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Strategic Long-Range Plan

Preamble
Mission Statement
Strategic Theme Goals

Quality Enhancement Plan

Prospectus - May 2003
Plan - August 2004
Plan Update - February 2005
Timeline - February 2005

Strategic Theme #1

The Program

Warren Wilson College is committed to strengthening of its educational program. The College will strive to achieve excellence by thoughtfully integrating a strong liberal arts curriculum with experiential learning and reflection through work and service, international and cross-cultural experiences, environmental citizenship, and active participation in the Warren Wilson campus community. In order to achieve this purpose the College will

  1. Provide guidance for the integration of academic, practical, and experiential learning.
  2. Increase excellence in teaching, advising, and mentoring.
  3. Increase the excellence in intellectual content and depth of our academic offerings.
  4. Increase professional development opportunities for faculty and staff.
  5. Emphasize the educational aspects of, and increase participation in, our international and cross-cultural programs.
  6. Provide opportunities for all community members to increase understanding of environmental concerns and solutions.
  7. Create a community that purposefully considers all actions in relation to the environment and that acts on environmental commitments.
  8. Provide opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to acknowledge, examine, and celebrate the ethics and value of work in the educational process.
  9. Promote the development of skills for purposeful and effective contributions to society.
  10. Broaden opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to integrate service with study and reflection on the underlying causes of social problems and on potential solutions.
  11. Promote personal, physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual development through a strong campus community.
  12. Emphasize the educational opportunities of living and actively participating in the campus community.


Strategic Theme #2

The Right Resources and Organization

Warren Wilson College seeks to build a solid and long-term foundation for The Program. In order to make this foundation building possible, we will stabilize and deepen our relationships with each other and the larger community beyond our campus so we might fully realize the best of our aspirations. In order to achieve this purpose the College will

Enrollment and Retention

  1. Support and strengthen residence life.
  2. Achieve and maintain an average enrollment of 800 full-time equivalent undergraduate students by improving graduation rates and first to second year retention rates.
  3. Increase student, faculty, and staff involvement in campus community life.
  4. Maintain the low unfunded financial aid discount rate.
  5. Develop a community-wide definition for "diversity" and the strategies appropriate to enroll a diverse population.
  6. Use financial need as the primary determinant for awarding College financial aid, while using non-need awards to attract agreed upon student populations.

Fund-Raising

  1. Reduce dependency on tuition through increased gifts.
  2. Increase alumni participation in giving.
  3. Strengthen the strategy for planned giving.
  4. New endowment funds must remain a priority for the College.
  5. Meet capital needs as necessary.

Technology, Land and Infrastructure

  1. Actively seek opportunities to incorporate environmentally sound technologies into the College infrastructure in accordance with the Purchasing Pattern Language.
  2. Develop and implement a plan to keep information technology current.
  3. Increase the use of technology in the most appropriate and cost-efficient manner.
  4. Develop, regularly update, and implement management plans for the core campus, physical plant, farm, garden, and forest that adhere to the College's Environmental Commitment Statement.

Shared Governance and Organization

  1. Conduct a study of the governance structure and reorganize according to the needs of our 800-student campus.
  2. Support and enhance the volunteer program.
  3. Increase faculty compensation to the median of baccalaureate II B and national church-related colleges by the 2010 academic year.
  4. Increase staff compensation to achieve parity with the appropriate benchmarks by the 2010 academic year.
  5. Update staff job descriptions and introduce a workable system for appraisal of all employees.

Collaborative and Cooperative Partnerships

  1. Continue to build partnerships on a local, regional, national, and international level that are mutually beneficial and compatible with the College's mission.
  2. Provide student internship and experiential learning opportunities with a variety of partner organizations.
  3. Work within an educational coalition framework to include public school systems and higher education institutions.
  4. Develop further the College's summer workshop and conference program with partner organizations.
  5. Continue to develop the Environmental Leadership Center as a major outreach arm of the College, extending programs and services off-campus to the area community and beyond.


Strategic Theme #3

Telling the Story

Warren Wilson College strives to be intentionally effective in sharing its unique mission with others. We celebrate and take pride in our vision for education and will tell the story strategically with integrity and authenticity. In order to achieve this purpose the College will

  1. Create an overall marketing effort by developing and coordinating plans for each target audience.
  2. Insure the truthfulness, accuracy, and integrity of the story being told.
  3. More effectively broadcast the story to each target audience identified by applications, and increase the exposure of the College in the local, regional, and national media.