Strategic Plan 2031
With many successes and significant progress made toward our UIW Strategic Plan, we now embark on a new journey that will propel us to new heights as we approach the 150th anniversary of our founding in 2031.
A Call to Communion: Realizing Our Limitless Possibilities
Introduction: Rooted in Mission, United in Communion, Oriented Toward 2031
Having successfully sunset at the end of the 2025-26 academic year the Strategic Plan 2018-25, the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) stands at a pivotal moment in its history. The first nine years of President Thomas M. Evans’ leadership have witnessed historically high entering classes, the purchase, renovation, and impending opening of Founders Hall, the largest classroom building in the University’s history, and a nearly 50% endowment growth. Set against the backdrop of declining demographics, historically low approval ratings for American higher education, and a global pandemic, these accomplishments are not only laudatory, but the foreshadowing of something transformational.
Founded and animated by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, UIW has always understood higher education as a sacred trust – an act of communion that brings together faith and reason, teaching and scholarship, service and leadership, and diverse peoples united by a shared purpose. As higher education faces profound demographic, economic, technological, and cultural shifts, UIW’s response must be both faithful and bold. It must also hold fast to its core charism and Mission while embarking on new explorations for truth and understanding. In his apostolic letter Drawing New Maps of Hope, Pope Leo XIV calls today’s institutions to form “education constellations.” He writes: “Catholic educational constellations are an inspiring image of how tradition and future can intertwine without contradiction: a living tradition that extends towards new forms of presence and service.”
The UIW 2031 Strategic Plan is grounded in the University’s enduring Mission to educate concerned and enlightened citizens within the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, while responding directly to the strategic themes articulated in President Evans’ position paper, Embodying the Mission in a New Era. Those themes include a renewed focus on institutional transformation through student success and formation, the integration of Mission with research and scholarship, system-wide alignment, and a clear articulation of what distinguishes UIW in a crowded and competitive landscape.
In this spirit, UIW also affirms the essential nature of our vocational call as a call to purpose; that God calls each person to use their unique gifts in service to others and the common good. As stated in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Through this strategic plan, UIW seeks to help students, faculty, and staff discern and live out their vocational calling in ways that transform both their own lives and the communities they serve.
This plan is framed as a call to communion to realize our limitless possibilities as we prepare for our next 150 years. Drawing on the biblical vision of unity in diversity – “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12) – UIW affirms that its future strength lies not in fragmentation or isolated excellence, but in purposeful unity. Communion, in this context, is both spiritual and strategic: a commitment to shared responsibility, collaboration across the system, and alignment between Mission, strategy, and daily practice that ensures institutional sustainability.
The UIW 2031 Strategic Plan is organized around three integrated strategic priorities:
- Becoming Radically Student Centered – Forming the whole person for lives of meaning and impact.
- Embracing Mission-Integrated Research and Scholarship – Advancing knowledge in service of faith, justice, and the common good.
- Creating a Seamless System – Strengthening One Word through alignment, professional development, stewardship, and sustainability.
Together, these priorities provide a coherent framework for decision-making, investment, assessment, and accountability through 2031. As these priorities are implemented, UIW’s leadership will work to ensure alignment between its current Campus Master Plan and the Strategic Plan Implementation schedule of activities.
Three Integrated Strategic Priorities
Becoming Radically Student Centered by Educating and Forming the Whole Person
Being student centered is not simply a commitment to service delivery; it is a theological and educational conviction rooted in the inherent dignity of every person. In the spirit of John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” UIW understands education as an incarnational act: one that meets students where they are, becomes part of their lived experiences through personal engagement across the campus community, and walks alongside them in their formation. UIW affirms that students are not merely consumers of education, but active participants in a formative journey that integrates intellectual growth,
spiritual development, self-realization, ethical discernment, and professional preparation. UIW also affirms that faculty and staff must have access to continuing professional development to best serve and support our students during their journey. A UIW education must be a transformative experience for our students, led by informed faculty and staff who inspire them to live life in the fullest sense, so our students can lift not only their life but also the lives surrounding them in their families and in their communities.
