The “one” in One Penn State 2025 refers to our strong tradition of working as one university to provide a world-class education. We will work together — faculty, staff, and students — from all campuses, colleges, and administrative units to develop solutions and build upon innovations that help us achieve our vision to become a more integrated, flexible, and responsive institution that helps every member of the University community achieve their goals.
Working through the pandemic has shown the importance of faculty, staff, and students from across the University coming together to solve problems and develop responsive and timely solutions. Since the beginning of the outbreak, hundreds of Penn Staters have worked to ensure the continued delivery of courses, access to resources, and support for instructors and learners, and so much more. New relationships that crossed traditional institutional boundaries led to new efforts that benefitted the entire University community. We now are identifying how this foundation of collaborative work will continue to forward the work of One Penn State 2025.
The teams are designed to be interconnected. The work of one team can overlap and strengthen initiatives arising from other teams. For instance, GP1 explores the need for lifelong access to Penn State systems to provide students with a seamless, mobile experience in all interactions with the institution. GP4’s charge of engaging learners throughout their lifetimes with content that is timely, topical, and relevant to their personal and professional well-being using similar technology to GP1 to achieve these goals.
One Penn State 2025’s GP5 challenges the university to make an honest examination of our processes and systems so faculty and staff can focus more closely on enabling every student’s success. Efficiency means leveraging our existing resources in innovative ways and implementing new tools — such as the one-stop information in the Penn State Go app or the advising optimization of the Starfish system — to remove barriers and develop solutions to build upon the educational mission of the University.
One Penn State 2025 is a signature initiative of the University’s strategic plan and all campuses and units across the Commonwealth play a critical role in refining and accomplishing the vision of becoming a more fully integrated, flexible, and responsive institution. Every Penn State campus is an important part of Penn State’s “one university” concept. Each possess their own cultures, strengths, and unique characteristics that bring a richness to what students, faculty, and staff have available to them. All campuses contribute significantly to achieving the One Penn State 2025 vision by contributing within their own contexts to address problems, implement solutions, and innovate both individually and collectively.
More than 600 faculty, staff, students, and administrators representing the perspectives of various roles and responsibilities from across the University led the development of the One Penn State 2025 vision by contributing ideas and providing feedback to develop the scope. The current teams defining the actions and developing implementation plans include more than 100 faculty, staff, students, and administrators. However, many more are involved through the feedback we received from February’s One Penn State 2025 Symposium. The hope is that every member of the Penn State community will be positively affected by the work of One Penn State 2025 and will have the opportunity to contribute their voice and talents. If you would like to get involved, please email onepennstate@psu.edu to see how you might be able to contribute.
One Penn State 2025 will present bold and innovative ideas and opportunities to reimagine our commitment to offering a world class education as a land-grant institution. The guiding principle teams will explore opportunities as they emerge and are willing to think boldly to align with the vision of this concept. The Guiding Principle 2 team, co-charged with the University Faculty Senate, is working on the concept of curricular coherence and how we approach this through disciplinary neighborhoods. Curricular coherence means consistent programs, shared content, judicious use of resources, portable student credits from campus to campus, engaged disciplinary groups, and other avenues to enhance the learning experience at Penn State.
We want students and the larger University community to have access to educational opportunities to advance their careers and interests throughout their lifetime, whether through degree or certificate programs, single courses, or micro-credentials. Under this model, graduation is no longer an endpoint and students are always connected to Penn State. They know us, and we know them and can serve them in whatever education endeavors they may have.
The concept of One Penn State 2025 is rooted in transforming the educational experience for 21st century learning, and the ability of everyone to function in a digital world is paramount. Penn State students and employees living in this era will need to utilize available digital resources to ensure they reach their full potential in their studies, research, job duties, and in other aspects of their Penn State experience.
Diversity can be an incredibly powerful force for change. Through One Penn State 2025, we view the University’s student body, faculty, and staff as a diverse collection of people with individual strengths and aspirations that we celebrate and are committed to support through our efforts surrounding equity, inclusion, and belonging. Diverse perspectives and contributions must be given the opportunity to flourish in a welcoming environment which has been fostered intentionally through the earnest effort to remove barriers that impede access or success.
The University is committed to providing the necessary resources to all students, faculty members, and staff members — whatever their campus. Strategic investments will be made centrally and at the campuses to support members of the Penn State community in achieving their goals, particularly in some of the areas where individual fees or local resources determine access.
Please watch for updates in early 2023 as clarity emerges around our work’s alignment with President Bendapudi’s strategic focus.