Strategic Initiatives and Performance Targets

The following prioritized initiatives and programs will guide our time, effort, and resource allocation to achieve our priorities and goals. These initiatives will translate our vision into results and ensure that every step aligns with our priorities.     

By focusing on the highest-priority impact areas, we will drive progress, foster innovation, and enhance our operational excellence. Each initiative is a critical component of our strategic roadmap, providing clear direction and measurable outcomes in pursuit of creating the extraordinary.

The following initiatives are not intended to be exhaustive of all initiatives implemented as part of this strategic plan. Additional initiatives will be solicited during the operationalization phase.

The following performance targets, along with these initiatives, illustrate the types and directions of impact that will be tracked and measured. During the operationalization phase, these performance targets will be updated and supplemented.

Phases of the Strategic Plan

  • Academic Review and Future Visioning

    This initiative began in Fall 2024 to create a bold and future-focused academic infrastructure for Emerson’s future. The project involves mapping current educational programs and priorities and analyzing the future direction of arts and communication disciplines to provide recommendations for future growth and investments. This data-driven project engages faculty, staff, and students to review curricula, majors, minors, and interdisciplinary programs and consider programs to create, improve, change, or sunset. 

    Performance Targets Include

    • Update undergraduate program offerings so all majors have at least 30 students and all minors have at least 20 students by Fall 2026
    • Develop and launch at least two new interdisciplinary undergraduate majors and two new interdisciplinary graduate programs by Fall 2028

    Goals Supported

    • Goal A.1 : Increase innovation, interdisciplinarity, and collaboration throughout the academic enterprise
    • Goal D.1 : Increase financial strength through innovative academic and programmatic offerings, increased philanthropy, and operational efficiencies

  • Faculty Research Hub

    Emerson faculty expands the boundaries of research in higher education, advancing knowledge, creating change in the world, investigating complex problems, and creatively bringing ideas to life. The Emerson College Faculty Research Hub initiative launched in Fall 2024 to improve synergies among faculty researchers, fund individual and collaborative research internally, and raise awareness of Emerson faculty research expertise externally.

    Performance Targets Include

    • Launch at least two new interdisciplinary research initiatives, labs, or centers by Fall 2026
    • Increase overall extramural research funding by at least 20% by Fall 2027

    Goals Supported

    • Goal A.4 : Recruit, develop, and support an innovative and inclusive faculty

  • Alumni Relations

    The Alumni Relations department and the Alumni Board have re-engaged to rebuild alumni relationships through alumni events and improved communication and engagement. Building and strengthening alumni relationships is paramount to achieving many of the College’s strategic goals and is necessary for many other initiatives to succeed.

    Performance Targets Include

    • Grow active participation of alumni in philanthropy and other areas of engagement by at least 20% by Fall 2027

    Goals Supported

    • Goal C.1 : Support a vibrant community culture and experience that fosters creativity, curiosity, belonging, accessibility, and well-being

  • EmersonTogether

    EmersonTogether was created in Fall 2024 to help the community come together around solutions and shared values to address institutional silos and tensions. EmersonTogether is a living initiative supporting a spectrum of involvement across the silos that can sometimes form in higher education communities. Students, faculty, staff, and alumni at all of Emerson’s sites can contribute.

    Performance Targets Include

    • Conduct at least two community-building events or programs per month starting in Fall 2025
    • Develop Emersonians’ overall perceived sense of belonging as measured by Emerson360 starting in Fall 2025

    Goals Supported

    • Goal C.1 : Support a vibrant community culture and experience that fosters creativity, curiosity, belonging, accessibility, and well-being

  • Student Success

    The Student Success Initiative fosters a coherent and holistic approach to ensuring student retention, graduation, and overall success. This initiative builds on findings from the 2024 External Review and will create equitable, targeted student outcomes by addressing key barriers, such as financial challenges, curriculum limitations, and broad student concerns and needs, while improving communication and collaboration across campus. These efforts reflect a commitment to inclusion and belonging and developing a vibrant community where all students can be high-achieving scholars, creatives, and communicators.

    Performance Targets Include

    • Increase undergraduate student 4-year graduation rate to at least 80% by Spring 2027 
    • Increase first- and second-year undergraduate student retention to at least 90% by Fall 2028

    Goals Supported

    • Goal C.1 : Support a vibrant community culture and experience that fosters creativity, curiosity, belonging, accessibility, and well-being

  • Emerson Branding Initiative

    Through external and internal research involving deep engagement with Emersonians, the Emerson Branding Initiative will allow the College to evaluate Emerson’s position in the marketplace and impact on cultural and prospective student conversations. This initiative will craft an updated expression of the Emerson College brand that authentically represents the College and effectively highlights the unique value of an Emerson education. The process will allow the College to refresh the key messaging and creative expression of the brand, inform all of the College’s communication platforms and materials, and provide clear guidelines and tools for Emersonians as brand ambassadors.

