The University of Toledo Board of Trustees has endorsed a new five-year strategic plan that charts a path toward significant growth in the University’s academic, research and healthcare missions while reaffirming its founding commitment to the Toledo region.
The “Growing for Toledo” plan was shaped by a year of conversations UToledo President James Holloway held with students, faculty, staff, trustees, alumni, political leaders and community members, and informed by enrollment trends and forecasts, financial data and the University’s broader operating outlook. It is grounded in what University leaders describe as UToledo’s purpose, promise and pride: a founding mission to support students’ professional futures, a lasting bond with the Toledo region and an unabashed pride in both.
The UToledo Board of Trustees endorsed a new five-year strategic plan that charts a path toward significant growth in the University’s academic, research and healthcare missions while reaffirming its founding commitment to the Toledo region.
“This plan reflects what we heard from our community over the past year: that our growth must be mission-driven, bringing more value to the students we teach, the region we serve and the patients we treat,” Holloway said. “We were founded in 1872 on a promise to support the success of this city and this region, and ‘Growing for Toledo’ will rekindle our focus on this promise.”
Five Strategic Pillars
The plan, which the board approved at its Wednesday, Sept. 23, meeting, is organized around five pillars, the first four of which build on the concepts Holloway introduced at his October 2025 presidential inauguration:
“I really measure UToledo’s success by what happens after graduation,” Holloway said. “The UToledo Advantage is our commitment to that outcome by giving every undergraduate access to meaningful, career-relevant experiences and degree paths that let them contribute fully to their families, their communities and society. When we invest in the whole student experience, we build more than a degree program. We build a reputation, one confident, accomplished graduate at a time.”
A Vision for 2031
The plan’s aspirational vision statement declares that UToledo will be the region’s “leader in learning, discovery and patient care, creating opportunity for Northwest Ohio and the world” by 2031. University leaders acknowledge that the plan arrives at a challenging moment for higher education and healthcare nationally but say UToledo and its partners are up to the task.
“This University belongs to Northwest Ohio and our progress is tied to this region’s progress,” Holloway said. “As the region’s essential metropolitan research university and only academic health system, we have a clear vision for the future. We are not just a university in Toledo. We are The University for Toledo. As UToledo grows, our region will grow with us.”
“The trustees are proud to endorse a plan that is both ambitious and grounded,” said Michael R. Miller, chair of the UToledo Board of Trustees. ” ‘Growing for Toledo’ sets clear, measurable goals for enrollment, research and patient care, and it was shaped by the people who know this University best. The board looks forward to reviewing progress each year and working with President Holloway and his team to make sure UToledo delivers on its promise to this region.”
Progress on the plan’s goals will be reviewed annually with the UToledo Board of Trustees, with strategies and tactics refined as needed over the plan’s five-year period, which runs through the start of fiscal year 2031.
The Power of Learning by Doing
Before voting on the strategic plan, the trustees heard from four students who shared vivid, firsthand perspectives on the advantage of experiential learning, a key element of the plan’s first strategic pillar to “Realize the UToledo Advantage.”
The student panel reinforced the value of the new Applied Skills for Career Experience, Networking and Development (ASCEND) initiative, which ensures that all incoming undergraduate students complete an applied learning experience regardless of major before they graduate.
Finance student Ella Boerger offered one of the clearest examples of the way applied learning crystallizes lessons learned in the classroom. A business class in conflict and negotiation she’d taken the previous spring suddenly became directly useful during her internship with Honda’s Direct Purchasing Division in Troy, Ohio.
“It’s hard when you’re just reading about these potential scenarios in a textbook,” she said. “But when you actually get a chance to apply it, it’s mind-blowing. You’re like, ‘Oh, I’ve seen this. It makes sense.’ ”
The other three students on the panel — Diadji Diawara, a senior working toward a degree in mechanical engineering; Max Shelton, a senior studying professional sales and business management; and Emma Swanbeck, a senior majoring in organizational leadership and management — shared similar stories about the power of learning by doing.
Investing in Cancer Treatment
The trustees also approved a $10.6 million purchase of two new linear accelerator radiation therapy systems for the Eleanor N. Dana Cancer Center at the University of Toledo Medical Center.
The Varian TrueBeam and Varian Edge systems will support UTMC Radiation Oncology services. The two complementary systems deliver high-energy radiation beams precisely matched to tumor location and shape to destroy cancer cells while protecting healthy tissue.
Dr. Charles Callahan, UTMC’s CEO and executive vice president for health affairs, told the board, “This new state-of-the-art equipment will sustain and elevate safe and effective patient care at UTMC, accommodate anticipated service growth in our radiation therapy program, support clinical faculty recruitment and retention, and advance graduate medical education.”
Because of the aging U.S. population, national projections anticipate a 20% increase in new cancer diagnoses over the next decade.
With financing anticipated through the University of Toledo Foundation, the systems are expected to come online sequentially in late 2027 and 2028.
Other Board News
The trustees also confirmed the reappointment of Roy V. Armes to serve a third two-year term as a national trustee and ratified a second term of three years for two public members of the UToledo Health Board, Dr. Danae Hamouda and Dr. Stephanie Pannell, beginning Sept. 27 and concluding on June 30, 2029.
