In 2005, Boston College completed a two-year strategic planning initiative involving discussions with some 200 administrators, faculty, staff and students to develop a series of university-wide initiatives and specific school or program priorities.

The following seven strategic initiatives emerged from this process:

• Establish Boston College as the leader in liberal arts education among American universities.
• Develop and implement a student formation program that will be a contemporary model for colleges and universities committed to student formation.
• Identify and support selected research commitments that will achieve excellence and distinction in addressing urgent societal problems.
• Commit targeted resources to selected natural sciences emphases that will establish Boston College as a National Leader in these areas.
• Build on the strengths and reputations of Boston College’s professional schools to establish leadership in critical professional areas.
• Become a significant intellectual and cultural crossroads by leveraging Boston College’s international resources and partnerships and its Jesuit and Catholic networks.
• Become the world’s leading Catholic university and theological center.