WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY MISSION STATEMENT

Transcription

1 Willamette University enters the 21 st Century with a long and proud tradition of academic strength and intellectual vibrancy. Shaped by the talented teaching and the tireless commitment of an unparalleled faculty, our commonwealth of learning has educated and enlivened the young men and women of the West for longer than any other institution of higher education. Passionate and loyal alumni, sound fiscal management, and a steadfast faith in the value of liberal arts education further sustain our legacy. We recognize, however, that tradition alone cannot and should not promise our continued success. More than ever before, leadership in the new century demands critical self-evaluation and the capacity for dynamic change. The next generation of students live in a world made small by advances in technology. Yet within this intimate global community the opportunities and choices for young people have multiplied beyond understanding. To be distinguished is more challenging than ever. Leadership in this new world requires thoughtful and deliberate planning. Willamette thus engaged every segment of our community faculty, students, alumni, trustees and friends in a rigorous evaluation of our collective values, priorities, challenges and goals. The document that follows is the product of our introspection. Over the next seven years, it will allow us to focus with precision and clarity on five key initiatives: academic excellence, student life, visibility, technology and diversity. Our institution is unique not only in its history, but also in its design. Thus our Longrange Plan is separated into five segments. We are a comprehensive University with a core liberal arts college and three active professional schools, each with its own academic mission. Willamette is an institution at which intellectual exploration and social growth is accomplished through the building of life long relationships. These relationships are forged through the intimacy of our community. The value and vitality of the residential experience cannot be understated and this is demonstrated by the prominent role the division of Campus Life assumes in our planning. This vision for Willamette is not only the map for the next seven years it is also the foundation for a wide-ranging capital campaign and a facilities master plan documents that will provide substance and structure to our ambitious goals. Our values, priorities and goals are collected and our strategic vision is focused. We must now step forward confident in the integrity of our planning, the strength of our institution and the enduring value of our product. Willamette s future is bright.

2 WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY MISSION STATEMENT Willamette University is an independent, nonsectarian institution of higher learning founded in 1842, which educates men and women in the liberal arts and in selected professional fields. The University s mission now extends far from the Oregon Territory and the Pacific Northwest to encompass the larger world beyond. In its pursuits, Willamette University: Cherishes the dignity and worth of all individuals and strives to reflect the diversity of our world; Encourages close relationships among faculty, students, and staff to enhance learning and foster community; Provides a lively and challenging education in a small university setting where teaching and learning are strengthened by ongoing scholarship and research; Embraces a commitment to service and leadership in our various communities and professions; Honors its historic roots in The United Methodist Church and values the ethical and spiritual dimension of education; Believes that education is a lifelong process of discovery, delight and growth, the hallmark of a humane life. 2

3 STRATEGIC STATEMENT Strengthen Academic Excellence We need excellence to characterize all that we do. Our campus must be intellectually attractive and desirable: a place where the joys of education and the cultivation of the intellect are regularly shared in the campus community and carried to the community beyond. Thus, we must invest in people, programs and facilities that strengthen academic excellence in each of our schools and colleges. Strengthen Student Life As an intellectual residential community our purpose is to meet the needs of students to learn, to become educated leaders and informed citizens -- engaged in ideas and work that benefit the larger society. Thus, we must invest in students, programs and facilities to strengthen a residential and campus life that reinforces Willamette s special sense of place and community and that values civility, integrity and moral and ethical awareness. Strengthen Our Visibility We need to increase both the number of people who know our institution and the depth of their understanding about who we are and what we do. Our work is good and deserves better visibility precisely because of its intrinsic value, worth and goodness to society. Our traditional interest groups should be joined with new, more diverse groups -- ethnically, culturally, religiously, geographically and socio-economically -- all of whom should know us and understand our educational mission. Thus, we must invest in people and programs to strengthen our visibility so that we become better known by more people, especially in the West and selected regions in the nation. Strengthen Technology Leadership and Innovation We need to be national leaders in the innovative and creative use of information technology as it relates to the liberal arts and professional school education. Technology innovation will distinguish us from our peers. We do this not as an end in itself but as a means by which our students can more fully enjoy, experience and use their education. It quickens the life of our campus with a unique vitality that derives from the presentation of constantly new and interesting ways to communicate and express ideas, which are our most enduring product. Thus, we must invest in technology to strengthen teaching, learning and research at Willamette and develop Willamette as a national leader in the application of technology. Strengthen Our Commitment to Diversity Commitment to diversity is needed as a visible expression of our collective worldview and the world in which we live. It is essential to quality education and supports our sense of moral duty to overcome racism, bigotry and discrimination in all forms. Thus, we must invest in people, programs and activities to strengthen our appreciation of and commitment to diversity. 3