Consistent with our Mission’s emphasis on student access, success, and outcomes, and as articulated in President Evans’ Embodying the Mission in a New Era, UIW will intentionally design systems, programs, and experiences that move the institution toward becoming “radically student centered.” This includes a deliberate focus on persistence, timely completion, and post-graduation impact while maintaining the deeply relational culture among students, faculty, and staff that distinguishes the institution. In the spirit of Luke 2:52, “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man,” UIW is committed to forming students who grow in wisdom, character, and purpose, supported by a campus community that knows them, challenges them, and prepares them to let their light shine (Matthew 5:16).
By 2031, UIW will become “radically student centered” by achieving the following goals:
- Adopt a series of system-wide improvements focused on aligning faculty practice, advising, course scheduling, and data accountability to improve time-to-degree completion and overall student satisfaction and success.
- Assess and strengthen the UIW academic program portfolio, including integrating and streamlining academic offerings across the UIW system and partner programs beginning with accelerated bachelor’s – master’s degree programs, to meet our students ever-evolving educational and professional needs more efficiently.
- Building on UIW’s standing as the best university for veterans, expand academic offerings for military-connected students and enhance support service coordination for these students across the UIW system to ensure all military-connected students have the resources they need to be successful.
- Ensure every UIW undergraduate student has the opportunity to participate in high quality educational experiences, including extra- and co-curricular activities as well as career engagement and preparation best practices, to increase retention, improve overall student and professional success, and ensure we deliver an authentic UIW educational experience to every student we serve.
- Ensure that UIW system faculty and staff have the resources and professional development opportunities to support the furtherance of these goals.
Through this priority, UIW commits to ensuring our students flourish and become graduates prepared to succeed professionally, but also to lead with compassion, integrity, and purpose while lifting the lives of those around them.
Advancing Knowledge in Service of Mission
As Ex corde Ecclesiae states “[t]he basic mission of a [Catholic] University is a continuous quest for truth through its research, and the preservation and communication of knowledge for the good of society” (# 30). Thus, UIW’s Catholic identity calls on the university to pursue research and scholarship that serve humanity and advance the common good. Since UIW is immersed in society, we are called to become an ever more effective instrument of cultural progress for individuals and society. Pope Francis challenged the university to find fact-based solutions to deficits in our lives together in every level of community from family, to the local, societal, and international (Fratelli Tutti: On Fraternity and Social Friendship).
Additionally, President Evans’ Embodying the Mission in a New Era emphasizes that UIW’s future depends on intentionally integrating Mission with intellectual inquiry, ensuring that research excellence is grounded in Gospel values, which are to promote a context of research and interdisciplinarity and dialogue while also addressing the needs of the communities we serve.
Mission-integrated research and scholarship at UIW encompass discovery, application, creative activity, and community-engaged inquiry across disciplines. This priority affirms that faith and reason are mutually enriching and that scholarship is a form of service when oriented toward human dignity, justice, and healing. The tools with which and through which we discover must also be utilized in this spirit. Notably, as AI capabilities emerge and advance, Pope Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas appealed for such a technological innovation be developed and applied with “ethical discernment” and, ultimately, in the service of humanity.
By 2031, UIW will advance a robust culture of Mission-integrated research and scholarship through the following goals:
- Review and educate faculty about current faculty policies and procedures regarding flexible workload releases and other institutional resources supporting research and scholarship activities to increase the number and diversify the pool of UIW faculty who serve as principal investigators while minimizing the opportunity for burnout and workload creep. • Build a unified research information system enabling complete grant proposal-to-award tracking, win-rate analytics, and measurement of Mission-integrated scholarship impact across the UIW system as well as across the communities we serve.
- Diversify UIW’s research portfolio among federal, corporate, and foundation funders and increase multi-institutional research collaboration, including among members of the Catholic Higher Education Alliance of Rising Institutions in Service and Mission (CHARISM), to enhance UIW’s current community engagement efforts while also supporting increased diversity of faculty principal investigators.
