2025-30 Strategic Plan Draft Framework
Draft Vision, Mission, and Values
Vision
John Jay College of Criminal Justice envisions an equitable society where opportunity and justice are accessible to all. We empower diverse communities through transformative research and advance social mobility by cultivating critical thinkers and principled leaders who champion integrity, challenge injustice, and serve the public good with courage and compassion.
Mission
John Jay College of Criminal Justice is a community of scholars, students, and professionals who seek justice in its many dimensions through research, instruction, and learning. The College’s liberal arts curriculum equips students to pursue advanced study and meaningful, rewarding careers in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Our professional programs introduce students to established and newly emerging fields and prepare them for advancement within their chosen careers.
We foster an inclusive and diverse community drawn from our city, state, country, and the world. We are dedicated to educating historically underrepresented groups, so all students experience and contribute to transformational change in society. The strength of our community enables us to question assumptions, consider multiple perspectives, think critically, drive innovation, act on principle, and cultivate the humility that comes with global understanding. We educate fierce advocates for justice.
Values
Academic Freedom: Engaging in teaching, research, and the free exchange of ideas without fear of retaliation or censorship
Diversity: Exploring, supporting, and respecting the many voices within our community, fostering an inclusive environment that represents the many racial, religious, ethnic, gender, sexual, socioeconomic, political, cultural, age, and ability identities that make our community thrive.
Love of learning: Engaging in research and transformative teaching and learning, supporting and pursuing scholarship and creative activities, practicing intellectual curiosity, striving for academic and professional excellence, and fostering lifelong learning and civic engagement.
Public service: Engaging in civic work to serve others, support communities and protect the rights and interests of the public
Social Justice: Promoting fairness, equality, equity, and rights across diverse populations.
Rule of Law: Conducting research and educating students to seek a stable and orderly society where just laws are clear, fairly enforced, and applied equally. Institutional Effectiveness & Strategy 1
Summary of Draft Goals and Objectives
Goal 1: Teaching and Learning:
Bolster student learning and success through innovative teaching, research, and co-curricular experiences focused on the intellectual, personal, and professional growth of our students.
Objective 1: Foster curricular and co-curricular innovation that integrates transferable academic, technical, and professional competencies.
Objective 2: Advance effective pedagogy, instructional design, research, and student support by expanding meaningful professional development for faculty and staff.
Objective 3: Encourage faculty and staff to design and implement collaborative pedagogical and co-curricular practices that foster student learning and success.
Objective 4: Support and enhance faculty and staff efforts to generate new knowledge through research, scholarship, and creative activity.
Goal 2: Equitable Student Success:
Advance student success through inclusive access, holistic support, and an integrated academic and career advising model that fosters academic achievement, personal development, and post-graduation success.
Objective 1: Strengthen recruitment pipelines and expand structured transfer and access pathways that support successful student transitions.
Objective 2: Implement, scale, and evaluate the effectiveness of undergraduate and graduate student success programs.
Objective 3: Ensure access to high-impact educational opportunities that advance academic engagement and experiential learning.
Objective 4: Enhance student retention and persistence by increasing awareness, access, and engagement with support services.
Objective 5: Integrate career development, experiential learning, and academic pathways to prepare students for meaningful careers and graduate study.
Goal 3: Justice for the Public Good:
Elevate John Jay’s leadership as a city-wide community partner and both national and international resource in justice and public safety initiatives.
Objective 1: Elevate the College’s impact on public policy by supporting faculty, staff, and research centers in producing scholarly and practitioner-informed research, scholarship, and knowledge creation.
Objective 2: Expand our community support and national leadership role through the future of public safety work and prison education programing.
Objective 3: Advance campus-wide environmental justice and sustainability work.
Objective 4: Foster innovative curricular and co-curricular programming focused on equity and public service. Institutional Effectiveness & Strategy 2
Objective 5: Expand equitable access to higher education for working adults and returning learners that advances social and economic mobility
Goal 4: Inclusive and Supportive Campus Climate:
Facilitate a campus environment that provides access and opportunity to all faculty, staff and students.
Objective 1: Foster a respectful, inclusive and collaborative campus climate where faculty, staff, and students are prepared and empowered to participate in decision making.
Objective 2: Nurture and support the professional growth of faculty and staff through development and community building.
Objective 3: Build a comprehensive program to acknowledge and recognize faculty and staff for their contributions to the college.
Objective 4: Ensure that intellectual curiosity, creative thought, and academic freedom are supported and celebrated.
