Student Affairs Strategic Plan
A Message From the Vice President
The Hokie student experience at Virginia Tech is unique — our students are invited to grow, develop, and achieve in an atmosphere that values learning, discovery, and engagement. Student Affairs seeks to support learning environments that facilitate belonging and help students develop leadership, listening, and empathy skills. Hokies are effective leaders because they lead with purpose and have opportunities to fully embrace Virginia Tech’s motto Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) as a way of life.
With the launch of our strategic plan, Student Affairs is building upon our pledge to support students in a community that values holistic student success and well-being. It also speaks to how we will strategically prioritize ways to sustain an environment that lives out our Aspirations for Student Learning. Our strategic priorities are intentional and show our deep commitment to fostering a culture of inclusion and belonging, prioritizing student success, advancing the importance of civic engagement, and enriching student and employee lives through service.
Our Mission
The mission of Student Affairs is to promote student learning, life skills, and personal growth through a strong focus on holistic student development and collaborative partnerships that deliver superior service to, and care for, students in the spirit of Ut Prosim.
Our Focus and Commitment
The work we do in Student Affairs and throughout the entire university is ever-evolving, hence why our division is focused and committed to Virginia Tech’s Beyond Boundaries vision.
From within this vision, our division has constructed a strategic plan that will serve as our roadmap for making transformational changes in the higher education landscape and the way we do our work in an agile and proactive framework. Our strategic plan priorities embrace opportunities to collaborate, innovate, and advocate for our students, employees, and beyond.
Our Strategic Priorities
Student Success and Well-being
In a culture of student success and well-being, all students holistically care for themselves so that they can care for one another and the community. We help every student across our campuses develop the mindset and skills for defining and achieving their academic and career goals as part of a journey toward self-fulfillment.
- Goal #1: Strengthen foundational partnerships and practices for student success and well-being.
- Goal #2: Identify, implement, analyze, and raise awareness of high-impact student success and well-being resources.
- Goal #3: Cultivate cutting-edge on-campus living that promotes student success, holistic well-being, and belonging as foundational to a student’s entire Virginia Tech journey.
ExperienceVT
In a culture of ExperienceVT, every Hokie will encounter the aspirations for student learning as a framework to develop the knowledge, skills, and abilities to customize their student experience, maximize their learning, engage their community, and embrace a life of Ut Prosim.
- Goal #1: Review, affirm, and align the language and outcomes for ExperienceVT and the Aspirations for Student Learning.
- Goal #2: Identify, strengthen, and promote high-impact ExperienceVT opportunities.
- Goal #3: Elevate opportunities for students to connect with the community to ExperienceVT.
Inclusion & Belonging
In a culture of inclusion and belonging, students bring and openly express their authentic selves in the classroom and beyond while engaging and developing friendships with individuals who share different perspectives and lived experiences across our campuses.
- Goal #1: Create and establish a divisional foundational framework for inclusion and belonging.
- Goal #2: Deliver signature experiences for students to build capacity and take the lead in facilitating an inclusive environment at Virginia Tech.
- Goal #3: Center representative student voices in developing programs, policies, practices, and decision-making.
Teamwork, Collaboration, and Innovation
In a culture of teamwork, collaboration, and innovation, all teams are inspired and equipped to deliver an exceptional campus experience by consistently centering our shared mission, collapsing barriers, integrating expertise, and pursuing bold and creative solutions.
- Goal #1: Co-create principles, expectations, and resources to inspire a culture of integration around shared core work within the division and across campus.
- Goal #2: Develop conditions that incentivize teamwork, collaboration, and innovation.
- Goal #3: Strengthen and expand academic partnerships.
Data-Informed Decision-Making
In a culture of data-informed decision-making, all teams consistently gather, access, and share data across the institution to enhance student success and improve the Hokie experience. We build strong collaborations and rely on timely, accurate, and meaningful data to identify patterns, trends, and opportunities to anticipate and adapt to the ever-changing needs of students, employees, and campus partners.
- Goal #1: Facilitate consistent, active, thoughtful, and equity-minded collection and use of data to inform all efforts.
- Goal #2: Build cross-campus data infrastructure partnerships to broadly and securely share relevant, principled, and accessible metadata to strengthen collaboration and improve shared core work.
- Goal #3: Develop proactive data utilization practices to anticipate campus needs.
Administrative Excellence and Effectiveness
In a culture of administrative excellence and effectiveness, all teams embrace continuous workflow improvements, prioritize fiscal responsibility, invest in modern systems and solutions, and seek out innovative solutions that contribute to exceptional learning and working environments.
- Goal #1: Pursue innovative services and support for a seamless student experience.
- Goal #2: Optimize information, hiring, and budget practices to improve team capacity and the student and staff experience.
- Goal #3: Modernize facilities, infrastructures, and technologies to create excellent student and employee environments.
Employee Well-being and Flourishing
In a culture of employee well-being and flourishing, all team members are valued, empowered, and respected in a healthy, equitable, and inclusive work environment with career paths that positively impacts an individual’s mental, physical, social, emotional, financial, and spiritual well-being.
- Goal #1: Demonstrate principles of well-being and flourishing by raising awareness, building cultural capacity for well-being at all levels, and providing opportunities, and support for career growth and capability development.
- Goal #2: Provide opportunities and support for prioritizing mental/emotional, physical, social, community, and financial well-being.
- Goal #3: Develop supervisors and leaders to build well-being capacity and enhance authentic, empathetic, and inclusive work environments.
