The story told here is fundamentally one of renewal. It recognizes that excellence cannot be taken for granted, but must be cultivated and nourished.
Even the strongest community can become insular if it is not refreshed by a flow of new people, perspectives, and ideas. Even the finest curriculum can become stale if it is not renewed through ongoing innovation and experimentation. Even the most successful college can become stagnant if it is not constantly engaged in self-scrutiny and transformation.
This strategic direction is not a business plan covering all aspects of how we run the College. It is a set of community aspirations for specific ways in which we believe we can do better. The journey envisioned here assumes continued excellence in all the ways we are already strong, but builds upon our most distinctive strengths to catalyze future growth — for Carls and for Carleton.
“The journey envisioned here assumes continued excellence in all the ways we are already strong, but builds upon our most distinctive strengths to catalyze future growth — for Carls and for Carleton.”
Implementation of this strategic direction will require some additional analysis and planning. In addition to outlining the financial resources needed, we will need to identify the workload implications for staff and faculty. Our expectation is that many recommendations can be implemented not by doing more, but by doing current tasks differently, with a heightened focus on new priorities and objectives. Other recommendations may require additional staffing in key areas, course releases for faculty, or other adjustments.
Next steps for the administration will include incorporating estimated costs into a long-term budget model, finalizing a set of metrics to evaluate progress towards specific goals, developing a Campus Facilities Plan, and undertaking a campaign feasibility study to prepare for future fundraising. Many of the recommended curricular actions will need to be developed, discussed, and approved by the faculty. Other actions relating to campus culture or operations will be referred to College Council or other governance bodies.
We hope that the strong community consensus represented in this plan will speed these next steps, and stimulate further discussion of ways to achieve the goals outlined here. Though the many faculty, staff, students, alumni, trustees, and friends of the College who participated in this effort may not have agreed on every recommended action, they were unified in their deep commitment to seeing Carleton continue to grow, advance, and become stronger in the years to come.