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MARIST COLLEGE STRATEGIC PLAN
2004-2009

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

"Marist is dedicated to helping students develop the intellect and character required for enlightened, ethical, and productive lives in the global community of the 21st century."

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STRATEGIC PLAN
2004 - 2009

BUILDING ON SUCCESS

Executive Summary

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Mission and Vision Statement
2. Strategic Goals and Supporting Initiatives
3. Conclusion
4. Strategic Plan Steering Committee

I. MARIST COLLEGE MISSION

"Marist is dedicated to helping students develop the intellect and character required for enlightened, ethical, and productive lives in the global community of the 21st century."

VISION STATEMENT

The College fulfills its mission by pursuing three ideals: excellence in education, the importance of community, and the principle of service. These ideals were handed down to us by the Marist Brothers who founded the College. Although Marist is now an independent institution governed by a lay board of trustees, the three ideals remain an integral part of the College mission.

The Marist ideal of excellence in education is achieved through an emphasis on quality teaching and distinctive learning opportunities. At the undergraduate level, this begins with a firm foundation in the liberal arts and sciences. Through core courses and their major field of study, students are educated to think logically and creatively, be able to synthesize and integrate methods and insights from a variety of disciplines, and effectively express their opinions both orally and in writing. Students are encouraged to consider the ethical dimensions of the subjects they study, and to become more aware of their own values and the value implications of the choices they make in their public and private lives. They are also exposed to cultures other than their own through on-campus programs and study abroad.

In addition to offering undergraduate programs to traditional-age students, Marist has a long history of serving the needs of adult learners for graduate, degree completion, and continuing education programs. The College offers these students an educational experience that meets the same high standards as our traditional undergraduate programs. Marist allows these students to balance their education with work and family responsibilities by offering flexible scheduling, alternative methods of program delivery, and satellite campuses.

Marist seeks to distinguish itself by the manner in which it uses information technology to support teaching, learning, and scholarship at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The College believes that by familiarizing our students with these advanced technologies, it better prepares them to be productive members of society and lifelong learners.

The Marist ideal of community is based on the belief that we become a better institution through the active involvement of faculty, staff, students, and alumni in the life of the College. At a time when social bonds in our society are tenuous, we seek to develop a relationship between our community members and the College that will last a lifetime. We do this by nurturing the development and well-being of all our community members. Of particular importance is assuring that the life of students outside the classroom is supportive of the educational goals pursued inside the classroom. We strive to be a diverse community but also one united by a shared commitment to the free exchange of ideas, consideration of the opinions of others, and civility in all our interactions.

Finally, Marist believes in the dignity of every human being and is committed to the principle of service. The College conducts programs for the disadvantaged, a wide variety of programs that meet community needs, and programs that broaden access to education. We encourage students, faculty, staff, and alumni to make service an important part of their lives. Students are encouraged to become involved in campus activities, programs that assist the less fortunate in our society, and service projects throughout the Hudson River Valley and around the world. By sharing their time and talents, students help make Marist a better place to live and learn while developing a sense of personal and civic responsibility.

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II. STRATEGIC GOALS AND SUPPORTING INITIATIVES

1. Provide an increasingly high-quality and distinctive educational experience for all students

   Initiatives: General

   1. Systematically review and assess programs emphasizing learning outcomes to ensure that standards of high quality are maintained
   2. Recognize outstanding teaching, scholarship, and service with institutional awards and funding
   3. Expand and enhance faculty professional development opportunities
   4. Make better use of state-of-the-art library to enhance teaching, learning, and content management
   5. Develop a campus master plan that identifies and addresses college-wide space needs and preserves the natural beauty of our site
   6. Increase academic space for teaching and learning through construction of an addition to the Dyson Center
   7. Increase academic space for teaching and learning through construction of the Hancock Center

      Initiatives: Undergraduate Education

   8. Continue to emphasize a comprehensive education with a strong liberal arts core and a focus on knowledge, skills, values, service, and community
   9. Ensure the curriculum supports the development of leadership potential in students
   10. Develop and implement an enrollment strategy that is based on (a) minimal growth in the traditional-age new undergraduate population, and (b) improved retention
   11. Improve retention of traditional-age undergraduates through a coordinated program to achieve a six-year cohort graduation rate of 75 percent or better by 2009
   12. Increase the number of full-time faculty at a rate that consistently exceeds the growth rate in traditional-age undergraduate students
   13. Continue to explore new academic programs, social opportunities, and marketing strategies that help address the gender imbalance in full-time undergraduate student enrollment
   14. Expand and enhance learning through research, internship, and study abroad opportunities
   15. Expand job, graduate school, and fellowship placement opportunities
   16. Construct additional on-campus housing to enhance the undergraduate learning experience