    Performance Targets Include

    • Develop and launch the updated branding platform by Spring 2026
    • Build brand awareness and support among targeted audiences as measured against our baseline by Fall 2027

    Goals Supported

    • Goal D.3 : Refine and elevate Emerson’s branding, positioning, marketing, media, and engagement with priority audiences

  • Emerson Career Readiness Initiative

    The Emerson Career Readiness Initiative will gather, assess, review, and analyze current career development programs to improve and expand career initiatives at Emerson. This initiative will document current programs and resources, curate data on each program, and assess its effectiveness (job placement, salary, internships, etc.). It will also benchmark Emerson’s programs against peer institutions. This initiative will develop plans for potential investment, realignment, new programs, program integration, potential staffing, and targets for new comprehensive and coordinated career readiness programs, emphasizing increased alumni involvement and mentoring.

    Performance Targets Include

    • Expand undergraduate first-job placement and satisfaction to at least 90% by Fall 2027
    • Grow the number of students completing an internship before graduation by at least 20% by Fall 2028

    Goals Supported

    • Goal A.3 : Expand and strengthen career readiness for all students
    • Goal B.3 : Develop and diversify industry, organizational, and community collaborations and partnerships

  • Strategic Enrollment Initiative

    This initiative involves developing a new comprehensive strategic enrollment plan for Emerson College focused on its mission, fostering growth, and ensuring excellence. It emphasizes strategic recruitment in key markets, utilizing data analytics to enhance enrollment, optimizing financial aid, and strengthening Emerson’s positioning. Key aspects include promoting inclusive access while boosting success through innovative programming, improved partnerships with high schools and communities, and retention strategies for undergraduate and graduate students. The strategic enrollment plan will attract, enroll, and retain an inclusive student population, supporting Emerson’s long-term goals and priorities.

    Performance Targets Include

    • Expand the number of overall applications by 10%, decrease the admission rate by 5%, and increase overall undergraduate enrollment by at least 10% over Fall 2024 numbers by Fall 2026 
    • Expand graduate enrollment by at least 15% over Fall 2024 numbers by Fall 2027

    Goals Supported

    • Goal B.1 : Enhance Emerson Los Angeles and increase engagement and recruitment in targeted US cities and regions
    • Goal B.2 : Enhance Kasteel Well, global programs and partnerships, and increase international student recruitment from targeted regions

  • Community Arts and Media

    Emerson College is endeavoring to advance and shine a spotlight on the professional arts and media that serve, support, and advance our local and campus communities. Through the Community Arts and Media (CAM) Initiative, we will strengthen and coordinate all community-facing, professional arts and media initiatives across the College. While Emerson’s core teaching and learning mission is paramount, greater strategic and tactical alignment of the arts and media with that mission will also be a primary goal of CAM, along with increasing Emerson’s community visibility and impact while exploring opportunities to increase revenue. 

    Performance Targets Include

    • Develop and implement a new organizational structure for CAM by Fall 2025
    • Ensure all student internships within the arts and media units have formal linkages to academic programs by Fall 2026

    Goals Supported

    • Goal B.4 : Expand external engagement and integration with our local communities through arts, media, service, and civic engagement

  • Campus Alumni Center

    Emerson has identified the need for a physical Alumni Center on the Boston campus. The Center will house the Alumni Board meetings and the Alumni Relations staff and be an essential stop on campus tours for prospective students. The Hall of Honor will showcase alumni accomplishments from across industries, demonstrating the power of an Emerson education. 

    Performance Targets Include

    • Launch an Alumni Center on the Boston campus by Spring 2026 featuring exhibits on the history of Emerson, an alumni hall of honor, and event space
    • Grow the number of alumni visiting the Boston campus, measured year-over-year by Alumni Center visits beginning in Spring 2026

    Goals Supported

    • Goal C.3 : Cultivate and strengthen robust alumni relations and engagement and increase campus involvement

  • Internal Communication

    This initiative focuses on how the College fosters communication with and among members of the Emerson community. By developing people, processes, and products to support these efforts, the College will communicate administrative and academic priorities and goals more clearly and foster multidirectional communication with people across our campuses. These efforts will promote organizational alignment and bridge-building, supporting both the elimination of redundancies and the force-multiplication of efforts through shared intelligence. More effective internal communications will empower community members to feel engaged with and champion the Emerson College brand.