4 The College of Liberal Arts STRENGTHENING ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE The College of Liberal Arts will attract the highest quality students. Enrollment practices will be refined to maximize student selectivity. The College of Liberal Arts will support faculty who value the joys and challenges of undergraduate teaching and scholarly and creative activity. The College will continue to hire, retain and promote the best faculty. They will be supported both in their scholarship and in their classroom teaching through small classes and innovative pedagogies. Shared faculty governance will continue to be practiced as the College strives for fiscal self-sufficiency. The College of Liberal Arts will foster student creativity and scholarship. Student scholarship will be encouraged through unique and innovative programming, extensive exposure to visiting scholars and artists, and enhanced opportunities for greater public recognition of advanced student research. The College of Liberal Arts will provide rewarding international and domestic off-campus programs for students and faculty. In collaboration with other liberal arts colleges, study abroad and exchange programs will be expanded to integrate more non-traditional disciplines as well as non-traditional sites. The expanded opportunities for off-campus study and research will be more fully integrated into the academic and co-curricular programs. There will be increases in applications, lower acceptance rates and a higher yield of admitted students. The quality of the undergraduate student body will increase. Faculty will be actively involved in the admissions effort. Net tuition revenue will increase. The College will receive stronger international recognition and enrollment. The student-to-faculty ratio will not exceed 10.5 to 1. Faculty salaries in the College of Liberal Arts will be highly competitive with peer Northwest institutions. 4

5 Increased funding through competitive course-release opportunities will add two faculty members per year to Public Policy, Humanities, and Quantitative Analysis Centers; the Atkinson, Hewlett and Visiting Scholars programs will increase substantially. Support for student scholarship and summer research will increase substantially. Fifty percent of students will study abroad twenty percent in non-traditional sites and thirty-five percent from non-traditional majors and no fewer than twenty-five domestic or foreign exchange students will study annually at Willamette. The number of students on Willamette sponsored exchanges will increase from seventy-five percent to eighty-five percent. Public Policy, Humanities and Quantitative Analysis Centers will have directors and research associates, and operate without tuition-generated funding, supporting five to ten student researchers each. Student scholarship will be featured in an online journal. A wide variety of academic majors will have honors programs and performing arts majors will have a tutorial track. Funding for the Carson Undergraduate Research Grant will triple. Science and social science research seminars will be conducted with short-term visiting scholars, and the fine and performing arts curriculum will be enhanced with master classes hosted by visiting artists and an on-campus concert series. Total per-student costs for off-campus study will decline from 85% to 70% of tuition, room and board through collaborative and exchange programs. STRENGTHENING STUDENT LIFE The College of Liberal Arts will promote a campus culture that integrates curricular and cocurricular programming. To strengthen the connection between curricular and co-curricular activities, the College will create an Associate Dean for Student Academic Development. The Associate Dean will collaborate with faculty, staff and alumni to increase opportunities for faculty engagement in the residential life of the students and will expand the integration of service learning into the curriculum. An Associate Dean for Student Academic Development will be created to enrich connections between the curriculum and co-curricular life. Support and encouragement for service learning will be made available in all areas of the curriculum. 5

