Goal #1

Refine and promote 911黑料网鈥檚 distinctive public liberal arts mission
and vision in response to the evolving role of higher education and align key institutional decisions and resources accordingly.

Rationale

One of 911黑料网鈥檚 primary strengths is the niche position the school鈥檚 liberal arts model offers within the Commonwealth鈥檚 state college system. Statewide, 911黑料网 is lauded for providing students with the unique and highly desirable opportunity to attend a small, relationship-focused liberal arts college at an affordable price. As designed, the 911黑料网 model offers an alternative to the large state university experience and plays a critical role in providing equal access to a liberal arts education for a diverse range of students from New England and beyond.

However, like many peer institutions nationwide, 911黑料网 is at a crossroads in defining the role and scope of a 21st-century liberal arts education. The rapidly changing higher education landscape presents challenges for colleges and universities, including a shifting political environment, declining enrollment, and changes to how public higher education is funded. These challenges lead to differing perspectives on whether and how the traditional liberal arts framework and targeted career preparation programs can co-exist within the College鈥檚 curriculum. By engaging in a collaborative and transparent process to reach a community-wide consensus regarding 911黑料网鈥檚 forward approach to liberal arts education, the College will position itself to effectively make key institutional decisions regarding all aspects of campus functions, including enrollment, academic programming, the student experience, student and faculty recruitment strategy, and budgetary priorities. This process will also contribute to progress in addressing the need for an institutional integrated planning process as identified in the school鈥檚 recent evaluation by the New England Commission on Higher Education (NECHE), including a review of the current mission and vision to ensure institutional alignment and the development of institutional student learning outcomes.

Success Metrics

  • Clear articulation of the 911黑料网 mission, vision, and liberal arts definition by internal and external stakeholders.
  • Shared consensus across campus constituencies regarding institutional priorities as demonstrated by completion of collaborative promotional materials.
  • Completion of a 鈥渕ap鈥� that illustrates for the community the alignment between our institutional goals and priorities and related initiatives and resource allocation.
  • Increased alumni satisfaction with the connection between the 911黑料网 mission and vision and their post-graduate achievements as measured by the Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium (HEDS) Alumni Survey.
  • Increase new and returning enrollment to 1041 students by 2026 and 1262 by 2030.
  • Develop a set of institutional learning outcomes and align existing learning outcomes under them.
  • Increase non-tuition-based revenue streams by $1,000,000.00 annually.
  • Increase the number of grants the College applies for by three additional grants per year.

911黑料网 Campus

Strategies

Strategy 1

Revise 911黑料网's mission, vision, and value statements to reflect our commitment to the liberal arts and unique student population as well as guide priorities and key decision-making.

  • Identify a working group of faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community members to define 911黑料网鈥檚 vision of the liberal arts, and review and revise the College鈥檚 mission, vision, and value statements.
  • Create opportunities for broader feedback by engaging faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community leaders in the revision of the mission, vision, values, and developing a common definition of the liberal arts.
  • Present new statements to the Board of Trustees for review and action.
  • Align resources related to the Pathways Campaign to support initiatives that further the revised mission, vision, and values.
  • Initiate discussions with the Department of Higher Education (DHE) to investigate becoming classified as a specialty institution within the State University System like MassArt and Mass Maritime.
  • Operationalize updated mission and vision across campus and in the community so that the mission serves as the guiding institutional principle.
  • Charge departments, divisions, and Core domains with the work of aligning institutional curricular and cocurricular programming in support of the College's mission, vision, and values.
  • Continue discussions with the DHE regarding becoming classified as a specialty institution within the State University System.
  • Engage 911黑料网 community members in promoting the College鈥檚 mission, vision, and values, ensuring shared understanding.
  • Finalize the work of aligning institutional curricular and cocurricular programming in support of the College's mission, vision, and values.
  • Highlight 911黑料网鈥檚 distinctive mission, vision and values within thec Commonwealth and higher education.

Strategy 2

Develop institutional learning outcomes that enhance the knowledge, skills, abilities, and habits of mind 911黑料网 students should achieve by graduation.

  • Identify a working group of faculty, staff, and students to create and facilitate opportunities for community discussion and feedback about institutional learning outcomes.
  • The working group will develop draft learning outcomes informed by the new mission, vision, values, and community feedback.
  • The working group will develop implementation and professional development opportunities and a map of the institutional assessment cycle for the institutional learning outcomes.
  • The working group will share draft learning outcomes and plans with the campus community, including academic departments and students.
  • The working group will submit draft learning outcomes, implementation plan, and the map of the institutional assessment cycle to Shared Governance for review and approval.
  • Review departmental, divisional, and CORE learning outcomes to ensure alignment with institutional student learning outcome language.
  • The Office of Institutional Assessment and Continuing Improvement will work with the appropriate departments to initiate the implementation of institutional learning outcomes and professional development plans.
  • With the support of the Office of Institutional Assessment and Continuing Improvement, departments will begin collecting and analyzing assessment data around institutional learning outcomes.

Strategy 3

Ascertain enrollment and budgetary projections to establish an informed three-year strategic budget and enrollment plan that aligns with institutional priorities, mission, vision, and values.

