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Excellence in Learning and Discovery

The Gallaudet Promise:
Our 10-Year Vision

Gallaudet’s 10-Year Vision (2020-2030)

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What is the Gallaudet Promise?

It is a vision toward a sustainable and vibrant experience for our University, which is a beacon to impact and elevate the community of Deaf, Deaf Blind, Deaf Disabled, Hard of Hearing people, and all of humanity.

Phase Two Strategic Plan (2023 - 2027)

We are in Phase Two of the Gallaudet Promise strategic plan. The Phase Two plan has four strategic goals which are listed below. Scroll down to learn more.

UNRIVALED academic excellence

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Goal #1 – UNRIVALED academic excellence

Objective 1.1

Model and create pathways for bilingual teaching and learning across the lifespan.

Objective 1.2

Develop innovative programs for learning.

Objective 1.3

Establish robust planning, data collection and measurement tools.

Champ Sign

CHAMP student experience

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Goal #2 – CHAMP student experience

Objective 2.1

Cultivate student wellness and well-being

Objective 2.2

Center campus spaces around students.

Objective 2.3

Invest in student leadership and engagement.

Thrive Sign

All Deaf THRIVE

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Goal #3 – All Deaf THRIVE

Objective 3.1

Create networked pathways.

Objective 3.2

Collaborate globally with Deaf communities.

Objective 3.3

Expand and strengthen sign language commerce and ecosystem.

Home Sign

We are HOME

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Goal #4 – We are HOME

Objective 4.1

Provide an experience of belonging and engagement for all members of the community.

Objective 4.2

Promote operational excellence.

Objective 4.3

Actualize the campus plan and virtual life vision.

Phase One Strategic Plan (2020 - 2023)

Phase One set the foundation for our current transformation. To review the Phase One strategic plan and the celebration videos at its conclusion, please see the buttons below:

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Learn more about the Gallaudet Promise

Gallaudet University and its communities are in a transformative state of “becoming”. Gallaudet has committed to a path of becoming that serves as a beacon for the University communities’ values, work, and opportunities for discovery and advancement.

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The Gallaudet Promise: An Overview

In this video, President Cordano reviews the different parts of the Gallaudet Promise:

The Five Grand Challenges
Three Imperatives
Three Priorities
The Phase One Strategic Plan

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Gallaudet Promise
Imperatives & Priorities

The Imperatives and Priorities in the Gallaudet Promise have different functions, but they work together closely. The imperatives are our community’s most central values.

Bilingual Mission

Belonging and Equity

Innovation for Impact

The priorities are our most important work to transform Gallaudet University and the lives of deaf people of all identities. Together with the imperatives they are essential for our transformation.

Extraordinary Learning Across the Lifespan

Knowledge Creation & Discovery

Ecosystems and Career Success

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Play Video about A person signing to the camera with text behind him saying "Priority #3: Signing Ecosystems & Career Success"

What You Can Do

How can you make the Gallaudet Promise a reality for all you do? Here are three ways:

You can check Gallaudet’s progress of transformation on the dashboard of the Envisio website.

You can reflect on the guided questions in the following video.

Share your stories and see how they all weave together to transform the university and its communities.

Become. Together. Stronger. Brighter.

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The Gallaudet Promise Community Values

Gallaudet is our space where the Deaf experience and sign language vibrancy and vitality thrive. By acting together for the greater good of our students and our community, we create a better world. Our values reflect our human connection to each other. Values make a difference when each of us actively applies them as we learn, work and engage with each other.

The Deaf Experience and Intersectionality - Honor the Deaf experience across the spectrum of identities and intersectionalities.

Being Bilingual - Embrace and prompt bilingual communication and sign language vibrancy as the essence of our connection as a community

Belonging - Create a campus that leverages the rich diversity of identities, cultures, linguistic backgrounds, languages, and life experiences leading to equitable opportunities, full access, and a deep sense of belonging for all.

Lifelong Learning and Adaptability - Foster curiosity and adaptability about new and differing perspectives as the foundation for learning, research, discovery, and individual and community growth.

Trust and Respect - Act with personal and professional integrity to create a culture that reflects respect for ourselves, our campus, our community, and our planet.

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Frequently Asked Questions

The Gallaudet Promise is a 10-year transformative vision, taking place from 2020 to 2030. Using a set of value-driven imperatives and priorities (daily work), this transformative vision helps guide the University to position its students for success, and elevate the lives of Deaf and Hard of Hearing people of different identities and backgrounds.
Those five challenges are transformational opportunities the university will take on to broadcast our Deaf Way to the world through innovative research and community building. This interaction is a part of Gallaudet’s retelling of our story to advance the lives of Deaf and Hard of Hearing people of different identities and backgrounds. The Five Grand Challenges include the following: 1. Demonstrating the benefits of an ASL/English education 2. Expanding the impact of Gallaudet’s creative edge 3. Realizing the value of Deaf people across the spectrum of identities 4. Creating pathways to success for Gallaudet students and graduates 5. Cultivating opportunities in both ASL and English-based economies
These three imperatives are value-driven requirements that must be built into everything we do in our daily work in alignment with our strategic priorities. We cannot succeed with our three strategic priorities until we master and integrate our imperatives. That is how we must continually model our values through our innovation here. Those three imperatives that we must do, everyday, at all times, while embedding into our strategic work include the following:
  1. Our Bilingual Mission
  2. Our Commitment to Belonging and Equity
  3. Our Belief in Innovation for Impact
The priorities are our strategic daily work. The priorities and imperatives work together to transform the university. The three priorities are the following:
  1. Extraordinary Learning and Academic Excellence Across the Lifespan
  2. Knowledge Creation and Discovery
  3. Signing Ecosystems and Career Success
With the full participation of the Gallaudet community contributing to work within a series of strategic plans. The Phase One strategic plan is underway and continues through 2023. This plan includes five areas:
  1. Transformational Accelerators
  2. Antiracism
  3. Bilingual Mission
  4. Academic Reimagining
  5. Creativity Way & Louise B. Miller Pathways and Gardens: Legacy for Black Deaf Children
Endorsed by the Board of Trustees in 2019, the Gallaudet Promise grew from the Gallaudet community – its goals, needs, and desires as well as the work that happened during the most recent strategic plan. The Gallaudet Promise is an important commitment to a path of transformation that serves as a beacon for the University communities’ values, work, and impact.
The Gallaudet Promise, as our vision and the related work in the Phase One (strategic) Plan are set upon a foundation of our Shared Community Values. The values composed through community dialogues and review, reflect how we learn, work, engage, and grow together everyday as a community.
The ultimate goal is that the work of every person is linked to their unit or department’s key initiatives while the department level is linked to their division priorities. The divisions are then linked into the Gallaudet Promise, in a cyclical synergistic flow.

Why the Gallaudet Promise Matters

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