Click Here for Strategic Plan Full Text
For over 100 years, Southern Nazarene University has been a place of great creativity,
vision, and purpose. Precisely for this reason, it is fitting that the strategic
planning process involves broad participation among faculty, staff, students, board
members and administrators. Such collaboration brings wisdom and insight to the
process of reviewing who we are, where we have been, and where we intend to go in the
years to come.
Strategic planning, so necessary for the long-term health of any organization, gives
feet to our mission of educating students for responsible Christian living. The
process also brings focus to the shared vision of becoming a school of choice, known as
one of the finest small teaching universities in the country with the most
transformative campus experience to be found.
This strategic plan not only remains true to our founding purpose and builds upon
the foundations set by those who came before us, but it also takes the articulation of
SNU’s original mission to a new level of clarity. As would be expected, this current
plan outlines significant challenges that will require our attention and best efforts
to ensure future growth. It also highlights several unique and exciting opportunities
available to us at this point in the university’s history.
I want to thank each one of those who contributed time and effort to this task. If
you are reviewing this information for the very first time, I hope you will be inspired
by what you see. Through this ongoing planning process, SNU is working to effectively
balance an embrace of our heritage and original purpose while reaching to the future to
meet the needs of students yet to arrive at this good place. We go forward seeking the
Lord’s direction - guided by the collective wisdom embodied in this strategic plan.
Loren P. Gresham, Ph.D.
President