    Performance Targets Include

    • Launch a comprehensive plan for campus internal communication leveraging multiple communication channels by Fall 2025
    • Expand internal communication satisfaction by at least 10% annually from Fall 2026 to Fall 2028 as measured by internal satisfaction surveys

    Goals Supported

    • Goal C.2 : Strengthen internal communication, engagement, and collaboration among students, faculty, staff, and administrators

  • Institutional Research and Data Initiative

    This initiative will evolve the College’s institutional research capacity to holistically track the student journey from admissions to job placement to drive opportunities that improve yield, retention, engagement, and outcomes. It will also assess performance against the strategic plan by measuring outcomes of strategic initiatives, identifying risks or new opportunities based on trends, and performing continuous peer benchmarking and environment scanning to perform mid-term adjustments to the plan. This initiative will perform targeted market analysis to identify opportunities and workforce needs to inform the launch of new programs and identify strategic partners in industry for institutional leaders to pursue. Finally, the goal is to build a team that will serve as the central hub for ongoing analysis of program effectiveness and institutional efficiency, lead accreditation processes and compliance reporting, and reduce the administrative burden of departments College-wide. 

    Performance Targets Include

    • Launch a comprehensive plan for campus-wide Institutional Research and recruit a new leader for IR by Summer 2025
    • Establish and maintain a dashboard for assessing strategic plan progress by Fall 2025

    Goals Supported

    • Goal D.2 : Develop coordinated enterprise data systems, analyses, and infrastructure to inform strategic decisions and direction

  • LGBTQIA+ Arts and Media Initiative

    This new initiative brings together faculty, staff, students, alumni, and partners who focus on research, creativity, service, and teaching in the arts and media, featuring and focusing on LGBTQIA+ people, concerns, and community. A working group will explore potential focus areas for a new Center, and Institutional Advancement will explore potential partners and supporters for this initiative. We will develop recommendations for the scope, focus, and goals of a new Center, Institute, or program that can bring together Emersonians from across academic units to work together in this vital domain of research, practice, creative works, and instruction. 

    Performance Targets Include

    • Develop recommendations from faculty, staff, students, and alumni for a new Center, Institute, or program by Fall 2025 
    • Plan, fundraise, develop, and nationally launch the new Center, Institute, or program by Spring 2026

    Goals Supported

    • Goal A.1 : Increase innovation, interdisciplinarity, and collaboration throughout the academic enterprise

  • Emerging Technology Initiative

    This new initiative will help the College rethink how emerging technology interacts with students, faculty, and staff in a forward-thinking manner. It will focus on expanding support for teaching that goes beyond traditional models. This effort will also establish an ongoing assessment process to ensure cutting-edge technologies remain embedded in current facilities, curricula, and organizational structures. This approach will facilitate the seamless integration of emerging technologies such as XR and AI into academic and co-curricular activities, ensuring the continuous strategic and creative use of facilities in Emerson’s unique context.

    Performance Targets Include

    • Increase the role of academic preparation and competencies on emerging media and technology into the curricula beginning in Fall 2025 with full implementation by Fall 2026
    • Invest in media and technological infrastructure upgrades on all campuses informed by industry best practices and employment trends and opportunities beginning in Fall 2025 with full implementation by Fall 2027

    Goals Supported

    • Goal A.2 : Enhance student education and institutional capacity in emerging media and technologies
    • Goal A.4 : Recruit, develop, and support an innovative and inclusive faculty

  • Strategic Cities Initiative

    This new initiative, based on the successes and opportunities from Emerson Los Angeles (ELA), will focus on New York City; Washington, DC; Atlanta, GA, and/or other cities in the US. The initiative will provide opportunities to think imaginatively about Emerson’s next level of success in terms of partnerships, internships, career and job placement, alumni engagement, student recruitment and retention, innovative degree models, and capacity-building initiatives. 

    Performance Targets Include

    • Strengthen the Emerson Los Angeles program with new comprehensive operational plans by Spring 2026
    • Explore the creation of new Emerson programs and increased student recruitment in cities with significant alumni presences and increased employment opportunities for graduates, such as New York City; Washington, DC; and/or Atlanta, GA, by Fall 2027

    Goals Supported

    • Goal B.1 : Enhance Emerson Los Angeles and increase engagement and recruitment in targeted US cities and regions

  • Global Engagement Initiative

    The new Global Engagement Initiative reimagines Emerson College’s approach to internationalization, setting the stage for transformative global impact. This initiative focuses on expanding global partnerships and pathway programs, creating innovative dual-degree models that enhance cross-cultural learning, and attracting an inclusive and talented international student body. By fostering more substantial connections with international alumni, Emerson will build a vibrant global network that supports lifelong engagement. Additionally, the initiative emphasizes institutional capacity building through global collaborations, positioning Emerson as a leader in arts and communication education on the world stage. 

