Invitation to Participate in the Mission Priority Examen

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Dear Members of the Seattle University Community,

I am excited to be sending this message, officially inviting you to participate in the Mission Priority Examen (MPE) process which Seattle University is undertaking beginning this academic year. First developed in 2016 by the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) and the Society of Jesus, the MPE is a means for us to reflect together on our mission as a Jesuit Catholic university, to assess how we are expressing that mission and to help orient our work going forward. The MPE is conducted by every Jesuit university approximately every seven years. We completed our last MPE in 2017.  

The values and spirit of our mission serve as a touchstone for our life as a university, which we identify as our Foundation, or Goal 0, in our Reigniting Strategic Directions. Your participation in this reflective process of the MPE will help frame our work on this foundational goal and provide guidance and direction for our future.  

I am thankful for the MPE Steering Committee, chaired by Vice President for Mission Integration Catherine Punsalan-Manlimos, who began their work in the Fall, developing a process and timeline for accomplishing this task.  Other members of the committee are:  

• Arturo Araujo, S.J., Rector, Arrupe Jesuit Community and Associate Professor of Visual Arts 

• Cynthia Dillard, Dean, College of Education

• Kent Koth, Executive Director, Sundborg Center for Community Engagement 

• Joe Orlando, Special Assistant to the Provost for Strategic Initiatives 

• Jessica Palmer, Associate Director, the Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture 

• Laurie Prince, Director, Family Engagement 

• Donna Teevan, Chair, Theology and Religious Studies 

• Jennifer Tilghman-Havens, Executive Director, Center for Jesuit Education 

• Monica Scott, Senior Executive Coordinator to the President (staff)  

This spring will be the phase when the committee will host several listening sessions and solicit your reflections. All members of our community are invited to participate, including trustees, faculty, staff, students and alumni. Your input will be a key source of information for the report that will be written this summer, leading to a fall visit of an AJCU site visit team who will come to our campus to dialogue with us about the process and what emerged.

We encourage you to visit the MPE website to learn more about the process and ways to participate, for answers to frequently asked questions and for resources to learn more about the goals of the MPE for SU and for all Jesuit universities.  

Thank you in advance for adding your voice and insights during the spring listening sessions to make our discernment process more robust and reflective of our entire community. I appreciate the ways that each of you contributes to our mission and know our MPE will be strengthened by your participation.  

Respectfully, 

Eduardo M. Peñalver
President