March 16, 2026
Dear OLLU Community,
Over the past several weeks, our campus community, including Cabinet, the Board of Trustees, faculty, and staff, have been engaged in an important conversation about Focused Differentiation and the future of our university. This work extends well beyond strategy. It is rooted in discernment.
As a Catholic university rooted in Providence and entrusted to the charism of the Sisters of Divine Providence, we are called to read the signs of our time and respond with courage, clarity, and faith. Focused Differentiation is our strategic expression of that calling, ensuring that our mission continues to transform the lives of students and communities for generations to come.
As I reflect on our conversations, several of you reminded me of something important in our university data.
In Spring 2026, approximately 80% of our undergraduate semester credit hours (SCH) are concentrated in just 31% of our academic programs. At the graduate level, 80% of SCH are concentrated in just 19% of programs.
Several of you also noted that our students may already be telling us something, perhaps signaling where demand is strongest and where OLLU’s strengths resonate most clearly.
These insights reinforce that excellence inspires. Excellence leads. And excellence transforms lives. In today’s shifting higher education landscape, every university faces a choice: drift toward sameness or become distinctive in the areas where mission and institutional strengths intersect most powerfully. Focused Differentiation is how we will make that choice.
Institutions that thrive are clear about who they serve and what makes them unmistakably valuable. Becoming distinctive requires discipline, focus, and the courage to concentrate our efforts where we can make the greatest difference. Doing so will require disciplined choices about where we invest our energy—and where we do not.
I recently read that excellence is not an aspiration; excellence is a discipline. Our clarity, focus, and courage to concentrate our efforts where we can make the greatest difference is how we honor our institutional legacy.
The Lenten season reminds us that growth often requires refinement so that we may focus more fully on what matters most. The Sisters of Divine Providence modeled this discipline in their ministries, responding to the needs of their time with courage rooted in trust in God’s providence.
Two weeks ago, I wrote that we will not hide from change; rather, we will pursue it and shape it. Institutions of higher learning that thrive do not treat change as temporary; they build the capacity to innovate continuously in response to the needs of their time.
The insights from the survey I shared with you two weeks back will be shared this week, and they represent another important step as we refine our narrow target market and clarify the distinctive differentiators that will define OLLU’s future.
The work before us, which we will do together, is clear. Focused Differentiation will require disciplined choices and a shared commitment to excellence.
Together, as stewards of our institutional legacy, we will shape the next chapter of our university.
With prayer and gratitude,
Abel A. Chávez, MBA, Ph.D.