Initiative 3: Focus and Invest in Research and Scholarship for Distinction

For nearly five centuries, Jesuits have advanced human understanding across science, the humanities, and the social sciences, guided by the conviction that the pursuit of truth is both intrinsically valuable and essential to the service of humanity. That conviction continues to animate research and scholarship at Saint Louis University. 

Fundamental and curiosity-driven inquiry, applied research, creative work, and community-engaged scholarship all contribute to the expansion of knowledge. Our Jesuit mission also calls us to consider how that knowledge can advance human dignity, respond to human and societal needs, and serve the common good.

SLU’s recognition as an R1 research university provides a platform for the next stage of our development as a nationally and globally significant research institution. To realize that opportunity, we must become more focused in our ambitions while creating a stronger environment in which excellent research and scholarship can flourish across the University. We will strengthen research infrastructure, support collaboration across disciplines, and make it easier for faculty, staff, and students to pursue consequential work.

Our Jesuit mission also calls us to consider how that knowledge can advance human dignity, respond to human and societal needs and serve the common good.

 

Defining Our Research Strengths

At the enterprise level, SLU will establish a small number of broad, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research pillars that can become signature strengths for the University. Some may be organized around major human and societal challenges that require contributions from many fields; others may build on distinctive areas of knowledge or institutional capability in which SLU is especially well positioned to achieve excellence.

We will select the pillars through broad engagement with the University community, weighing current and emerging strengths, mission alignment, opportunities for impact, potential for external funding and partnership, connections to educational distinction and growth, and the ability to earn national and international recognition. 

These pillars will not define the full range of research and scholarship at SLU. Excellent work will continue to emerge across disciplines, including areas outside the designated priorities, and new strengths may develop over time. The pillars will instead serve as focal points for coordinated enterprise investment — building the critical mass, visibility, collaboration, and sustained support necessary to produce significant impact, attract external funding and philanthropy, and establish areas of national distinction.

Doctoral and graduate education will be strengthened selectively in areas where SLU can achieve the depth, quality, and research intensity necessary for distinction. 

Fostering the Development of Student Researchers

Students at every level will benefit from a stronger research enterprise. Through direct participation in research and scholarship, they will learn from accomplished faculty mentors, develop intellectual judgment, encounter the uncertainty and exhilaration of discovery, and see how knowledge can be placed in service to others.

Our locations in St. Louis and Madrid will provide distinctive settings for partnership and impact, while SLU’s research ambitions and contributions will remain national and global in reach. Success will mean a defined set of signature pillars drawing sustained investment and external funding, research infrastructure that makes excellent work easier to pursue, and more students at every level engaged in discovery alongside faculty. 

Actions

Action 3.1	Define SLU’s signature research pillars: up to four multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary areas in which SLU can be internationally competitive — and invest in their growth and development (faculty, facilities, graduate education and other support). Strengthen doctoral and graduate education selectively in fields aligned with the signature pillars: concentrate support where SLU can achieve the depth, quality and research intensity required for distinction, and align graduate admissions, funding and mentoring practices accordingly.
Action 3.2	Make research and discovery a defining part of the undergraduate learning experience: building a student-centered culture of inquiry, substantially increasing undergraduate research experiences, and resourcing, incentivizing and rewarding faculty who excel as undergraduate research mentors.
Action 3.3	Grow the external investment base for research: philanthropic support, sponsored funding and strategic research partnerships — concentrated on the signature pillars and the infrastructure they require.