- Increase UIW’s student participation rates in mentored research experiences connected to UIW’s Mission to ensure all UIW students have the opportunity to integrate Mission-driven research grounded in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition into their formation as a student and future professional.
- Launch an interdisciplinary research initiative grounded in Catholic Social Teaching to establish UIW as a leader in ethical AI and a distinctive national voice in responsible and Mission-driven innovation, with an emphasis on enhancing our community engagement with underserved communities impacted by AI.
Guided by the Gospel call to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Matthew 22:37), UIW advances knowledge by placing scholarship in service of hope, healing, and human flourishing, as well as by embracing research as a sacred responsibility to promote the flourishing of all.
One UIW, Many Expressions, Shared Stewardship
UIW’s future vitality depends on its ability to function as an integrated, Mission-aligned system. President Evans’ Embodying the Mission in a New Era highlights the importance of clarity, coordination, and sustainability across the UIW system, recognizing that strategic alignment is essential to both financial health and Mission effectiveness. Central to this alignment is a sustained investment in faculty and staff professional development, ensuring that all employees are equipped to operate effectively within an increasingly collaborative and student-centered environment. By cultivating shared competencies, leadership capacity, and Mission understanding across the system, UIW strengthens its ability to deliver on its strategic priorities as One UIW, “One Word.”
A system-alignment focus honors the distinct contributions of each academic and administrative unit while strengthening collaboration, shared services, and collective accountability. This priority reflects a theology of communion, as stated before, “many members, one body” (1 Corinthians 12:12), translated into operational practice through intentional structures and relationships. In addition, UIW will seek opportunities to work more closely with other ministries of the CCVI, identifying areas of shared Mission, partnership, and resource alignment that further strengthen both systems and expand their collective impact.
By 2031, UIW with strengthen system-wide effectiveness through the following goals:
- Establish a seamless, system-wide framework for cross-campus academic mobility and implement clear, accessible, and multi-lingual academic pathways to enhance recruitment while ensuring all UIW students have access to the full range of system-wide academic offerings in both English and Spanish.
- Enhance UIW’s existing centralized digital policy platform to ensure it is accessible to all members of the UIW system and that it fully integrates all policies, procedures, and curricula throughout the system.
- Create a Unified Student Support Hub accessible across the UIW system to standardize access to advising, academic and administrative resources, onboarding, student support services and student communications.
- Implement an AI-powered tool – covering policy, system news, internal resources and partnerships – on the UIW website to facilitate improved system-wide communications as well as organizational fluency and awareness in multiple languages.
- Standardize core administrative and academic technology platforms across the system while evaluating and adopting select best-in-breed technologies to improve overall system-wide administrative performance, standardize training, and improve end-user satisfaction.
Through this priority, UIW commits to responsible stewardship, institutional resilience, and unified action in service of its Mission.
What Will Be Different in 2031
By 2031, the impact of this strategic plan will be evident not only in metrics and reports, but also in the lived experience of the UIW community. As a result of sustained commitment to being student centered, Mission integrated, and system focused, UIW will be transformed in the following ways:
- Students will experience UIW as intentionally formative, marked by personalized support, clear pathways to degree completion, and deep integration of academics, faith, service, and career preparation.
- Research and scholarship will be visibly Mission-integrated and community-engaged, with UIW recognized for advancing knowledge that serves human dignity, social justice, holistic health, and the common good.
- Faculty and staff will see Mission as operational, embedded in professional development, resource allocation, leadership decisions, and daily practice rather than confined to statements, symbols, or isolated practices.
- The UIW system will function as One Word, characterized by aligned strategy, shared services, collaborative innovation, and responsible stewardship of resources.
- External partners, such as CHARISM member universities, and communities will recognize UIW as a trusted, values-driven institution, known for ethical leadership, community engagement, and meaningful impact.
Conclusion: A Call to Communion Toward 2031 and Beyond
The UIW 2031 Strategic Plan is both a strategic framework and a spiritual invitation. It calls the University community – students, faculty, staff, administrators, trustees, alumni, and partners – into deeper communion with one another and actionable alignment with the Mission entrusted to us.
