Strategic Planning Theme Committees at Fitchburg State University are exploring the concepts of "education justice" and the "student-ready university". This guide invites the Fitchburg State community to explore and delve more deeply into the concepts of education justice and student-ready university as unifying themes for the strategic plan. The concept of education justice was shared at the theme committee summit on March 11 by Provost Cardelle. Especially welcome are ideas and suggestions for how FSU should go about “operationalizing” the notion of education justice and the closely-related idea of being a student-ready university. Comments and suggestions can be sent to Pam McCafferty.
Fitchburg State's working definition: Education Justice is a commitment to equity. It is a belief that access to a quality education is a vehicle for providing students with equity of opportunity. This means a commitment to ensuring that all the resources associated with the educational process are available not only to all students, but especially to those students that have been historically denied equitable access. It is also a commitment to an education that is transformational for the individual and society as whole, since it is committed to empowering students to overcome economic, social and cultural inequities.
"A student-ready college is one that strategically and holistically advances student success, and works tirelessly to educate all students for civic and economic participation in a global, interconnected society. At student- ready colleges, all services and activities- from admissions, to the business office, to the classroom, and even to campus security- are intentionally designed to facilitate students’ progressive advancement toward college completion and positive post-college outcomes." (from the 2016 book Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success, page 13)
Thank you to librarians Sherry Packard, Matt Raymond, and Jackie Kremer for their work on this guide.