6 Service learning will be incorporated into the curriculum wherever it is found to be appropriate. Alumni participation in creating and implementing service-learning alternatives will increase by an additional 10%. The goals of Campus Life will be reflected in the actions of the College of Liberal Arts. STRENGTHENING VISIBILITY The College of Liberal Arts will enhance awareness of academic programs among prospective students, professional colleagues and the public. The University will establish an integrated institutional marketing plan highlighting the academic strengths of the college. The plan will draw attention to existing programs, including the success of the fine arts, scholarly and creative work of students and faculty, and civic accomplishments. Additionally, the College will establish specific new programs that enrich academic objectives and bring recognition visiting distinguished speaker series and lively scholarly conferences with published proceedings. More faculty members will be funded to present scholarly papers at domestic and international professional meetings. The visiting performing arts program will have a full time administrator. The Hallie Ford Museum of Art will be fully endowed. Student travel to academic, athletic and artistic venues will be dramatically increased. The Humanities and Public Policy centers will host national conferences and publish proceedings through the Willamette Journal or a major university press. The studio and performing arts will operate summer workshops for talented high school students. The University will provide access to its historical resources under the direction of a full-time archivist. A half-time archivist will curate the Mark O. Hatfield archives. 6

7 STRENGTHENING TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP AND INNOVATION The College of Liberal Arts will optimize information technologies to enhance educational programs. The College will reach a point of national distinction through the integration and the use of innovative programs in the liberal arts. This innovation will serve to promote personal interaction between students and faculty. It will promote learning and scholarship from the classroom to the residence and beyond. The university will initiate a campus-wide strategic plan for innovation, which provides adequate faculty resources for curricular and pedagogical advancement. The College will be a recognized leader in the integration of innovative technology in the liberal arts. Major administrative services such as registration, academic advising and information retrieval will be fully web integrated, as will alumni services. The Hatfield Library will have the infrastructure, policies, and resources to acquire materials in all formats to support faculty and students and deliver video and audio resources of the campus network and the Internet. The University will facilitate the incorporation of technology into all aspects of learning and living for faculty, students and staff, including a study of the development of an innovation center for teaching and learning. Hatfield Library will be remodeled to offer superior space for library staff, Willamette Integrated Technology Services staff, the language-learning center and the writing center. STRENGTHENING THE COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY The College of Liberal Arts will build a racially, ethnically, economically and geographically diverse student body compatible with our aspirations to attract superior students. The College will strengthen its efforts at recruiting and retaining a diverse student body through programmatic enhancements both on and off campus, adjustments to the curriculum that engage the interests of a diverse group of students, a continued focus in our admissions effort and a partnership with Tokyo International School of America (TIUA). 7

8 The College of Liberal Arts will build an ethnically and gender diverse faculty consistent with aspirations of academic excellence. The College will establish new programs to recruit diverse faculty members to tenure-track positions, such as the Minority Dissertation Completion Fellowship, a visiting and exchange program for diverse faculty, and the creation of a multicultural interdisciplinary major. Minority students will represent 20% of undergraduate enrollment. Domestic and international exchange programs allowing diverse students to attend the College and Willamette students to attend elsewhere will comprise at least 10% of off-campus study. An additional admissions representative will be dedicated to recruiting diverse students. The multicultural general educational requirement will be reviewed and recommendations will be implemented. Joint programs between the College and TIUA will strengthen integration and increase the number of TIUA students transferring to Willamette. Two additional minority faculty members will be on staff. Culturally diverse students will represent one quarter of the class and will be retained at a rate equivalent to the campus-wide average. At least two multicultural, interdisciplinary majors will be established. Four additional minority faculty members will be on staff. 8

9 The School of Education STRENGTHENING ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE The School of Education will enroll the highest quality students. The School of Education will support student oriented and collaborative faculty members who represent diverse elements of the community. The School will continue to hire, retain and promote a diverse and highly qualified faculty. They will be supported in their teaching and in their scholarly and creative endeavors by an expanded curriculum library, increased teaching resources and an administrative structure that maintains a system of shared governance. The School of Education will be housed in facilities necessary to support superior academic programs. A complete remodel and upgrade of the facility will provide space designed specifically to serve the needs of the School s faculty and students. The applicant pool will increase to 300 prospective students. A marketing plan will be implemented to better target diverse populations, e.g. colleges/universities, working professionals, geographical areas, non-traditional students and minorities. Staffing and salaries will be competitive with the School s Northwest peers. Funding will be in place to support collaborative faculty, student and professional partner research projects to be shared in community and beyond. The School of Education will have one endowed chair. The School of Education building will be remodeled to better meet the pedagogical needs of the faculty and to improve the integration with the campus. Post-M.A.T. (Master s of Arts in Teaching) programs will attract a broad range of students. 9

