Aspirational Statement Five: Judicious Stewardship
Baylor will be a community recognized for Judicious Stewardship... Where the value generated by and derived from a Baylor experience is supported through a diversity of revenues, prudent management of our resources and risks, and the pursuit of outstanding quality and character in every area of university life.
The value of a Baylor education is derived from the educational experiences that occur both inside and outside of the classroom. In the broadest and most basic sense, our unique mission demands excellence in all things. Meritorious characteristics of life within each aspect of our community will contribute in profound ways to the enrichment experienced by students - as well as by faculty and staff - during the time they spend at the university. Outstanding academic opportunities, close interactions with faculty and staff, residential programming bridging living and learning, vibrant student organizations providing meaningful student leadership experiences, nurturing communities, physical environments conducive to learning and working, and the integration of faith and learning all contribute to this value.
During the course of the last decade, we enhanced existing programs and developed new ones. We built new facilities and improved existing ones. The university has also nurtured community in a number of ways, including sponsoring symposia and retreats for faculty and staff, reinvigorating the Office of Spiritual Life, and establishing a common and cohesive New Student Experience that provides academic and spiritual programming, beginning with Welcome Week and extending into the semester. These tangible commitments to pursue excellence in all things, whether relational or physical, strengthen our community.
Although we know that a transformational education depends upon an extensive investment of resources, we must be mindful of the commitments being made by our students and their families. Baylor must continue to be attentive to the broader market in which we compete for the best and brightest undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. We must also be ever-vigilant about monitoring our comparative position in terms of tuition, fees, and room and board rates, as well as the educational debt our students accumulate. Stewardship contributes to the quality of life within our community. In addition to caring for existing facilities by addressing deferred maintenance needs, Baylor will continue to improve the physical environment in which we go about our work. While continuing to practice diligent and responsible management of current revenues, Baylor must pursue new and competitive funding sources to support innovation in teaching and scholarship. We are called to be accountable for the stewardship of our financial, physical, and human resources.
In order to realize as fully as possible the potential of this responsibility, as well as to continue to deliver an educational experience that remains accessible to students and parents who share our definition of value, we will:
- Increase the degree to which the cost of a Baylor education is met by scholarships;
- Discover new sources of program support and revenues;
- Expand the use of sustainable and renewable resources;
- Identify improvements in operational efficiencies and risk reduction without compromising educational quality and further promote a university-wide sense of responsibility for such improvements;
- Further integrate assessment into the decision-making processes of the university;
- Continue to enhance faculty and staff development;
- Encourage and support healthy lifestyles among faculty, staff, and students;
- Extend the functionality and augment the beauty of the physical campus according to architecturally consistent and master-planned development guidelines; and
- Continue to be recognized by various media sources as an institution that is highly valued for the educational experiences we provide.