At San Diego State’s 2026 All-University Convocation, de la Torre outlined a five-part strategy centered on research, expansion, reputation, and long-term sustainability as universities confront enrollment pressures, artificial intelligence, and economic uncertainty.
Speaking before nearly 1,000 faculty and staff members at the annual All-University Convocation, de la Torre outlined a vision for the next five years that seeks to capitalize on SDSU's emergence as an R1 research institution, its expanding Mission Valley campus, new investments at Imperial Valley and its entry into the Pac-12 Conference.
"If we do not ask big questions, we will never arrive at big answers," de la Torre said Thursday at the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union.
It was a fitting theme for a university whose trajectory increasingly reflects the broader transformation — and challenges — reshaping American higher education.
From Teachers College to Major Research University
De la Torre used her ninth convocation as SDSU president to place the university's current position within a much longer historical arc.
San Diego State traces its roots to 1897, when it opened as the San Diego Normal School with fewer than 100 students and faculty members combined and a primary mission of preparing teachers.
Nearly 130 years later, SDSU has evolved into a binational public research university whose footprint extends beyond its main San Diego campus.
That evolution has accelerated in recent years.
Among the milestones highlighted by de la Torre were SDSU's R1 research designation, continued development of SDSU Mission Valley, construction of a new science laboratory building and student housing at SDSU Imperial Valley, and the university's move into the Pac-12 Conference.
Together, those developments represent something larger than a collection of individual projects.
De la Torre described them as the foundation for "the arc of our future."
SDSU's Five-Part Strategy: Focus, Build, Advance, Brand and Sustain
At the center of de la Torre's message was a five-theme framework that she said will help guide university decision-making in the years ahead:
Focus. Build. Advance. Brand. Sustain.
The framework signals a shift from reaching major institutional milestones to determining how SDSU converts those achievements into lasting academic, economic and reputational advantages.
That is particularly important with SDSU's R1 classification.
Rather than treating the prestigious research designation as a finish line, de la Torre said the university should view it as the beginning of another phase.
The question now becomes what SDSU wants to be known for — and where it can make the greatest impact.
"Our challenge is to be disciplined about our priorities," de la Torre said, "and clear about where our efforts can make the greatest impact."
The strategy also centers on what she described as SDSU's capacity to serve as a vehicle for upward mobility.
The university, she said, must determine how to "guarantee that an SDSU education remains one of the most powerful engines for individual, family and community transformation."
That argument places student outcomes alongside research expansion and institutional prestige as central measures of SDSU's future success.
Higher Education Faces a More Competitive Era
De la Torre's remarks also acknowledged a reality confronting universities across the United States: higher education is entering a period of significant disruption.
Colleges face demographic pressures from a declining population of traditional college-age students in parts of the country, rising competition for prospective students, concerns about affordability, and increasing scrutiny over the economic value of a college degree.
For SDSU, de la Torre argued that competing successfully in that environment will require more than just attracting students.
The university must clearly demonstrate what students receive in return for their investment.
"We must make the value of an SDSU education unmistakable," she said, "and ensure that the experience we provide lives up to that promise."
Reputation will be another critical component.
A stronger national and international brand can help a university compete not only for students but also for faculty, researchers, institutional partners, and private investment.
"We must strengthen our brand and reputation because we can then attract talented staff and faculty, and partners willing to commit their resources to our cause," de la Torre said.
R1 Status Raises the Stakes
SDSU's elevation into the highest tier of American research universities represents one of the most consequential developments in its recent history.
But the designation also raises expectations.
R1 universities compete for federal research dollars, leading scholars, graduate students, corporate partnerships, and philanthropic investment. Maintaining that trajectory requires sustained spending on laboratories, faculty recruitment, graduate education and research infrastructure.
For SDSU, the challenge will be balancing those ambitions with its traditional public-service and undergraduate education missions.
That tension helps explain de la Torre's emphasis on both advancing and sustaining the institution.
Growth alone is not the objective. The university must ensure its expansion remains financially and institutionally durable.
Mission Valley Expands SDSU's Footprint
Another significant piece of the university's future is taking shape away from its traditional campus.
SDSU Mission Valley represents a major physical expansion of the university and creates opportunities for academic programs, research, innovation, housing and partnerships.
Meanwhile, investments at SDSU Imperial Valley — including new science laboratory facilities and student housing — reinforce the university's growing regional footprint.
Those projects support de la Torre's characterization of SDSU as an institution capable of driving both personal advancement and community transformation.
