‘I have seen nothing like this before’: MiamiTHRIVE plans for future

In fall 2023, Miami University launched MiamiTHRIVE, a three-phase strategic planning initiative focused on what Miami said would be “student-centered transformative ideas, unwavering commitment to excellence and mission-focused operational efficiency.”

This past semester, MiamiTHRIVE’s implementation process began to roll out.

Melissa Thomasson, associate vice president of strategic initiatives, and Ande Durojaiye, vice president of strategy and partnerships, said it has brought faculty, staff and students together to transform the university in a changing world of higher education. They both said they believe the mission of MiamiTHRIVE has always been focused on students.

“Our faculty, our staff, the folks who work really diligently on this, our external community members, they're all thinking about how we enhance the experience for you all as students,” Durojaiye said. “How do we make sure that your Miami experience is what it's always been, but even better, and how we're preparing you for what's next.”

MiamiTHRIVE began by paying an outside consulting firm, Bain & Company Inc., $4 million for its strategic plans in Phase One and another $3.3 million for Phase Two, according to the Faculty Alliance of Miami.

The engagement from faculty, staff and community members allowed for the identification of strengths and weaknesses within the university.

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Phase Two rolled out in spring 2024. Nine foundational strengths committees and 10 opportunity area committees made up of faculty, staff and students focused on those strengths and opportunity areas identified in Phase One.

The committees then brainstormed broad ideas that were eventually narrowed down into initiatives.

There are 20 total approved initiatives, including neighborhood quads, a nursing expansion, experiential learning expansion, student hallmark experience and strengthened alumni engagement.

Jayne Brownell, senior vice president for student life, is the co-chair for the student hallmark experience initiative. Brownell said the goal of the initiative is to help students have a memorable experience they can look back on and contribute to their growth and learning while at Miami.

“We know that there isn't going to be one thing that is going to fit every student,” Brownell said. “Our students are too diverse for that, but we want to make sure that every student has a hallmark experience that they could point out.”

Elena Jackson Albarrán, a professor of history and global and intercultural studies and the executive vice president of the Faculty Alliance of Miami, said she hopes MiamiTHRIVE does not venture too far from the university’s liberal arts roots.

“A lot of the language prioritizes capital benefits, industrial partnerships, ROI, it's the language of capital, and it places all value in those terms,” Albarrán said. “We really strongly believe that Miami's liberal arts tradition of excellence creates value in ways that are not measured by those metrics exclusively.”

Phase Three of MiamiTHRIVE, which will continue from the 2025 spring semester, is the implementation stage. Initiatives in progress are the polytechnic campus and multipurpose event district and arena, which will replace Millett Hall and be constructed on Cook Field.

According to previous reporting by The Miami Student, students either didn’t know about the sports arena, had little opinion or strongly disapproved of the decision. Many didn’t want to lose the green space and said they didn’t believe it would sway students' decisions to attend games.

The polytechnic campus builds on the existing partnerships with Butler Tech in advanced manufacturing. Albarrán said faculty were not surveyed on this shift and are concerned on how they can deliver their skills in an industry they are not familiar with.

She said she’s also concerned with the direction MiamiTHRIVE is moving and the lack of faculty consultation.

“I would really encourage Miami not to squander some of the strengths that it has built over many generations,” Albarrán said. “To build forward, not moving away from, but really building on the real interdisciplinary work that has made it excellent.”

mchenrvg@miamioh.edu