SDSU's 5-year Strategic Plan Has Launched

San Diego State University has formally closed its strategic planning process and introduced its new strategic plan, “We Rise We Defy: Transcending Borders, Transforming Lives.” 

SDSU President Adela de la Torre shared elements of the plan during the Aug. 19 virtual All-University Convocation, which drew nearly 800 viewers via the YouTube stream. 

The strategic planning process officially launched in September 2019, generating input from thousands of community members and resulting in five strategic priorities. 

“When we embarked on this journey, we could never have imagined that our plan would emerge just as a global pandemic, a national conversation surrounding racial strife, and a devastating economic downturn began to quickly unfold,” de la Torre said. 

“Yet for 123 years, SDSU has overcome hurdles, has risen to new heights, and has  defied expectations. This is deeply part of San Diego State University and the reason why our new Strategic Plan bears the name: We Rise We Defy.” 

The priorities are, as de la Torre shared: 

• Students at our Core – We will commit to a future where all students are able to achieve their greatest potential. We’ll help them develop to become more nimble and flexible in all kinds of careers, creating an environment for students to be successful in  an ever changing economic landscape. 
• Equity and Inclusion in Everything We Do – We will capitalize on the diversity of our students, faculty and staff, and our locations. These values will be embedded in the choices we make for our campus and will be visible in the metrics that determine our success.
• Resilience. Designed to Thrive – We will build a sustainable university that enhances our commitment to expand and diversify revenue streams that support our campus goals. We also reaffirm our commitment to an environmentally sustainable future to protect the legacy of the Kumeyaay land where we are so privileged to reside. 
• Becoming a Premier Public Research Institution: A New Kind of HSI – We are California’s singular Border Research Institution. From the Pacific Ocean to the Imperial Valley our research and scholarship will open and stimulate new entry points for access and excellence that will transform the region and the world.
• “We Are SDSU” This tells everyone we are one SDSU, building on the strength of our collaboration. San Diego, Imperial Valley, the Republic of Georgia, microsites at community colleges, our Global Campus — we are one as a community. And since the historic groundbreaking on Monday, our community now officially includes SDSU Mission Valley.

Regarding Mission Valley, hundreds attended the virtual groundbreaking ceremony held on Aug. 17. At full build-out, SDSU Mission Valley will allow the university to increase enrollment by up to 15,000 students and will pump $4.6 billion in total economic output to our regional economy, with nearly 29,000 new jobs supported.

“I cannot overstate: Mission Valley will propel SDSU into a vital, new era,” de la Torre said. “And it’s a product of the kind of collaboration that is very important to the future of public higher education at a time of dramatically declining state investments in our sector.”