Suffolk Forward

Shaping the Future. Empowering Our Community. Leading with Purpose.

In an era of seismic shifts in higher education and unprecedented global and technological change, Suffolk University is seizing opportunities to innovate, adapt, and lead. Suffolk Forward, our new strategic plan, positions the University to be more agile in meeting the evolving needs of students, graduates, employers, and the marketplace. The plan puts a laser focus on those real-world, immersive learning opportunities that have come to define a Suffolk education. And it does so while linking two pillars of our mission—experiential learning and positive community impact. Suffolk Forward calls for innovation, not just in the programs that we create, but in the speed with which we incubate, evaluate, and launch these programs.

The plan, which builds on key investments made as part of the Suffolk 2025 plan, is the culmination of more than a year’s worth of community input that included feedback sessions, focus groups, and information sharing in the form of dozens of coffee conversations, meetings and drop-ins, more than 180 community survey responses, poster sessions and more. The Board of Trustees launched this process with a strategic planning retreat in August of 2023 and engaged in discussions about targeted initiatives throughout the plan’s development. Nearly 100 faculty and staff members organized in 15 strategic planning teams engaged in a process to develop a set of recommendations to a steering committee made of faculty and staff.

Rather than predetermining a specific end date, Suffolk Forward is a living plan that continues to be adjusted as our context evolves. Some of these initiatives will be developed and launched through ongoing community engagement over the next 1-2 years. We are operating in an era of rapid change, making evolutionary planning essential to ensuring institutional success.

Suffolk faculty and staff can access the full Suffolk Forward plan on our intranet. »

Our Moment of Opportunity

Suffolk Forward is more than a plan. It’s a commitment: to innovation, to access, to community impact, to preparing the next generation of leaders.

The plan emphasizes enhancing technological fluency, including the ability to effectively and ethically use artificial intelligence and other technologies our graduates will need to succeed over the course of their careers in a rapidly evolving economy powered by disruptive technology.

Suffolk Forward also calls for experiential learning to be infused throughout students’ curricular and co-curricular experience.

Universal engagement in internships or similar work-integrated learning experiences for undergraduate students is also central to the plan. And Suffolk Forward expands on our strong commitment to civic engagement. Professional development learning goals will be part of the undergraduate shared core curriculum and student employment will increasingly be used as an early professional development tool.

Grounded in Suffolk’s essential mission as a school of access and opportunity, the new strategic plan reinforces our commitment to an inclusive campus that thrives on diversity, and where all members of our community can succeed. And it prioritizes organizational excellence through a culture of continuous improvement in professional development, employee compensation, and wellness, which will foster our ability to attract and retain top-tier talent.