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Marquette News Briefs
JANUARY 30, 2013

Father Pilarz focuses on collaboration and innovation in remarks at President's Strategic Planning Workshop

In his opening remarks to nearly 450 faculty, staff and students at the President's Strategic Planning Workshop, Marquette University president Scott R. Pilarz, S.J., thanked attendees for being "ready to participate in an effort that will mean so much to Marquette's future," noting that the full ballroom was "a great sign of this community's restless pursuit of improvement."

An overflow crowd participated in the President's Strategic Planning Workshop in the Alumni Memorial Union, which took the place of the annual Presidential Address this year. Father Pilarz said the workshop was an example of Marquette engaging in a time-honored Jesuit tradition: "As long as there have been Jesuit colleges and universities, there have been educators just like you 'reading the signs of the times' and determining how to best use gifts at their disposal to extend knowledge and prepare students for lives of as leaders agents of change in a world waiting to be more gentle, more just."

He emphasized the importance of collaboration and crossing boundaries during the strategic planning process, which is the reason participants were seated at interdisciplinary roundtables.

"Today is about the university community having a forum that promotes reaching across traditional boundaries. If you think about it, that was the genius of Father Marquette: to reach out fearlessly, to explore, to imagine the future."

Faculty, staff and students brainstormed ideas for university-wide goals stemming from the strategic planning themes. Lively roundtable discussions were led by academic department chairs and director-level staff, who encouraged participants to think creatively, be bold and to take advantage of the paper tablecloths to draw their goal ideas.

Father Pilarz closed the event by thanking participants for their help as he and the planning leadership work to distill what they heard into the goals that will be included in the final plan.

Members of the university community who were unable to attend the President's Strategic Planning Workshop can share goal ideas via a feedback form on the strategic planning website.

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