By focusing on students, integrating Mission with research and scholarship, and strengthening the unity of UIW as a system, this plan embraces the University’s limitless possibilities. It affirms that faithful identity and strategic excellence are not competing aims, but mutually reinforcing commitments that can provide a truly transformative educational experience for our students, a wholesome environment for our faculty and staff to thrive, and a true example of servant leadership to the community at large.
Rooted in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition and inspired by the biblical understanding of vocation, UIW also recognizes that education is ultimately about helping individuals discern their greater calling and purpose in the world.
In this way, the strategic plan also echoes the words of Pope Francis who in 2024 reminded Catholic university leaders that “it is not enough to prepare students for competitive careers; it is necessary to help them discover fruitful vocations, to inspire pathways of authentic existence and to integrate the contribution of each individual within the creative dynamics of the larger community. … The university is too important a resource to live only ‘in step with the times,’ setting aside the responsibility called for by the deeper human needs and the dreams and aspirations of the young.”
This plan therefore seeks both to advance institutional success and also to cultivate a community in which students, faculty, and staff are empowered to live lives of meaning, service, leadership, and faithful stewardship of their God-given gifts.
As UIW looks toward 2031, this plan invites collective imagination, shared responsibility, and courageous leadership. Guided by faith, united in purpose, and committed to the common good, the University of the Incarnate Word will continue to educate, to serve, and to transform lives – now and for generations to come.
Strategic Planning
UIW President Dr. Thomas M. Evans asked John Bury, Vice President for Strategy and Enrollment, and Michael Larkin, Chief of Staff, to lead a Strategic Planning Task Force composed of faculty and UIW leadership, which will identify initiatives and opportunities that will make UIW even more distinctive and ensure we remain a destination for students seeking transformative, Catholic education.
Dr. Michael Moon, Professor, Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing and Health Professions, President, Faculty Senate (2025-2027)
Dr. Adeola Coker, Assistant Dean, Professor and Chair, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Feik School of Pharmacy
Dr. Chunling Niu, Assistant Professor, Dreeben School of Education
Dr. Chris Edelman, Professor and Chair, Philosophy, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Dr. Lori Kels, Chair, Clinical Sciences, Professor, Psychiatry, UIW School of Osteopathic Medicine
Dr. Jeannie Scott, Dean, H-E-B School of Business and Administration
Sr. Walter Maher, CCVI, Vice President for Mission and Ministry
Marcos Fragoso, Vice President for International Affairs
Dr. Eva Fernández, Provost
Lenora Chapman, CFO and Vice President for Finance and Administration
Dr. Jeannie Scott (Co-chair), Dean, H-E-B School of Business and Administration
Dr. Chris Edelman (Co-chair), Professor and Chair, Philosophy, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Dr. Leah Alviar, Associate Dean of Administration, School of Professional Studies
Santiago Arteaga, Intern, Student Government Association
Dr. Monica Ayala Jimenez, Associate Provost for Student Success
Eric Booth, Dean of Campus Life
Dr. Laura Cannon, Associate Professor, History, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences and Faculty Athletics Representative
Amy DeStefano, Director, International Admissions and Recruitment
Dr. Brandy Finck, Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management & Student Experience
Tila Jernigan, Senior Director, Military and Veterans Affairs
Dr. Erlinda Lopez-Rodriguez, Associate Professor, Chair, Human Performance, Director, Community Health Education and Nuclear Medicine Programs, Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing and Health Professions
Dr. Elda Martinez, Director, Teacher Education Department and Professor, Dreeben School of Education
Dr. Tanja Stampfl, Professor, English, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Sr. Walter Maher, CCVI (Co-chair), Vice President for Mission and Ministry
