Strategic Planning
At Winona State, we are committed to uncovering transformational ideas that continually improve our university to keep up with our ever-changing world.
Through the Winona State 2035 strategic plan, we strive to build a better campus, bigger outcomes, and ultimately, a brighter future.
Winona State 2035 is a 10-year university strategic plan that builds on our strengths, resolves key issues, opens new opportunities for innovation, and sets three clear pillars for supporting the work ahead.
Winona State 2035 is a roadmap that guides university units, programs, and departments as they develop their strategic plans and establish strategic priorities.
Learn more about the strategic plans and the annual reports from key university units.
Resolving Our Key Issues
The world is changing, and we must focus our resources on resolving key strategic issues that affect our ability to achieve our vision.
Rather than problems, these are opportunities to innovate and lead.
To help us meet changing learner needs, Winona State 2035 will invest in initiatives that:
- are designed to support innovative teaching practices that engage students in personalized and impactful ways
- provide greater learning flexibility to better serve all learners, including online learners and those needing accommodation
To help us achieve financial sustainability, Winona State 2035 will invest in initiatives that:
- support new, innovative academic programs of high value to students
- increase the persistence and retention of our enrolled students
- add new funding partnerships and programs to open revenue streams
- optimize resource allocation and efficiency through structural improvements
- strengthen recruitment strategies and branding to better connect with new student populations
To help us adapt to societal and professional changes, we will continue to improve the alignment between learning and workforce needs and enhance student support services and resources for all learners.
We will diversify enrollment by opening opportunities for new student populations.
To help us transform our planning and decision-making processes, Winona State 2035 will invest in initiatives that find new ways to facilitate data-informed decision-making and use learning analytics to improve student success.
We will enhance shared governance and feedback loops and improve communication and transparency to transform how we work together.
We will better leverage predictive analytics for enrollment planning to make our enrollment marketing and management practices more proactive.
To help us enhance employee professional learning and development, Winona State 2035 will invest in initiatives that expand faculty development programming to provide better coverage of changes and emerging trends.
Throughout the entire university, we will increase awareness of student success data and research and expand learning communities as an important channel for professional growth.
We will enhance staff learning and development and explore new recruitment methods for improving enrollment marketing and management.
Developing Key Strategies
Strategies that focus on instructional transformation and innovation, including how to best support the changing needs of learners and the innovative work of faculty.
Strategies that focus on helping students succeed, based on both traditional measures such as persistence, retention, and graduation rate, and their development of life and professional skills through classroom and co-curricular
experiences.
Strategies that focus on connecting Winona State students, services, and planning with the Winona area community and beyond.
They define community engagement as an important differentiator for Winona State that extends beyond the cities of Winona and Rochester to include the region, state, nation, and world.
Strategies that focus primarily on recruitment, enrollment, and marketing, including brand management, communication, and diversifying enrollment.
Strategies that focus on leveraging improvements in institutional effectiveness and maintaining a positive campus climate.
This includes improving specific services, establishing new ones, and supporting employee professional learning and development.
Pillars & Initiatives
Our strategic decision-making about investments in initiatives and projects is based on whether the investment helps us meet a core commitment, resolve a key strategic issue, or leads to valuable innovation.
Proposed initiatives are grouped into three thematic pillars: Warrior Way, Warrior Edge, and Warrior Shield.
Winona State will be Minnesota’s leading campus for community, belonging, and personalized support—all rooted in acts of kindness and purposeful connection.
We will be known nationally as the Warrior State of Kind, a campus where kindness, respect, and community are not just values, but a way of life.
Warrior Way Initiatives
The Warrior Journey project will transform our first and second year experiences to engage and support students as they step in, show up, stand out, soar forward, and share back.
The Mentor Network project will establish new ways for students to connect with mentors to support their academic success, professional development, and sense of belonging.
The Campus Compass project will transform students’ advising experience through better use of technology, more accessible data, and enhanced faculty advisor support.
The Thrive Online project will provide personalized services and a sense of belonging for our online students and our residential students who need additional flexibility.
Winona State will give our students the edge they need to succeed in a rapidly changing world:
- an innovative, comprehensive, future-ready education
- the ability to think critically, create, and evolve
- a strong professional network to support their learning and career development
Warrior Edge Initiatives
The Emerging Literacies project will help the campus community build future-ready skills related to information, media, and digital literacy, including the effective and responsible use of AI.
The Empower You project will create innovative professional learning and development programs for Winona State employees that are personalized and career-focused.
The Community Navigator project will build systems and services that help students and employees connect with community-based learning and service opportunities in Winona and Rochester.
The Warrior Scholars project will enhance scholarship, research and performance by expanding writing across the curriculum, our University Scholars Program, and the integration of high-impact practices across all academic disciplines.
Winona State will be a good steward of our physical surroundings and our financial and human resources, providing our campus community with data-enabled, reliable, effective, and sustainable environments needed to excel academically, socially, and professionally.
Warrior Shield Initiatives
The Warrior Journey will transform our first and second year experiences to engage and support students as they step in, show up, stand out, soar forward, and share back.
The Data Hubs project will create data hubs and dashboards that provide continuous access to data for useful insights and data-informed decisions.
The Healthcare Collective project will build a hub for all healthcare departments, services, and resources—reflecting the importance we place on the physical and mental wellness of our community.
The Warrior Financial Resilience project will enhance operational efficiency and cost management, diversify revenue streams, engage in strategic enrollment management, optimize financial aid, and support financial transparency and stakeholder engagement.
Project Roadmap
We are already translating vision into action. And we will continue to identify and implement additional projects that further inspire us and distinguish this great university in the decade ahead.
Student Experience & Academic Direction
- Warrior Journey: Launching new student service opportunities and building Journey Maps to strengthen belonging
- Campus Compass: Enhancing advising with training, tools, and micro-credentials for inclusive, proactive support
- Academic Plan: Beginning development of a five-year academic plan aligned with Winona State 2035 and evolving learner needs
- Reimagine Rochester: Creating a strategic plan for the Rochester campus to define its niche and expand opportunity
Facilities, Data, & Financial Resilience
- Warrior Places: Advancing projects including CICEL, the new Foundation Hall residence hall, and campus repair and renewal
- Data Hubs: Creating dashboards and redesigning the Report Index to support timely, informed decision-making
- Diversify Enrollment: Strengthening recruitment across a diverse array of student populations
- Campaign Readiness: Laying the groundwork for a potential capital campaign by identifying priorities and engaging the campus community
These anticipated projects include:
- Empower You
- Thrive Online
- Mentor Network
- Warrior Places – New Residence Hall
- Warrior Places – CICEL
These anticipated projects include:
- Warrior Financial Resilience
- Emerging Literacies
- Data Hubs
These anticipated projects include:
- Data Hubs
- Community Navigator
- Warrior Scholars
These anticipated projects include:
- Warrior Places – Recreation, Wellness & Athletic Facilities
- Healthcare Collective
Unit Strategic Plans
The Unit Strategic Plans are area-specific operational plans which are constructed from the Winona State 2035 goals.
These plans guide the work of the campus community to meet our core commitments and embody our mission and values.
We have already made great strides toward achieving our vision and will settle for nothing less than becoming Minnesota’s preeminent student-centered academic community.