10 STRENGTHENING VISIBILITY The School of Education will increase visibility as an educational leader and serve the needs of the extended education community. The School will diversify its program offerings, support state mandated professional development needs, and strengthen its partnerships with members of the educational community. A Reading Endorsement program will be established. A Continuing Licensure program will be fully developed. The Center for Excellence in Teaching will be operating with an administrator, support staff and marketing plan. The School will enhance collaborative efforts with educational communities, including School Partnership Task Forces and symposia. There will be new M.A.T. opportunities in Special Education, Administration, an After Hours program, and other specialties such as Math and writing. Willamette will be capable of providing National Board Certification. The School will sponsor an endowed annual symposium on current educational issues. Host a bi-annual technology conference serving the extended educational community. STRENGTHENING TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP AND INNOVATION The School of Education will integrate advanced technologies into educational practices. The School will upgrade hardware, software and training for faculty and students, providing professional development in the application of technology to teaching and learning. The School will particularly focus on: research into appropriate uses of technology in K-12 classrooms, the evaluation of alternative delivery of programs and classes through technology, and training for faculty and students in accessing electronic materials and resources. Faculty, staff and lab computers will be state-of-the-art. Classrooms will be equipped with current educational technology. 10

11 The School will be conducting an ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of technology as a teaching tool, including the eventual alternative delivery of programs and classes where appropriate. The faculty will develop greater technological proficiencies. The M.A.T. curriculum will incorporate the use of technology. STRENGTHENING THE COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY The School of Education will strengthen its commitment to diverse elements of the community. The School will seek to hire, retain and support a diverse faculty and to develop relationships with specific institutions with diverse populations. The School of Education will build a racially, ethnically, economically and professionally diverse student body compatible with our aspiration to attract superior students. The School will establish a marketing plan to discover and attract a diverse and qualified student body, provide increased support for admissions and placement, and increase scholarships for under-represented populations. The school will expand recruitment of students and faculty targeting diverse populations. Recruiting efforts of diverse students will be coordinated with the undergraduate college. Diversity-increasing scholarships will be enhanced. There will be increased faculty exchanges with teacher preparation institutions in other countries/areas of the U.S. 11

12 College of Law STRENGTHENING ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE The College of Law will improve student quality and selectivity. The College will improve the quality and expand the size of the applicant pool by increasing the competitiveness of financial aid, establishing scholarship incentives for superior returning students and by a strategic and systematic reduction of the entering class size, followed by a gradual increase as quality improves. The College of Law will continue to provide a rigorous, sophisticated, innovative program of legal education designed to produce highly qualified ethical lawyers committed to serving the administration of justice and capable of competing on equal footing with the very best law graduates in the nation. The College will attain and maintain a student to faculty ratio of 16 to 1 while expanding curricular options and adding highly visible, nationally recognized, competitive specialization programs led by distinguished national scholars and chairholders. The College of Law will attract and retain outstanding faculty through competitive salaries, research support, and other incentives. The College will continue to develop its outstanding faculty by increasing the rate of compensation, and enhancing research stipends and research support to levels commensurate or surpassing peer institutions. The Bar passage rate will exceed the state average by 2003 and exceed all other Oregon law schools by The LSAT median for the entering class will increase by four percentile points, from 61 st to 65 th. The median grade point average will increase 6_% to 3.4. The number of academic related transfers for students in the top 20% of the class will decrease from four per year to one per year. The 2001 and 2002 entering class will be 130 students; 135 in 2003; 140 in 2004; and 150 thereafter. The faculty will increase in size from 22 to 25. Two endowed chairs will be established in the College. Faculty scholarship and publication will be increased significantly as funding for research is increased. The College will establish a Law and Business certificate program in association with the Atkinson Graduate School of Management. The College will establish a Certificate in International Legal Studies and an LL.M. program 12

