Strategic Plan

The Path to Leadership 2012

Download the full strategic plan (1.5MB PDF)

In my College Forum address in August, 2006, I announced to the College community my intent to initiate a Strategic Plan for the next five years. Throughout the fall I held a series of listening sessions (12 one-hour sessions) to gather the impressions of the faculty, staff, administration, and students of Saint Mary’s College concerning the work of the College. Every full-time employee was invited to attend one of the sessions. The information learned at these sessions informed my thinking as I began the strategic planning process.

A committee was formed in September, 2006. It included the President’s Cabinet, four faculty members, a member of the Board of Trustees, the Director of Institutional Research, the Chief Information Officer, a staff representative, and a student representative.1 This core group broke into three sub-committees with additional members added. The sub-committees were: Academic Initiatives, Student Initiatives, and Resource Planning. The results of their efforts are contained in the following document.

The title of this plan, “The Path to Leadership,” was not a starting point, but rather came to me as I approached the final draft stages of the report. I have stated publicly that Saint Mary’s College must strive to be nationally recognized as a top liberal arts college. I realize this is an ambitious goal, and one that will not be achieved in the next five years or perhaps even in the next ten years. But by keeping this as the overarching goal and the desired result of our efforts, I believe it will focus our work to keep Saint Mary’s College on the “Path to Leadership.” Achievement of that goal will make Saint Mary’s not only the nation’s leading Catholic women’s college, but one of the country’s leading colleges. As at most colleges and universities, there are many demands on the time, energy, and efforts of everyone who works at Saint Mary’s as well as on the many generous volunteers and donors who contribute in so many ways to Saint Mary’s College. This plan will help us sort through those demands and prioritize our efforts over the next five years.

Even the best plans need to change as circumstances change. This plan is intended to be flexible and to be reviewed at least annually. During each annual review we will assess our progress and the continuing importance of the tasks not yet completed. At that time, we will have the opportunity to amend the list of goals and to add to, or subtract from, the list. In other words, this is intended to be a living plan and not one that is carved in stone at the time of its publication. The annual review will be conducted by the original Strategic Planning Committee in consultation with and with communication to the entire College community.

The final draft of this document was written by me and I take full responsibility for its contents. This report is my vision for Saint Mary’s College for the next five years.

1 Since then, we have welcomed a new Vice President and Dean of Faculty and a new Chief Information Officer to Saint Mary’s. They have also been consulted about this Strategic Plan.