       Initiatives: Graduate and Continuing Education

   17. Develop and implement programs for Graduate and Continuing Education that enhance the academic reputation of the College
   18. Develop and implement programs for Graduate and Continuing Education that extend the geographic reach of the College to national and international audiences
   19. Encourage increased participation by full-time faculty in Graduate and Continuing Education programs

2. Create a more diverse and international college community

   Initiatives

   1. Continue to foster an institutional culture that is sensitive to the needs of faculty, staff, and students from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds
   2. Increase diversity of students, faculty, staff, trustees, and advisory boards
   3. Prepare students to live and work in a diverse, global community through curricula and activities that consider multi-cultural perspectives including the history and culture of non-Western civilization and underrepresented racial and ethnic groups
   4. Extend student support services to attract and retain a diverse student population
   5. Expand Marist student participation in study abroad programs and increase inter-session, mid-semester, and summer programs abroad
   6. Assess the feasibility of offering Marist programs in an online format to students in other countries
   7. Enhance the curriculum with the addition of programs that may attract more minorities (e.g., Latin-American studies, etc.)
   8. Assess for increased accuracy the reporting categories that are used to identify race/ethnicity for faculty, staff, and students
   9. Develop and implement diversity training programs for faculty, staff, and students
   10. Continue the Opportunity Hire Program for faculty and staff Develop relationships with historically black colleges and universities for the recruitment of faculty and staff
   11. Offer professional development and mentoring opportunities for existing minority staff and faculty members to help create promotional opportunities
   12. Develop a minority host program for minority job finalists to learn more about the campus and local communities

3. Strengthen the sense of community among students, faculty, staff, and alumni

   Initiatives

   1. Cultivate a lifelong relationship between the College and traditional and non-traditional students
   2. Develop and integrate community-building opportunities into online and off-site education
   3. Create living/learning communities in residence halls and academic buildings
   4. Enhance communication strategies to keep members of the campus community apprised of key developments (e.g., major grant awards, new academic programs)
   5. Provide opportunities for increased communication and collaboration (e.g., program development) among schools at the College
   6. Provide more community service opportunities for students
   7. Provide more incentives for faculty and staff to do community service work with students
   8. Explore using cyberspace to provide community-building opportunities for alumni

4. Become a recognized leader in using information technology to support teaching and learning in all environments

   Initiatives

   1. Research and stay apprised of cutting-edge technology and how it is being used to enhance teaching and learning
   2. Provide "best of breed" information technology and support in response to institutional needs
   3. Develop a recognized expertise in and thorough understanding of the pedagogy of successful online learning
   4. Assess and respond to the community-building needs in online learning
   5. Use expertise in information technology to improve the traditional classroom educational experience

5. Expand the College's network with external organizations and develop a wider range of strategic partnerships to create new opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and alumni

   Initiatives

   1. Increase the involvement of faculty and administrative staff in the development of strategic partnerships to enhance the recruitment of students, faculty, and staff
   2. Initiate e-communication programs to enhance relationships with alumni, trustees, parents, guidance counselors, and other constituencies
   3. Engage more alumni and business and government contacts to improve placement of students in internships and to help develop a nationally recognized internship program
   4. Increase the involvement of faculty and administrative staff and engage more alumni and business and government contacts to enhance job placement and employment opportunities, and graduate and professional school placement, for students
   5. Increase the involvement of faculty and administrative staff in the development of strategic partnerships to identify and develop prospective funding and donor sources
   6. Strengthen and expand advisory boards to enhance our academic programs, create quality student internships, increase job placement and employment opportunities for our students, and generate more gift opportunities
   7. Strengthen relations with local town, county, and city officials, and with neighboring residents