13 The College will preserve and enhance the Center for Dispute Resolution and revitalize the Law and Government Program. The acceptance rate will decrease at an interval of five points per year, resulting in a shift from 74% to 39% by The LSAT median for entering students will climb to the 70 th percentile. The median GPA will be 3.6. Two additional endowed chairs will be funded, one budget-relieving, one creating a new position. This will bring the total for new endowed chairs to four and the total number of College endowed chairs to five. STRENGTHEN VISIBILITY The College of Law will enhance its reputation and visibility outside the region by attaining the goals outlined in this document and by studying and penetrating the national market and effectively publicizing the successes of its programs, faculty, and students. The College will conduct a professional marketing audit of internal operations, external attitudes and marketplace needs in order to prepare a set of recommendations for marketing and visibility programs. The alumni publications and College web page will be professionally enhanced to reflect the findings of the audit. The College ranking in U.S. News and World Report will increase by one tier. The College will surpass the other Oregon law schools. STRENGTHEN OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY The College of Law will continue and intensify its efforts to attract and retain a diverse and competent student body and faculty and will ensure an intellectual atmosphere in which diverse viewpoints are freely expressed and diverse backgrounds are honored. The College will hire additional minority faculty, substantially increase the percentage of minority students, and hire one person to assist in the recruitment, academic support, and career counseling of minority students. 13

14 Two additional minority faculty members will join the faculty. The percentage of minority students will increase to 18%. The recruitment and support position will be filled. STRENGTHEN TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP AND INNOVATION The College of Law will achieve and maintain a professional school of unquestioned academic excellence by providing facilities, both physical and technological, to house and fully support four specialization Program Centers, the library, classrooms, and student space. The College will remodel and expand the facilities and library including ubiquitous technology throughout the College. Universal access will be established through installation of a wireless computing network. Classrooms will be hard wired for outlets and network access. Faculty and staff will be well-trained and capable of using technology in the classroom and workplace. Building space will increase by 15,000 square feet. Student activity space will be increased and library carrels will expand from 209 to 425. Faculty offices for at least three new chairholders will be added. Space for specialization programs (Center for Dispute Resolution, Law and Government, etc.) will be created within the facility. 14

15 The Atkinson Graduate School of Management STRENGTHENING ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AND STRENGTHENING TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP AND INNOVATION The Atkinson Graduate School of Management will attain a position of distinction through a sharpening of its focus on information technology management. Atkinson will reformat its existing offerings and implement an innovative curriculum that prepares students to plan for, incorporate, evaluate and anticipate the use of technology in the workplace. The Atkinson learning experience will be conducted in a seamless computing environment in which all students, faculty and staff can connect to the network from any location in or near Atkinson. A distinguished chair in Information Technology Management will be added to the fulltime faculty. Atkinson faculty will have opportunities to refresh and update their IT skills. All network members, faculty, students and administrators, will be equipped with laptops capable of wireless connection. Half of Atkinson s courses will be web enabled. The College s Executives-in-Residence program will include e-commerce specialists. The ubiquitous environment will be unremarkable. Atkinson s Management of Information Technology will be an area of concentration. All Atkinson course and administrative functions will be web-enabled. STRENGTHENING ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AND STUDENT LIFE The Atkinson Graduate School of Management will increase the number and quality of students and expand the revenue base of the College. The full-time program will focus on continuing to increase the profile of the incoming class. Atkinson will improve service to the part-time students by creating a more accessible program better suited to the needs of their community. 15

16 The Atkinson Graduate School of Management will forge partnerships with corporations, nonprofits, and government entities. Atkinson will provide continuing education opportunities for executives as well as research and consulting services. Partners will provide career and experiential opportunities and will offer a source of prospective students and examples of contemporary management practices. The entering class will consist of at least seventy students annually. Fifteen new scholarships five each at 25%, 50%, and 75% of the rate of tuition will allow the College to recruit the best new students. A travel fund designated for job applicants will assist students and graduates with identifying leading internship and professional opportunities. A distinct part-time program leading to an MBA degree will be in place and serving nontraditional students. A state-of-the-art classroom will support the needs of the executive education offerings. Atkinson s offerings will include distance learning opportunities. The part-time MBA program will have a full time enrollment of at least 25 students. Fully functioning degree courses and executive education will be available through distance learning. Career services specialists in each of the colleges will be working in coordination to offer all University students a wide variety of occupational opportunities. The total student FTE in the College will be at least 200. The College will be benefiting mutually from at least four corporate partnerships. STRENGTHENING VISIBILITY The Atkinson Graduate School of Management will increase its visibility, reach and market sensitivity. Atkinson will more fully participate in the policy discussion and public understanding of business, government and not-for-profit enterprises on issues relevant to the school s market and mission. To achieve this participation, the College will undertake and implement a comprehensive marketing plan intended to increase the visibility of the school in the Pacific Northwest. The plan will be implemented in coordination with an Atkinson Advisory Committee consisting of leaders from the three sectors, business, government, and not-for-profit. 16