Goal 5: Institutional Effectiveness and Efficiency:
Enhance financial sustainability through strategic resource growth and alignment, diversified funding, and innovation.
Objective 1: Align college resources and priorities to ensure financial sustainability and support for faculty and staff responsible for student learning and success.
Objective 2: Strengthen financial sustainability by increasing revenue, controlling expenses, and utilizing diversified funding sources.
Objective 3: Enhance institutional effectiveness and efficiency through the ethical and responsible use of fiscal, physical, technological, and virtual resources.
Objective 4: Inform the college community through timely, transparent, and integrated communication channels.
Objective 5: Develop and implement an AI strategy for the college. Institutional Effectiveness & Strategy 3
Comprehensive List of Goals, Objectives, and Associated Activities
Goal 1: Teaching and Learning:
Bolster student learning and success through innovative teaching, research, and co-curricular experiences focused on the intellectual, personal, and professional growth of our students.
Objective 1: Foster curricular and co-curricular innovation that integrates transferable academic, technical, and professional competencies.
Activity 1: Provide curricular and co-curricular learning experiences that are justice centered.
Activity 2: Use active and experiential learning pedagogies that facilitate development of advanced literacies, intellectual curiosity, program-solving,
and critical inquiry skills.
Objective 2: Advance effective pedagogy, instructional design, research, and student support by expanding meaningful professional development for faculty and staff.
Activity 1: Increase and support professional development opportunities for faculty and staff.
Activity 2: Expand cross-divisional professional learning communities that bring together faculty and staff.
Activity 3: Expand mentoring and coaching opportunities across departments and divisions.
Objective 3: Integrate pedagogical and co-curricular practices that foster student learning and success.
Activity 1: Strengthen integrated learning pathways that connect academic programming with co-curricular experiences such as research projects, service learning, and internships.
Activity 2: Enhance a teaching and learning innovation hub that operates as a repository of evidence-based, innovative research, practices, and actions.
Activity 3: Engage faculty in the exploration of the role of emerging technologies (including AI) within the disciplines, including pedagogical practices, curriculum, and program development.
Activity 4: Increase awareness and utilization of available academic support services (i.e. tutoring, digital learning, lab, writing center, etc.) through integrated communication channels.
Objective 4: Support and enhance faculty and staff efforts to generate new knowledge through research, scholarship, and creative activity.
Activity 1: Promote faculty and staff engagement in research and creative work that cultivates scholarly leadership and enhances professional practice.
Activity 2: Foster research that examines and enhances the effectiveness of teaching, learning, and student engagement.
Activity 3: Support faculty and staff research that identifies, analyzes, and addresses factors influencing student success. Institutional Effectiveness & Strategy 4
Goal 2: Equitable Student Success:
Advance student success through inclusive access, holistic support, and an integrated academic and career advising model that fosters academic achievement, personal development, and post-graduation success.
Objective 1: Strengthen recruitment pipelines and expand structured transfer and access pathways that support successful student transitions.
Activity 1: Expand and assess specialized orientation, advising, and peer mentoring programs for incoming freshmen. Activity 2: Ensure the alignment of first-term and first year course sequences with academic and co-curricular supports. Activity 3: Expand and assess specialized orientation, advising, and peer mentoring programs for transfer students. Activity 4: Implement targeted enrollment initiatives to support equitable access for diverse student populations.
Objective 2: Implement, scale, and evaluate the effectiveness of undergraduate and graduate student success programs.
Activity 1: Implement, scale and evaluate Undergraduate Foundations. Activity 2: Decrease equity gaps in highly enrolled and gateway courses.
Objective 3: Ensure access to high-impact educational opportunities that advance academic engagement and experiential learning.
Activity 1: Identify and address barriers to student access and participation in these opportunities. Activity 2: Increase student participation in high-impact practices (i.e. co-curricular, research, justice related, student engagement, sense of belonging, intellectual curiosity, critical inquiry skills etc.).
Objective 4: Enhance student retention and persistence by increasing awareness, access, and engagement with support services.
Activity 1: Increase awareness and utilization of available life and student support services (financial, basic needs, mental health, academic, etc.) through integrated communication channels. Activity 2: Identify and address barriers to access to improve utilization.
Objective 5: Integrate career development, experiential learning, and academic pathways to prepare students for meaningful careers and graduate study.
