![students during candela event with their candles](/_resources/images/strategic-plan/Candela%20Hero%20Image%20-%20Nehemiah%20Initiative.jpg)
Azusa Pacific Strategic Plan
NEHEMIAH
INITIATIVE
The Strategic Plan for Azusa Pacific University 2024-30
Vision:
Building a New Model of Christ-centered Education at APU
Pillar #1
Proclaim God First in All Things
Building upon our legacy of more than 125 years, our Christ-centered mission will guide every action of our vibrant university.
Leading to...
- A university known for its Christ-centeredness
- Rich spiritual formation across all student levels and regions
- Students equipped by thoughtful and seamless faith integration throughout the curriculum
- Faculty fully supported by faith integration training and resources
- A spiritually vibrant employee community
- Clarity in APU’s convictions and value proposition to students, families, current and potential employees, and external audiences
Pillar #2
Advance Academic Distinction and Student Transformation
With a renewed academic program portfolio and flourishing faculty scholars, our students will be equipped to live out their higher calling in Southern California and throughout the world.
Leading to...
- A portfolio of compelling, enriching, and fiscally healthy degree and nondegree academic offerings
- A refreshed General Education curriculum with a winsome articulation of the value of a liberal arts education at APU
- A robust commitment to faculty development
- Strategic investment in research resulting in impactful findings and publications
- A culture that’s passionate about student success, with strong retention and outcomes for APU students of all backgrounds, across all degree levels and all regions
- A seamless connection between the curricular and cocurricular student experience
- Mutually beneficial relationships with employers, aligning the needs of industries with APU’s academic programs, thereby enhancing student outcomes
- Close partnership with local community colleges, with seamless pathways for transfer students
- Ethical leadership as a hallmark of an APU education
Pillar #3
Unite in Purpose
Restored by trust and collaboration, our diverse and healthy community will unite in purpose to reach new heights.
Leading to...
- Best-in-class shared governance, with the mindset that we are building APU together
- A university culture experienced as missional, innovative, hospitable, and collaborative
- A model approach to student wellness, as well as diversity within a Christ-centered, Hispanic- and Asian/Pacific Islander-serving university context
- An innovative model of student belonging that serves the changing needs of students across all degree levels and locations
- A sustainable athletics program that brings the community together
- APU as an employer of choice where people flourish professionally, spiritually, and relationally
- Alumni who are engaged with APU, its students, and one another
- A comprehensive campus master plan with improvements well under way
- Transformational progress within a comprehensive fundraising campaign that resources key university priorities
Pillar #4
Optimize Operations for Success
Based on a data-informed and agile approach, the university will optimize operations for lasting success.
Leading to...
- Financial sustainability and ability to invest in our people and programs
- A best-in-class enrollment management function bearing the fruit of its strategic enrollment plan
- An operational model and services adapted to better serve our largest student populations (graduate and degree-completion)
- A well-defined, mutually beneficial partnership with Los Angeles Pacific University
- Vibrant regional locations, with sustainable enrollment and well-aligned faculty, staff, and students
- Technology as a competitive advantage and enabler of operational efficiency
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“My favorite scene in Nehemiah is found in chapter 3, and this is at the very heart of why we’ve named our new strategic plan the Nehemiah Initiative. The emphasis is not on bricks and mortar, but instead it’s about trusting God to use us to accomplish something only He can do and to engage in this work together.
As the chapter unfolds, we see a beautiful tapestry of God’s people from all walks of life, accomplishing the impossible together—all working side by side, with a shared vision, and the resolve to be part of something so big that only God could do it.”
— President Adam J. Morris, PhD
The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build.Nehemiah 2:20 (NKJV)
Azusa Pacific University Passage 2024-25