    Performance Targets Include

    • Expand student participation and student satisfaction with the Kasteel Well program by Spring 2026
    • Increase international student enrollment by 25% with an emphasis on students from targeted regions by Fall 2027

    Goals Supported

    • Goal B.2 : Enhance Kasteel Well, global programs and partnerships, and increase international student recruitment from targeted regions

  • Philanthropic Comprehensive Capital Campaign

    A critical piece of the strategic plan is identifying the significant funding needed to accomplish many of our goals. This initiative will provide the scaffolding for Emerson’s first comprehensive fundraising campaign. The strategic plan’s early launch will align with the planning stages of a fundraising campaign, including a feasibility study and readiness assessment.

    Performance Targets Include

    • Conduct the necessary research and planning to inform a comprehensive campaign by Fall 2025
    • Develop and launch the quiet phase of a comprehensive campaign, with a public phase launching by 2030

    Goals Supported

    • Goal C.1 : Support a vibrant community culture and experience that fosters creativity, curiosity, belonging, accessibility, and well-being
    • Goal D.1 : Increase financial strength through innovative academic and programmatic offerings, increased philanthropy, and operational efficiencies

  • Emerson Experience Initiative

    The new Emerson Experience Initiative will draw upon our communication and arts strengths to create more creative and vibrant campuses and more dynamic and joyful experiences for all Emersonians. This initiative will contribute to our local, national, and global communities;      break down barriers; and provide touchpoints for connecting with neighborhood communities in Boston, Los Angeles, and Well. It will also increase meaningful experiential and community-based learning opportunities for Emerson students. Thus, it should bring more laughter, fun, and positivity to all Emersonians. 

    Performance Targets Include

    • Establish a comprehensive plan for increasing student, faculty, and staff satisfaction and joy within their respective campus experiences by Spring 2026
    • Increase year-over-year self-reported well-being and satisfaction across all audiences on all campuses starting in Spring 2026

    Goals Supported

    • Goal C.3 : Cultivate and strengthen robust alumni relations and engagement and increase campus involvement

  • Campus and Facility Master Planning

    This campus-wide initiative will create a new Campus Master Plan to optimize space utilization and maximize the efficiency of existing facilities to support faculty, staff, and students while planning for future growth and evolving institutional needs within the existing footprint. It will adjust deferred maintenance to ensure buildings are well maintained; strengthen community collaboration; and create an accessible, vibrant campus that fosters collaboration and engagement and strengthens ties with the City of Boston. Finally, it will enhance campus sustainability by implementing environmentally sustainable practices to reduce the College’s carbon footprint, ensuring long-term operational resilience and preparing the campus for future environmental challenges. This effort will provide sufficient support and planning for regular renewal and support of existing spaces. It will also plan to integrate efforts across multiple campuses, ensuring that resources, facilities, and programs evolve to meet the College’s long-term goals.

    Performance Targets Include

    • Plan, implement, and finalize a new comprehensive facilities master plan by Spring 2026 and a 10-year Institutional Master Plan (IMP) as required by the City of Boston by 2027
    • Fulfill our sustainability commitment to overall carbon neutrality by 2030

    Goals Supported

    • Goal C.4 : Use facilities strategically and creatively to enhance the Emerson experience

  • Executive Education Initiative

    Building on the initial gains of Professional Studies, Emerson will investigate its potential role in the landscape of executive education, offering non-credit courses and micro-credentials to post-baccalaureate professionals seeking to increase their expertise in specific areas. Offered by existing faculty, accomplished alumni, and high-profile professionals in their fields, these courses and programs will situate Emerson in a new market in Boston, LA, and internationally. 

    Performance Targets Include

    • Create a plan for a new executive education program to pilot in Los Angeles, Boston, and/or online by Spring 2026

    Goals Supported

    • Goal D.1 : Increase financial strength through innovative academic and programmatic offerings, increased philanthropy, and operational efficiencies

  • Leadership and Management Institute

    Emerson’s new Leadership and Management training programs will allow employees to learn from and engage with the College’s leadership and professionals. This professional development program will be an excellent opportunity to continue enhancing and reinforcing Emerson’s leadership culture and driving collaborative behaviors. It will serve all managers, supervisors, and academic administrators and focus on management and leadership best practices and professional development.

    Performance Targets Include

    • Develop and/or expand opportunities for supporting and training managers and administrators throughout the faculty and staff by Fall 2025
    • Increase annual staff and faculty retention rates by at least 5% by Fall 2026 based on annual HR data tracking

    Goals Supported

    • Goal D.4 : Recruit, develop, support, and retain an innovative and inclusive professional staff