Future in Focus: Vision 2030
One Vision. One Community. Infinite Possibility.
Simmons stands at a moment of extraordinary opportunity. While the world around us has changed dramatically since our founding over 125 years ago, the need for a bold, women-centered education has not. Today, Simmons is one of only 30 remaining women-centered universities in the United States and the only one in the City of Boston. This remarkable statistic is no accident. This is due to our leadership, our resilience, and our unwavering commitment to a mission of clear and growing importance: to provide an education that integrates intellectual exploration and professional preparation, empowering students to build meaningful careers and purposeful lives in an ever-evolving world.
The best and boldest institutions embrace their strengths and move through periods of challenge to emerge into new eras of success. Future in Focus: Vision 2030 confronts the headwinds facing higher education and positions our university to thrive in the coming decade by embracing innovation, strengthening our programs, and leveraging opportunities across our campus and beyond. This update to our 2023 strategic plan, Building Our Future, is not a new strategy. It is a sharpened vision, grounded in our legacy, and built for today’s challenges. It leans into existing strengths and brings forward the priorities that will propel our next chapter: focused academics in fields essential to society, the mentorship of expert faculty, an engaged community that forges lifelong networks, career-centered programs that advance professional success, and soon, the most dynamic and modern campus in Boston. It reaffirms the Simmons promise of economic mobility, fostering transformative opportunities and creating a lifelong foundation for personal and professional impact for our students.
By combining innovation, strategic focus, and a commitment to advancing our mission, we will navigate current challenges and enter a new era of sustained academic excellence and institutional strength.
—Lynn Perry Wooten, President
A Framework for Success
Guided by four core, future-focused pillars, we are creating a framework that will ensure every Simmons student receives personalized, high-impact, and professionally-focused learning, lifelong connections. Whether students learn in our vibrant hub in the heart of Boston, at one of our many employer or partner sites, or in one of our renowned online programs with national reach they benefit from a strong, mission-centered University poised to thrive for the next 125 years. Through these pillars we will focus on:
"Small cohorts, experiential learning, and programs that prepare graduates to lead in high-demand fields put all of our students on the path to lifelong career success."
Stephanie Cosner
Provost
“Simmons graduate programs are designed for professionals who seek to advance their careers while leading with purpose. Grounded in scholarship and connected to practice, our programs prepare graduates to meet the evolving needs of the workforce and make a meaningful difference in their fields.”
Stephanie Cosner
Provost
“One Simmons is not only built for collaboration, inclusion, and accessibility — it is built for long-term fiscal strength and opportunity.”
Laura Brink Pisinski '06MS
Vice President of University Real Estate Development and Facilities Management
“Simmons is charting its future with discipline and vision—aligning every resource to what matters most: our students and our mission. We’re ensuring Simmons not only adapts to change but leads it—sustainably, boldly, and with purpose.”
Regina Pisa
Chair, Simmons University Board of Trustees