Dr. Chunling Niu (Co-chair), Assistant Professor, Dreeben School of Education
Dr. Heather Barton-Weston, Associate Professor, Community Health Education, Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing and Health Professions
Kathleen Bottaro, Assistant Provost for Teaching, Learning, and Technology
Dr. Arturo Chavez, Associate Vice President, Mission & Ministry
Dr. Taylor Collins, Associate Professor, Economics, and Chair, Economics, Management, MIS and General Business, H-E-B School of Business and Administration
Dr. Michael Frye, Professor, Engineering, School of Mathematics, Science and Engineering
Dr. Trey Guinn, Assistant Dean and Professor, Communication Arts, School of Media and Design
Yesenia Mazuka Mendez, Treasurer, Student Government Association
Laura Moran, Director, Digital Transformation and Innovation
Dr. Mark Nijland, Dean, Research and Graduate Studies
Teofilo Reyes, Jr., Assistant Director, Leadership & Global Engagement, Ettling Center for Civic Leadership & Sustainability
Susan (Margaret) Rios, Manager, Grants Accounting
Marcos Fragoso (Co-chair), Vice President for International Affairs
Dr. Adeola Coker (Co-chair), Assistant Dean, Professor and Chair, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Feik School of Pharmacy
Cristen Alicea, Director, Financial Assistance
Yanina Cruz Salas, Director, Communication and Marketing Latin America Region
Robert Leonard, Associate Vice President of Business and Finance and Comptroller
Dr. Jose Moreno, Chair and Professor, Finance, Marketing and International Business, H-E-B School of Business and Administration
Patricia Ramirez, Principal, St. Anthony Catholic High School and Director, Brainpower Connection
Marissa Rodriguez, Director, Presidential Communications and "One Word" Strategic Priority Champion
Ben Rueger, Chief Information Officer and Vice President, Innovation and Technology
Dr. Kyle A. Sandberg, Assistant Dean for Professional Advancement and Associate Professor, Rosenberg School of Optometry
Tyler Simmons, President, Student Government Association
Dr. Suleyman Tek, Chair and Professor, Mathematics, School of Mathematics, Science and Engineering
Leanna Walker, Director, Academic Affairs, School of Professional Studies
Dr. Adam Watkins, Dean, School of Media and Design
Planning Timeline
Fall
- Implementation leaders: Dr. Eva Fernández, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Marcos Fragoso, Vice President of International Affairs, and Ben Rueger, CIO and Vice President for Innovation and Technology
- Strategic Planning Implementation Teams formed
Summer
- The board approves the document/Strategic Plan pending inclusion of a sentence that “affirms the Implementation Co-Chairs will work to ensure alignment between Campus Master Plan and the Strategic Plan Implementation schedule of activities.”
Spring
- Strategic Planning Task Force Subcommittees continue to draft and refine goals
- Draft goals presented to the Board of Trustees in April
Spring
- Strategic Planning Task Force forms
Fall
- Strategic Planning Task Force subcommittees form
January
- The Strategic Plan 2024 website is published.
- UIW hosts David Vuletich, EAB managing director of Research Services, to provide workshops on Strategic Planning to leadership.
February
- President’s position paper is made available through the Strategic Planning website.
- Strategic Planning listening sessions planned with leadership and interdisciplinary groups.
March
- Listening take place in San Antonio.
April
- Listening sessions continue in San Antonio and begin in Mexico.
May
- Listening session continue.
June
- Listening sessions conclude.
- Analysis
- Strategic Plan draft to begin.
Summer
- Draft and analysis continue.
Fall
- Continued assessment.
November
- President Evans announces to the UIW community that the University is embarking on a new strategic planning process during the President’s Homecoming Address.
- President Evans invites higher education research firm and UIW partner EAB to present on the state of the higher education sector to faculty and staff.
December
- Planning for Spring 2024 community engagement continues.
- A position paper outlining President Evans’ initial vision for the future of UIW is in development.
President's Position Paper
Dr. Thomas M. Evans shares his vision for leveraging our strengths in furtherance of Mission in his paper: "Embodying the Mission in a New Era: Inviting Collaboration, Serving Students Better & Working Together to Ignite the Potential of Our Global System."