Our Strategic Vision

In alignment with the University’s Strategic Framework, the Campus Life Strategic Visioning seeks to outline the themes and goals that will guide our work into Wake Forest’s third century. As we seek to “embody Pro Humanitate at home and in the world,” this guide will provide a divisional framework for Campus Life’s role in “graduating leaders with integrity.” This page also provides mapping to the Strategic Framework to further emphasize connectivity and alignment.

Vision Statement

An inclusive learning community where all matter, belong, and thrive.

Mission Statement

In the spirit of Pro Humanitate, we cultivate a transformative campus experience through curiosity, care, and connection.

Thematic Definitions and Goals

Theme 1: Reimaging the Campus as a Classroom

From our residence halls to Greene Hall to student organizations to peer education, learning happens everywhere. What if we no longer described our work as what happens “outside of the classroom?” This theme invites us to integrate our work, giving strong consideration for learning, impact, and how our work deepens the richness of the engaged liberal arts. Our work adds value by creating an inclusive learning experience and this theme encourages us to see our role in making the campus the classroom.

Strategic Framework Thematic Goal #1
Aim 1.1, 1.2, 1.3

Theme 1 Goals:

  • Support a robust residential model to enrich belonging and academic integration (inclusive of the residential experience, new student, and transition programs).
  • Embed learning in student professional development positions (e.g., student employment) and experiences (e.g., student-athletes).
  • Create and implement a holistic and experiential student curriculum.
  • Maximize and expand physical spaces that provide opportunities to integrate learning.

Theme 2 Goals:

  • Cultivate opportunities for students to explore their unique lived experiences and to appreciate their own and others.
  • Evaluate space practices within Campus Life to promote equity and belonging.
  • Align the Division of Campus Life diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts with the established university framework.
  • Create a cohesive orientation experience focused on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging with shared curriculum and learning outcomes in alignment with the established university framework.

Theme 2: Inspiring One Wake Forest

We honor individual identities, stories, and strengths while connecting to our shared experience as Wake Foresters. One Wake Forest centers on diversity, equity, and inclusion and facilitates our students’ identity development through cultural humility, programming, and services. While we do not envision a singular Wake Forest experience, our role is to ensure every student has a transformative experience on campus. This theme calls on us to create access and remove barriers to create a unified community who is deeply committed to a more inclusive university.

Strategic Framework Thematic Goal #1
Aim 1.1, 1.3

Theme 3: Creating Pathways to Leadership, Meaning and Purpose

This theme encourages us to think about leadership as a process and not always a position. Leadership is accessible to all students and all staff. Leading lives of meaning and purpose requires us to identify pathways to leadership, map our core values to our actions, connect to life after college, identify talents and strengths and build frameworks for radical collaboration on campus, in the local community, and beyond.

Strategic Framework Thematic Goal #1
Aim 1.2

Theme 3 Goals:

  • Determine a shared definition and framework for developing student leaders through the exploration of values that reinforce students’ evolving understanding of their strengths, meaning and purpose, which will be utilized across the division.
  • Create a distributed network of leadership experts who develop programs that support the shared leadership framework.

Theme 4 Goals:

  • Adopt a shared meaning of wellbeing through the Eight Dimensions of Wellbeing framework.
  • Actively advance the work of a public health promotion coalition to reduce the likelihood of harm in the community (e.g., Alcohol and Other Drug Coalition and other efforts aimed to reduce relationship violence, hazing and other social harms).
  • Create an environment where care for self and others is essential to our programming and practices.
  • Promote peer education and support to address our most salient wellbeing challenges.
  • Promote faculty/staff engagement to address and expand capacity for care across the campus.

Theme 4: Elevating Our Consciousness of Care

We strive to match our care for one another with our academic rigor and reputation.  We seek to interrupt the “Work Forest” culture and broaden our capacity for care and resilience for students and staff. Elevating our consciousness of care is an inclusive process and amplifies the complexities necessary for a comprehensive approach to wellbeing. This theme underscores the whole person and gives attention to our role in creating a safe and healthy campus.

Strategic Framework Thematic Goal #1
Aim 1.1

Theme 5: Maximizing Systems, Processes and Resources

The success of our shared strategic vision must be rooted in consistent and efficient processes and systems. This theme invites us to consider opportunities to maximize our operational approaches. Consistency also connects to our deep commitment to equity. Ensuring students and staff experience the same level of support, challenge, and connection is critical to our deeply relational culture. We must continually ask ourselves, “What should we start, stop, and continue?” and collect the data to support our responses. Maximizing processes, systems, and resources also requires a strong assessment culture that captures impact. Finally, we must steward our human and fiscal resources to ensure sustainability over time.

Theme 5 Goals:

  • Improve our technologies and use of existing technologies to maximize our software and technologies use so that we can automate processes and increase constituents’ access to resources.
  • Enhance the employee experience by implementing initiatives that promote a positive workplace culture.
  • Use equity and evidence-informed decision-making to start, stop or pilot processes, systems, programs, policies and other activities.
  • Evaluate and enhance systems and processes that support equitable, efficient, and effective resource allocation.

In this period of innovation, creativity, dreaming, and strategic framing, I can’t say nothing lies before us, but it certainly still feels like everything does… I am excited about our place in the world. Wake Forest University is a model for good, and this has been an enduring value since Pro Humanitate first adorned the Wake Forest College seal in 1908. And, it continues to be our North Star.

Dr. Shea Kidd Brown, Vice President for Campus Life, Founders Day 2024