Convening a mission, vision, and values task force
All colleges and universities have them. Institutional documents that articulate the institution’s mission, vision, and values. Sometimes they are authentic and compelling. Members of the college or university community know them or fundamental aspects thereof. They inform the university’s strategic decision-making at a variety of levels. Sometimes they are less compelling, artifacts from another era, and not widely known or understood.
It had been several decades since St. Ambrose’s mission documents had undergone any revisions. In 2023, all of that changed.
In late spring 2023, Amy Novak, EdD, president of St. Ambrose University, convened a mission, vision, and values task force and charged it with revising the university’s mission documents in a manner that affirmed core Ambrosian values, while simultaneously charting a course for a compelling and innovative future. The timeline she set was aggressive. Draft statements were to be prepared for the start of the fall 2023 semester and ready to share with constituents that same semester. A final draft would be shared for affirmation with the faculty assembly, staff assembly, and board of trustees in spring 2024.
The mission, vision, and values task force brought together 39 university stakeholders – including faculty members, staff members, students, diocesan leaders, alumni, and board members – to engage, collectively, in a process of discernment, iteration, and refinement with respect to the university’s mission, vision, and values.
The task force met on multiple occasions during the early months of summer 2023. In midsummer, it divided into smaller subgroups, with one group focusing on the university’s value statement, a second group focusing on the university’s mission statement, and a third group focusing on the university’s vision statement.
The smaller groups met on their own, convening at regular intervals to share their work with the larger task force to solicit and share feedback. During some of these large group meetings, several things became apparent. First, articulating the university’s values would be critical to the entire process. Questions about the university’s values invariably shaped the work of the groups drafting the mission and vision statements.
Secondly, it became apparent that a fourth working group and a fourth statement would be required. St. Ambrose needed to more fully explain what it meant to be a Catholic university. More specifically, Novak charged the task force with crafting a Catholic identity statement that would highlight specific tenets of Catholicism, aligned with the writings of Saint Ambrose of Milan, that would be the foundation for the life and work of the university. The university would develop and then embrace what it meant to be an Ambrosian, Catholic university.
“The question became, what would an 'Ambrose charism' look like,” noted Ethan Gannaway, PhD, co-director of the Academy for the Study of Saint Ambrose of Milan. “Who was Saint Ambrose as a person; what did he think about, what did he talk about, what values characterized his beliefs, his work, and his life?”
Understanding Saint Ambrose of Milan
Gannaway and Rev. Robert “Bud” Grant ’80, PhD, director of the Academy for the Study of Saint Ambrose of Milan and professor of theology, provided the task force with an overview of critical ideas and teachings of Saint Ambrose of Milan. From there, the task force identified themes to inform the university’s identity documents.
Ambrose was bishop of Milan from 374 AD to 397 AD.
Born to a wealthy family in the Roman Empire, Ambrose was educated in the liberal arts and trained in rhetoric and oratory. Before becoming bishop, he was a court lawyer and governor.
“He was extremely well-educated, and he saw zero contradiction between his biblical faith and his traditional Roman upbringing,” Fr. Grant said.
This idea of faith and reason, according to Fr. Grant, was fundamental to Ambrose’s teachings and philosophy. While faith and reason – a sort of “shorthand” for the Catholic Intellectual Tradition – is not unique to Ambrose, it is the foundation of his teachings.
Revised mission documents come into focus
In what became a regularly repeated dance over the summer and fall of 2023, the mission, vision, values, and Catholic identity subgroups came together periodically as an entire task force to share drafts of their work and to receive feedback from their colleagues. This feedback became the vehicle for subsequent changes and revisions to a series of draft mission, vision, values, and Catholic identity statements.
The university’s Catholic identity statement provided the foundation upon which the mission, vision, and values statements were grounded. The values operationalize the university’s Catholic identity and indicate how it aspires to act toward both those within and those outside of the university community. The university’s mission represents its purpose. It articulates both who the institution is and what it does. The university’s vision statement, used primarily as an internal document, offers an aspirational lens of where the university hopes to be in seven to ten years.
Various university constituencies were offered a variety of means to provide feedback ranging from focus groups to surveys. The sharing and feedback from these sessions led to further modifications and refinements to the revised documents.
As the work progressed, several things became abundantly clear. One was how thoroughly each of the individual documents reflected an Ambrosian ethos. In one way or another, the identified values – courage, wisdom, justice, and service – were woven through each statement. Secondly, the revised mission, vision, values, and Catholic identity statements enjoyed broad affirmation and support across a breadth of university constituencies.
“The four values that the task force ultimately settled on are all derived from Saint Ambrose,” Gannaway said.
Early in spring 2024, a small writing group reviewed the feedback gathered over the fall 2023 semester and generated a final draft of the mission, vision, values, and Catholic identity statements for formal affirmation by multiple groups. And that affirmation was forthcoming. The Staff Assembly was the first group to affirm the revised documents. They were followed by the Faculty Assembly and, finally, by the Board of Trustees.
The ripples from the revised mission documents emanate
Although the revised mission, vision, values, and Catholic identity documents have only formally been in place for a few months, the ripples emanating from their adoption are being experienced in positive ways across the university.
Take, for example, the university’s new strategic combination with Mount Mercy University.
"St. Ambrose’s revised mission documents and, in particular, its vision statement, is readily able to accommodate a strategic combination with Mount Mercy," Novak said. "The new vision statement calls for St. Ambrose to be a vibrant, sustainable, and learner-focused model for Catholic higher education. Our work with Mount Mercy is entirely in keeping with and, indeed, supports this worthy vision.”
Another place the revised mission documents' impact can be seen is the university's brand. You can read about the integration of St. Ambrose's values into the brand identity in Becoming Who We are Meant to Be: A Distinctive Identity for St. Ambrose University.
And work on revisions to the core curriculum is being aligned with these foundational documents.
“I have been truly impressed with the willingness of the members of the core curriculum committee to cast a vision for a revised core curriculum that aligns very authentically with the work generated by the mission, vision, and values task force,” said Joe Roidt, PhD, provost and vice president for academic affairs.
Novak believes that the time invested in truly unpacking what it means to be an Ambrosian Catholic university has inspired the community, including students, who are readily engaging and embracing the power of St. Ambrose values in their work and service in the world.
Explore our new mission and vision statements in About St. Ambrose. Our Catholic identity statement and values are available in our Catholic Values section.
