Carleton will champion the power of a broad liberal arts education through innovative teaching that inspires curiosity and experimentation.
The challenges our world will face in the years ahead—such as climate change, economic inequality, and the role of artificial intelligence—will require creative and multifaceted solutions. As a college dedicated to academic excellence, with tremendous depth and range in STEM fields, the humanities, arts, and social sciences, Carleton is ideally suited to producing students who can bring together many different perspectives and ways of knowing to address these challenges.
It is critical, therefore, that Carleton resist the popular urge to direct students down a narrow path of study leading to a single career outcome, and instead double down on the importance of exposing students to a wide range of disciplines, encouraging exploration and experimentation across fields and throughout the curriculum. At the same time, doing more to chart the multiple pathways opened up by a broad liberal arts education will give students and families confidence that any major they choose is the “right major” at Carleton.
Carleton’s unique brand of academic excellence is deeply rooted in a spirit of curiosity and experimentation. Recognizing the need to respond nimbly to the dynamic state of education today and the changing needs of our students, we will cement Carleton’s reputation for academic excellence with a deliberate focus on pedagogical innovation and renewal, to ensure that both teaching and curriculum are designed to foster curiosity and experimentation among students.
In a rapidly changing world, we cannot know for certain today what the classroom and curriculum of 2033 will look like, but we can build the infrastructure that ensures we continue to evolve to meet new developments in teaching, learning, and research in the years to come.
Visit the pages below to see the actions and metrics associated with each goal.