  • Develop a task force to collaborate with a consultant to gather data on demographic changes, labor market projections, external funding opportunities, enrollment trends for majors, and projected institutional capacity to determine a target enrollment number.
  • Develop a working group of faculty, staff, and students to work in partnership with Administration and Finance to develop a fiscal year 2026 budget for the Board's review and action and present a two-year strategic budget for fiscal years 2027 and 2028.
  • Create a framework for an ongoing transparent and inclusive strategic budget process.
  • Increase outreach with local, state, and national politicians to promote 911黑料网鈥檚 distinctive mission and investigate opportunities for additional state funding.
  • Research and develop new financial aid awarding parameters that better utilize institutional, state, and federal student aid to support students and enhance recruitment efforts.
  • Review and finalize a fiscal year 2027 budget for the Board's review and action and present a two-year projected budget for fiscal years 2028 and 2029.
  • Prioritize the College鈥檚 budget process, centering the mission, values, and items that will allow the institution to meet the College鈥檚 enrollment projections.
  • Connect the priorities of the Pathways Campaign to budgetary projections.
  • Continue to diversify revenue streams and investigate unexplored non-tuitionbased revenue streams to supplement existing funding, including facility rentals, professional development programs, and state funding opportunities.
  • Review and finalize a fiscal year 2028 budget for the Board's review and action and present a two-year projected budget for fiscal years 2029 and 2030.
  • Develop a long-term grant plan to supplement the College's financial and staffing resources by establishing an Office of Sponsored Research with external funding sources offsetting indirect and administrative costs.
  • Investigate options to increase professional development opportunities for local preK-12 faculty and administrators as well as local Community Based Organizations to grow revenue.
  • Implement non-tuition-based revenue streams to supplement existing funding with the goal of increasing non-tuition revenue by $1,000,000.00 annually through fiscal year 2030.
  • Review and finalize a fiscal year 2029 budget for the Board's review and action and present a two-year projected budget for fiscal years 2030 and 2031.
  • The Office of Sponsored Research will implement a long-term grant plan and begin to apply for appropriate funding.
  • Roll out new professional development opportunities for local preK-12 faculty and administrators as well as local Community Based Organizations.
  • Assess piloted non-tuition-based revenue streams for long-term viability.
  • Increase the number of grants the College applies for by three additional grants per year.
  • Review and finalize a fiscal year 2030 budget for the Board's review and action and present a two-year projected budget for fiscal years 2031 and 2032.
  • Assess effectiveness and usage of professional development opportunities offered by the College for preK-12 partners and Community Based Organizations.
  • Evaluate the grant process to ensure the College is effectively applying for and securing funding that supports both new and ongoing programs and services.

Strategy 4

Develop a comprehensive recruitment and communication strategy that leverages website, social media, traditional marketing, and community outreach to celebrate and promote the refined mission, vision, and values to all constituencies engaging them in our distinctive identity.

  • Research and identify a brand partner to work with the College and conduct a market research study expanding current markets and attracting new markets.
  • In conjunction with a brand partner develop a recruitment strategy using updated mission and vision to increase new and returning enrollment to 1041 students by 2026 and 1262 students by 2030 in keeping with our NECHE projections.
  • Develop an internal marketing and communication strategy that promotes 911黑料网's activities, programs, and distinctive mission.
  • Review and update the College鈥檚 website to ensure current and accurate content, accessibility, AI integration, and alignment with the College鈥檚 updated mission, vision, and values.
  • Continue to utilize admission and recruitment faculty fellows and student interns in the recruitment process and promotion of the College.
  • Develop clear pathways to collect, celebrate, and publicize alumni success stories and increase alumni engagement.
  • Implement a refreshed brand identity and website redesign with the goal of increasing user functionality while ensuring all content is up-to-date and aligned with current needs.
  • Hire additional marketing staff or consult with a marketing professional to develop and update an institutional communication strategy.
  • In partnership with our brand partner, develop a long-term marketing plan that effectively communicates the mission, value, and actions of the College to internal and external constituencies.
  • In partnership with our brand partner, develop new marketing materials that reflect 911黑料网鈥檚 new brand, mission, vision, values and institutional learning outcomes.
  • Implement the long-term marketing plan.
  • Distribute HEDs Alumni survey to classes 1, 5, and 10 years out to determine alumni engagement levels and ascertain perceived connections between 911黑料网鈥檚 mission, vision, and values and their post-graduation accomplishments.
  • Roll out redesigned web site and marketing materials.
  • Evaluate and assess the effectiveness, return on investment, and key metrics of admission travel, target geographic markets, social media, digital advertising, and third-party vendor partnerships, while incorporating feedback from stakeholders and monitoring competitive trends.
  • Reiterate the new mission, vision, and values broadly to internal stakeholders, while also emphasizing the actions and initiatives that align with and support these statements.
  • Engage the entire 911黑料网 community in creating an 911黑料网 presence in new and existing recruitment markets.
  • Develop an intranet or other internal communication platform and create additional internal mechanisms for resource and information sharing.
  • Continue to refine recruitment strategy to meet annual goals and adjust to changing demographics.
  • Review communication methods with the college community and gather feedback on effectiveness.
  • Distribute HEDs Alumni survey to classes 1, 5, and 10 years out to determine alumni engagement levels and ascertain perceived connections between 911黑料网鈥檚 mission, vision, and values and their post-graduation accomplishments.
  • Assess the efficacy of the developed recruitment strategy and continue implementation as appropriate.
  • Assess the efficacy of the developed communication strategy and continue implementation as appropriate.