STRATEGIC PLANNING
Ahead of the Curve
Marquette moves to outpace coming disruptions that will leave higher education a very changed place
By Christopher Stolarski
In a packed Alumni Memorial Union ballroom in mid-November, more than 450 Marquette faculty, staff and students riffled through an assortment of picture cards placed on each round table. The assignment was simple; the goal, loftier.
Asking participants to pair images with sentiments about the state of the university, the exercise awakened minds in preparation for a brainstorming session intended to elicit a trove of ideas for how Marquette can best execute its strategic plan, Beyond Boundaries — and write its own future.
The event, titled “Think Different, Act Different” in a respectful nod to a famed Apple ad campaign about pushing creative boundaries, came about two months after the university announced a series of costcutting measures, including the difficult decision to reduce its workforce. Marquette laid off 24 staff colleagues and will not fill 49 current and future vacant positions.
The move, announced by President Michael R. Lovell on Sept. 5, 2019, was a proactive one to address turbulence in higher education that is expected to worsen as a seismic demographic shift drives down the number of college-age students over the next decade. These alarming projections had been weighing on him and other campus leaders.
“This is a journey we have been on together for several years,” President Lovell reminded the crowded room, a few moments after showing a news clip revealing how these pressures have already caused some colleges to close their doors. “But the best thing we have going for us is we already have a plan — that plan is Beyond Boundaries. We are starting from a position of strength, and we have already been evolving.”
To provide a clearer understanding of the squeeze Marquette and other universities will face, Lovell last summer asked all senior university leaders to read Dr. Nathan Grawe’s 2018 book, Demographics and the Demand for Higher Education. In it, Grawe predicts a sharp decline in higher education enrollment starting in 2026 because of the steep drop in birth rates associated with the Great Recession of 2008–2009 when couples put off having children.
Grawe says the Midwest will be one of the areas hardest hit by population changes, with anticipated declines of 15 to 25 percent in college-age students. The only demographic groups predicted to grow will be those traditionally less likely to enroll in private four-year universities — a trend that adds urgency to Marquette’s efforts to make its campus, academic offerings and admissions practices more inclusive for students from diverse backgrounds and nontraditional learners.
This includes expanding online offerings, continuing to pursue the federal government’s Hispanic-serving Institution designation and prioritizing fundraising for student scholarships, among other initiatives outlined in Beyond Boundaries.
This enrollment scenario has serious implications for Marquette, where nearly 70 percent of operating revenues come from tuition and room and board fees. Lovell wrote to the campus community in August: “Knowing … the financial burden that a Marquette education places on many of our students and their families, we know we cannot continue to increase tuition at our recent pace.”
That’s why Lovell, ever the collaborator, brought together hundreds of people around tables in the AMU on that snowy Monday morning: to generate as many creative ideas as possible. “I’d rather have us define what Marquette is than have the market dictate that for us,” he says. “This is an opportunity to evolve to set ourselves up for continued success in the future. The point is we have to plan now — we can’t wait.”
The changes that result may include more online learning to appeal to nontraditional students, expanded corporate partnerships, pipelines involving two-year schools and new academic programs that prepare graduates to work in fast-growing fields. But that may be only scratching the surface. Additional initiatives are underway to optimize use of building space and achieve operational efficiencies.
Innovation, Lovell says, must be ongoing everywhere on campus. A new online ideas portal even allows any member of the campus community to share ideas — big and small — on how to think and act differently amid change in higher education. “We are all responsible for the enterprise of the institution,” he says. “Together, we are creating our future.” ⁄