Activity 1: Implement and assess an integrated campus advisement model that aligns academic, career, faculty, and financial advisement. Activity 2: Support career exploration and career connected learning through academic and co-curricular programming. Activity 3: Strengthen postgraduate preparation by developing career success pathways that promote early and long-term professional success. Institutional Effectiveness & Strategy 5
Goal 3: Justice for the Public Good:
Elevate John Jay’s leadership as a city-wide community partner and both national and international resource in justice and public safety initiatives.
Objective 1: Elevate the College’s impact on public policy by supporting faculty, staff, and research centers in producing scholarly and practitioner- informed research, scholarship, and knowledge creation.
Activity 1: Highlight and share research that informs public policy. Activity 2: Facilitate opportunities for research to inform practice and policy.
Objective 2: Expand our community support and national leadership role through the future of public safety work and prison education programing.
Activity 1: Expand and strengthen community partnerships to advance the future of public safety. Activity 2: Prioritize prison education programming to model best practices to support equity and reentry.
Objective 3: Advance campus-wide environmental justice and sustainability work.
Activity 1: Foster cross divisional collaboration to integrate sustainability principles into curriculum. Activity 2: Strengthen partnerships to amplify climate justice initiatives. Activity 3: Develop transparent systems that monitor and report progress on climate and sustainability goals.
Objective 4: Foster innovative curricular and co-curricular programming focused on equity and public service.
Activity 1: Develop programs that increase volunteerism and civic engagement opportunities.
Objective 5: Expand equitable access to higher education for working adults and returning learners that advances social and economic mobility.
Activity 1: Develop, implement, and evaluate a strategic enrollment management plan. Activity 2: Strategically expand online and non-traditional (night and weekend) in-person programs. Activity 3: Expand partnerships with employers and community organizations to focus recruitment pipelines. Institutional Effectiveness & Strategy
Goal 4: Inclusive and Supportive Campus Climate:
Facilitate a campus environment that provides access and opportunity to all faculty, staff and students.
Objective 1: Foster a respectful, inclusive and collaborative campus climate where faculty, staff, and students are prepared and empowered to participate in decision making. Activity 1: Explore opportunities for greater shared governance for faculty, staff, and students. Activity 2: Communicate, partner, and share professional development opportunities across divisions.
Objective 2: Nurture and support the professional growth of faculty and staff through development and community building.
Activity 1: Expand access to meaningful professional development opportunities. Activity 2: Create community building opportunities for employees.
Objective 3: Build a comprehensive program to acknowledge and recognize faculty and staff for their contributions to the college.
Activity 1: Highlight faculty and staff achievements across all platforms.
Objective 4: Ensure that intellectual curiosity, creative thought, and academic freedom are supported and celebrated. Institutional Effectiveness & Strategy 7
Goal 5: Institutional Effectiveness and Efficiency:
Enhance financial sustainability through strategic resource alignment, diversifying funding, and innovation.
Objective 1: Align college resources and priorities to ensure financial sustainability and support for faculty and staff responsible for student learning and success. Activity 1: Develop a sustainable, transparent, and evidence-based all funds budget that aligns financial, physical, virtual, and technological resources. Activity 2: Implement processes for decision-making and resource allocation that maximize financial sustainability.
Objective 2: Strengthen financial sustainability by increasing revenue, controlling expenses, and utilizing diversified funding sources.
Activity 1: Expand philanthropic and external partnerships.
Activity 2: Grow governmental and non-profit funding opportunities.
Activity 3: Enhance and broaden alumni outreach to increase alumni giving and participation.
Activity 4: Examine existing physical, technological, and virtual resources for opportunities to generate revenue.
Objective 3: Enhance institutional effectiveness and efficiency through the ethical and responsible use of fiscal, physical, technological, and virtual resources.
Activity 1: Evaluate, align, and assess the use of physical, technological and virtual resources. Activity 2: Establish an integrated data and technology plan and structures supported by robust governance and emerging tools (including AI). Activity 3: Modernize the policy compendium through the development of a centralized digital policy center and management system.
Objective 4: Inform the college community through timely, transparent, and integrated communication channels.
Activity 1: Review and modify our current communications strategy/plan. Activity 2: Strengthen coordinated student engagement across platforms through clear, accessible, and integrated communication.
Objective 5: Develop and implement an AI strategy for the college.
Activity 1: Explore how emerging technologies, including AI, can and cannot be used ethically and responsibly to enhance student development opportunities. Activity 2: Explore how emerging technologies, including AI, can and cannot support institutional planning operations and decision making