6. Expand the financial resource base of the College

   Initiatives: Expand New Net Income

   1. Initiate and support new and existing programs that have a proven potential to generate net income
   2. Maintain balanced operating budgets and fiscally sound resource allocation and investment strategies
   3. Develop and implement an enrollment strategy for Graduate and Continuing Education that generates new net income, as determined by the administration in the annual budget development process
   4. Provide additional incentives and support for faculty to engage in innovative and entrepreneurial educational and research activities
   5. Collaborate with colleges, universities, and corporate universities and training programs to provide content and delivery systems
   6. Provide content management services and consulting to external businesses and organizations
   7. Leverage the College's technology expertise and infrastructure to generate new net income
   8. Market Marist programs globally through overseas sites and online offerings
   9. Assess the competitiveness of our pricing structure and financial aid strategy
   10. Continue the dialogue with the campus community with respect to the College's overall financial position, the relationship between budget priorities and the strategic plan, and the need to generate new net income to support new initiatives

       Initiatives: Expand External Resource Development

   11. Pursue more grants based on faculty strengths and interests, offer greater financial rewards for grant-winning faculty and their individual schools, and provide appropriate administrative support
   12. Collaborate with research universities to pursue grant opportunities
   13. Pursue gifts and grant opportunities to support capital expansion
   14. Increase the endowment to create scholarship funds and endowed chairs and to support academic programs
   15. Expand the alumni donor base to increase support for the Annual Fund
   16. Advance a planned giving program to provide greater endowment opportunities for the College

7. Become a more effective and efficient educational institution

   Initiatives

   1. Analyze staff and faculty workload and address shortages in the context of institutional growth and change
   2. Review and enhance the faculty and staff recruitment process to streamline hiring and attract outstanding candidates
   3. Support continuous improvement of staff by offering professional development opportunities
   4. Assess and adjust the current administrative and academic structure to support the pursuit of new educational initiatives with appropriate staff
   5. Ensure that administrative and academic processes support a comprehensive and timely review of requests to approve new academic programs
   6. Evaluate current systems of assessment for academic programs and administrative operations to ensure that assessment processes are systematic and based on well-articulated criteria
   7. Assess all programs and operations and, where appropriate, shift resources to those that address and/or support strategic priorities
   8. Develop a market research capacity to help guide our overall enrollment efforts and support the identification and initiation of new programs as well as changes in existing programs
   9. Create a comprehensive, integrated marketing plan that helps in establishing the identity of the Marist name and our programs
   10. Implement environmentally sustainable practices to raise awareness, to use as a teaching tool, to establish lifelong behaviors supporting the environment, and to capture financial savings where feasible
   11. Develop a long-range plan that identifies our technology needs for the coming five years
   12. Use technology more effectively to provide online services to all students and improve administrative operations
   13. Continue to provide a safe and secure environment for the Marist community

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III. CONCLUSION

The attainment of the goals and initiatives in this plan will make Marist a more distinctive institution and enhance our competitive position. Over the period covered by this plan, Marist will be increasingly acknowledged as one of the top comprehensive liberal arts colleges in the country. We will be recognized nationally and even internationally for using cutting-edge information technology to enhance the teaching and learning process. Marist will be the College adults think of when they wish to return to school to complete their undergraduate education, earn a graduate degree, or pursue professional training. Marist will have formed innovative partnerships with key organizations, including corporate, government, and non-profit groups, each creating a new opportunity to enhance the activities and work of our students, faculty, and staff.

With respect to growth, the College will have a moderately larger student enrollment with the great majority of growth occurring in our graduate and continuing education programs, especially in the areas of online learning and our offerings at off-campus sites. We expect growth in our traditional aged full-time student body to continue to be modest and in the range of one to two percent per year.

In the facilities area, we expect to see continued development of our main campus. The College is currently engaged in comprehensive campus master planning process that is expected to be completed in the 2004-2005 academic year. A key goal of the master planning process is to develop the foundation that will enable us to create a campus setting that will place Marist among the top 50 college campuses in the country. With respect to specific building initiatives in the next five years, a new student townhouse complex will be coming online in fall 2005 and academic space will be increased with an addition to the Dyson Center and the construction of the Hancock Center which will support our expanding work in the technology area. The master planning process will be used to guide the specific location of new facilities and also help us determine the best use of the property the College has acquired on the east side of Route 9.

In summary, there will be many positive changes at the College over the next five years. These changes will build on our past accomplishments and continue to preserve the core values and traditions that underpin and guide our institution.

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STRATEGIC PLAN STEERING COMMITTEE

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