
Associate Vice President for Mission and Ministry and University Chaplain
Other appointees to the working group come from both Faculty Committee, Staff Committee and Presidential Appointment, including:
- Susan Abel
Associate Vice President for University Relations, Internal Operations - Brendan Bergen
Director of Communication and Social Media - Dr. Adam Clark
Associate Professor of Theology - Dr. Sam Kwapong
Director of International Student and Scholar Services - Cheryl McElroy
Senior Grants Officer - Dr. Annie Ray
Associate Professor of Biology - Dr. Vanessa Rigaud
Associate Professor of Education - Dr. Ashley Stadler Blank
Associate Professor of Marketing