The expansion comes as universities increasingly emphasize their roles as economic development institutions, leveraging research, talent development, and partnerships to attract investment and strengthen regional economies.
Pac-12 Move Adds Another Platform
Athletics also occupies a prominent position in SDSU's changing national profile.
The university's entry into the Pac-12 Conference provides another avenue to increase visibility and strengthen the SDSU brand beyond Southern California.
Major college athletics has become an increasingly important — and complicated — component of university strategy, particularly amid conference realignment, rapidly changing media economics and new financial models for compensating athletes.
For SDSU, Pac-12 membership provides a broader platform as its academic and research profile rises.
The challenge will be translating that exposure into benefits that extend beyond athletics.
AI, Intellectual Freedom and the Future of the Classroom
The convocation also confronted one of higher education's most immediate technological challenges: artificial intelligence.
University Senate Chair Stephen Schellenberg said institutions must address how AI should be incorporated into teaching and learning without losing sight of its risks.
Educators, he said, should "walk alongside our students, helping them recognize both the opportunities and the hazards, while preparing them to find their own way."
The emergence of generative AI has forced universities worldwide to reconsider everything from academic integrity and classroom assignments to research practices and workforce preparation.
Rather than treating the technology solely as something to be prohibited or embraced, Schellenberg's comments suggested a third approach: teaching students how to navigate it responsibly.
His broader remarks reflected the complicated environment facing universities.
"We begin this year acutely aware of the forces shaping higher education," Schellenberg said, pointing to political conflict, concerns over intellectual freedom, economic uncertainty, systemic inequities and fiscal challenges.
His prescription was greater reliance on shared governance, including "dialogue, judgment and responsibility."
Students Push for Greater Access
Student leadership also used the convocation to emphasize accessibility and campus engagement.
Milan Rawls, a fourth-year student from Elk Grove, California, and president of Associated Students, said A.S. plans to expand student access to opportunities and resources during the academic year.
The organization wants to develop cross-campus partnerships that make essential services easier for students to identify and use.
"We will continue to cultivate spaces where students feel welcomed, supported and empowered to get involved," Rawls said.
That emphasis complements de la Torre's larger argument about the value of an SDSU education.
For the university to strengthen its external reputation, the experience it promises to prospective students must also be delivered internally.
SDSU Honors Faculty and Staff
The convocation also recognized faculty and staff members whose work has contributed to the university's academic and institutional mission.
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Bill Tong and SDSU Alumni Board of Advisors President Yolanda Apalategui presented the annual Alumni Distinguished Faculty Awards.
The 2026 honorees were Ramona Pérez, College of Arts and Letters; Paula Peter, Fowler College of Business; Charles Degeneffe, College of Education; Karen May-Newman, College of Engineering; Mark Kern, College of Health and Human Services; Katherine Spilde, College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts; Andrew Cooksy, College of Sciences; Leslie Wilson, Student Affairs & Campus Diversity; and Linda Abarbanell, SDSU Imperial Valley.
The university also recognized its 2025-26 Presidential Staff Excellence Awards recipients: Carolyn Martinson, Jennifer Ranallo, Alissa Ramos, Claudia Mendoza, Jon Rizzo, Cristina Sanchez, Jennifer Logan, Melissa Bracci, Briana Dallo and Tony Corrasco.
Millard "Skip" Austin, senior engineer/network architect in the Information Technology Network and Infrastructure Division, received SDSU's sixth annual Lifetime Achievement staff award.
The recognitions underscored another component of the university's growth strategy: retaining and attracting the people necessary to execute it.
The Next Chapter for San Diego State
De la Torre's message ultimately framed SDSU as an institution at an inflection point.
The university has achieved milestones that would have seemed extraordinarily ambitious in earlier periods of its history. It has climbed to the highest level among American research institutions, expanded its physical footprint, and increased its visibility through athletics.
But those achievements bring a new set of expectations.
For de la Torre, the university's next five years therefore won't be defined simply by becoming bigger.
The objective is to become more consequential.
And the question she posed at the beginning of the academic year may ultimately determine whether SDSU succeeds:
If the university is willing to ask bigger questions, how big can the answers become?
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-- By Michael R. Thomas
SDSU alumnus Michael Rakeem Thomas graduated from San Diego State University (SDSU) with his Bachelor of Arts in Economics in May 2021.
© Copyright 2026 JWT Communications. All rights reserved. This article cannot be republished, rebroadcast, rewritten, or distributed in any form without written permission.
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