17 A comprehensive market evaluation will be completed and implementation begun. Half of the full-time faculty will be serving on private for-profit boards. Half of the full-time faculty will be serving on not-for-profit boards. The Atkinson Advisory Committee will be recruited and will meet in the spring semester. Atkinson faculty will conduct and publish highly regarded scholarship. 90% of the full-time faculty will be serving on both private and not-for-profit boards. Atkinson will be a sought after voice on relevant issues. 17

18 Campus Life STRENGTHENING ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE Campus Life will begin the development of residential colleges. The undergraduate intellectual and cultural experience will be enriched through the establishment of undergraduate living units that incorporate residential faculty and staff members, increase recreational facilities and programs, and create new and diverse co-curricular learning opportunities. The work of the Campus Life Task Force ( ) will be completed, published and broadly discussed. The implementation of a residential college plan will be well reflected in the Facilities Master Plan. Residential facilities will have designated faculty member mentors and other affiliated faculty. Graduated and differentiated housing opportunities will be established to better attract and retain on-campus Junior- and Senior-year residents from the College of Liberal Arts. Enriched social and cultural life will be centered on the individual residential facilities. Course opportunities will be available within individual residential facilities. The University will have begun the redevelopment and augmentation of residential facilities to provide for student lounge and study space, instructional space, academic offices, and faculty residential opportunities. The University will be recognized nationally for providing an intellectually integrated curricular and co-curricular experience for students in the College of Liberal Arts. STRENGTHEN VISIBILITY Campus life will invest energy and resources to continue the development of a leading NCAA Division III athletics program. The athletics program will compete competitively on an increasingly national field through an endowed travel fund. Individual teams will play in state-of-theart facilities and receive the appropriate levels of staff support. 18

19 Athletic teams will compete successfully with peer and aspirant academic and athletic institutions outside the Pacific Northwest. The Athletics department will develop strategic upgrades of part-time coaches to fulltime coaches. The football field will be improved or replaced. Tennis will be supported with a full-time coach and on-campus covered facilities. STRENGTHEN OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY Campus Life will enhance pluralism within the co-curricular activities of the campus. Campus life will be enriched through the increased participation of our academic community in multicultural programs and education. Additional staffing will facilitate mentoring and improved multicultural programming, which will establish Willamette as a regional leader in the development and support of a diverse community. The University will establish an additional full-time position in support of multicultural programming and student mentoring and intellectual development. In coordination with Tokyo International University of America (TIUA), a strategic plan for increased integration will be developed. The University will sponsor an institutional multicultural awareness program. Campus Life will establish and support a Multicultural Resource Center. Minority retention rates will equal or exceed the campus-wide retention rate. Multicultural themes will be integrated into the residential living system. External grants and fundraising will support a range of ongoing multicultural activities. 19

20 STRENGTHENING STUDENT LIFE Campus Life will build and program a Campus Commons, which will serve as a center for allcampus activities. The University will construct a facility capable of meeting the social and recreational needs of the campus community. The Commons will serve as a focal point for student activities including campus community meetings, recreational activities, social events and innovative programming. It will provide architectural affirmation to current and prospective students of our commitment to student-centered living and learning. Integrate the Campus Commons into the Facilities Master Plan Undertake a comprehensive social and recreational needs assessment of the student population. Develop a design concept and identify a location for the Campus Commons. Construction of the Campus Commons will be completed. The operation and maintenance of the facility will be fully endowed. All undergraduate student offices, clubs and organizations will be housed in the new facility. A Campus Commons programming director will be in place. 20