Vision and Mission

Palo Alto University enters its next fifty years at a moment of rapid societal and technological change. The forces reshaping how people think, feel, behave, relate, heal, and make meaning are moving faster than the institutions built to understand them. Communities face challenges no single discipline can address alone. In this context, the questions PAU has studied for over five decades have become among the most consequential questions of our time.

This vision names what that means for us.

Since 1975, PAU has generated insight into human behavior. That work continues, and it remains the foundation of everything we do. What has changed is what the world now needs from us. Insight alone is not enough. The world needs institutions that can apply insight with rigor, judgment, and care to improve lives, strengthen communities, and build more humane systems. That capacity is human understanding, and advancing it is why PAU exists.

The vision and mission below emerged from a year of listening and deliberation across our community upon the arrival of President Farouk Dey in July 2025, building on the work of past Presidents Maureen O'Connor, Allen Calvin, and Robert Kantor. It began with an empathy tour, where students, faculty, staff, trustees, alumni, and community partners shared what they believe PAU is called to become. It continued through collaborative visioning sessions, faculty and staff working groups, and sustained deliberation with our cabinet and Board of Trustees. Each group tested this direction against real institutional questions. Each one sharpened it.

What follows is not a departure from our history. It is a clarification of it, grounded in the same conviction of human dignity that has always guided this university: that every person has inherent and unconditional worth. It is stated in language large enough to carry us forward.

We are entering the next phase of translating Palo Alto University's vision and mission into a strategic plan for 2026-2030. The process began with a three-week strategic planning sprint in late spring 2026, in which six groups of faculty and staff worked on the following charges: defining the PAU graduate, naming our research ambition, extending our impact into communities, examining the experience of working and learning at PAU, assessing our operational foundation, and testing the values that guide us. Their findings were candid about where PAU is strong and where it is not. The Cabinet has now synthesized that work into early focus areas that will anchor the plan.

We have appointed a steering committee of faculty and staff, listed below, to take these focus areas forward and shape them into a plan with defined objectives, measurable commitments, and a clear sense of where the University will concentrate its effort. The committee will have the challenging task of choosing from many strong ideas and helping PAU focus on the priorities that will most advance its mission. Their charge carries one governing principle: a strategic plan is stronger when it names fewer priorities and pursues them well.

Input sessions with all community stakeholders will begin on Opening Day, September 9, 2026, and will continue throughout the process. We will share the work as it develops so we can gather continuous input from our community. We will publish a final strategic plan in December 2026, following Board of Trustees approval.

Continuing with our practice of transparency, we have published the synthesis of the Strategic Planning Sprint and the work of the steering committee here for our community to access.

Strategic Planning Steering Committee
Farouk Dey - Chair
Carol Bobby - Trustee
Chloe Corcoran - Alumni Relations
Katherine Gardiner - Innovation
Eduardo Bunge - Psychology
Susan Branco - Counseling
Liz McConnell - Psychology
Tyler Takata - Social Work
Jeff Davidson - Information Technology
Jeff Harr - Institutional Research and Digital Transformation

Committee Operations: Natalie Oyarce - President's Office