Dear AU community,

When we launched our Changemakers for a Changing World strategy four years ago, we set out to make an impact on our campus, in our community, across our nation, and around our world. Today, I am pleased to report that we have made substantial progress across our key pillars of scholarship, learning, and community. As we know, people are at the heart of our community, and we have been focused on our people and improving how AU works to support them.

The achievements chronicled in our Year 4 Change in the Making report are the result of incredible work by the people of our community. So much of our strategic engagement is grounded in investment in our people, from our expansion of research infrastructure to our focus on student thriving to our increases in compensation. Our people-focused initiatives are central to our mission, and their implementation is central to our work.

Over the past year, teams from across the university enabled us to expand research opportunities, support student thriving, advance our unique vision for experiential learning, enhance lifelong learning initiatives, foster a greater sense of inclusion among our campus community, strengthen partnerships across the Washington, DC, region, and bolster how AU works in support of students, faculty, and staff. I am grateful to our strategic plan implementation teams, including the imperative directors and the myriad faculty and staff carrying forward these strategic priorities every day.

Highlights of Year 4 include:

• Increasing sponsored research funding by a record 48 percent year over year.
• Reaching 75 percent of our fundraising goal for Change Can’t Wait: The Campaign for American University.
• Supporting our teams through the new Supervisor Academy, expanding hybrid and flexible work options, and implementing the new Workday ERP.
• Focusing on student wellness and thriving by creating the Center for Well-Being and Psychological Services.
• Investing university budget resources to support additional financial aid for our students and compensation for our workforce.
• Launching the Center for Environment, Community, and Equity to foster innovative ideas in the fields of social justice and sustainability.
• Expanding opportunities for collaborative research involving undergraduate students and faculty through the dean of faculty’s grant program.
• Creating the AU Cornerstone program, which provides first-year students with new experiential learning opportunities.
• Supporting our home of Washington, DC, with partnerships across 190 community-based organizations.

I hope you will read the report and our infographic, share it with your colleagues and networks, and, most importantly, take pride in the progress and change you have helped make at American University. As we look ahead to the remaining two years of the Changemakers strategy, we will continue to embrace important challenges and work together as a community in pursuit of purposeful impact.

Thank you, changemakers!

Sincerely,
Sylvia