Here we expand upon plans outlined in the 2016 document Beyond 2020: Strategies for Wesleyan. That document, developed by the President in consultation with Wesleyan constituencies, is organized under the rubric of the three overarching goals of the University’s framework for planning, Wesleyan 2020. (Note: None of these plans amounts to what NEASC refers to as a “substantive change.”)
Goal 1: Energize Wesleyan’s distinctive educational experience
Wesleyan has renewed its commitment to interdisciplinary undergraduate education by recently creating four new colleges and developing academic centers that cut across departmental borders; these nascent colleges and centers will require additional support and attention over the next few years.
The Equity and Inclusion Steering Committee recommended in March 2017 that the University develop a Resource Center to: “provide a centralized location on campus that recognizes and celebrates diverse and often underrepresented or misrepresented identities; create meaningful avenues for both privileged and underprivileged individuals and groups to learn together about privilege and intersectionality and actively contribute to equity on campus; provide staffing, programming, and evaluation structures that take action to remedy exclusion and marginalization; bridge communication between underrepresented students, faculty, and staff to address issues and generate solutions related to access, representation, and equity.” Those goals were accompanied by benchmarks for success, and in the next comprehensive accreditation report, the University will report on how successful the Resource Center has been.
In addition to working with the Center, Student Affairs has a number of plans to improve the student experience over the next few years. These include making program housing more educationally focused through strong co-curricular programming, meeting student demand for mental health services, and reallocating resources to support international students should their numbers continue to grow.
With respect to the academic core, in contextual coherence with our new competencies framework, we will focus on developing a minor program in design and engineering; developing a university-wide program in writing and oral expression; giving every student the opportunity to learn data analysis and computer coding; and helping students increase their ability to understand cultural and intellectual difference.
We plan to spend approximately $2 million more annually on a dozen or so new faculty positions. Our primary goals here are to create more opportunities for mentorship (especially with respect to projects larger than classroom assignments) and improve the diversity of the Faculty. We have also created a new process for “opportunity hires,” and this too should help with bringing in faculty who are effective mentors to students of color and first generation students. Included in these hires will likely be Professors of the Practice, who bring real-world expertise into the classroom. Student Affairs will be looking at these professors as possibly the next generation of “Faculty Fellows” working with students on campus life issues.
We will develop more integration between the Gordon Career Center and the academic program – for instance, by encouraging students from their first year in college to begin considering how they will translate their education on campus to meaningful work beyond its borders and by accelerating our fundraising for internships. The GCC has outlined its plans to “scale up programs with a demonstrated record of success to help engage both students and alumni; determine how best to engage faculty and class deans in its programming and outreach; identify best practices for working with young alumni; and work with University Communications and Admissions to educate internal and external constituents on its services.”
Goal 2: Enhance recognition of Wesleyan as an extraordinary institution
Translational liberal learning has been identified by our branding consultants Lipman Hearne (LH) as key to our core messaging going forward. In measuring perceptions of the Wesleyan University experience among prospective students and comparing those to the lived experience reported by current students, the term “translation” was found to have broad appeal. LH is currently validating those findings among alumni. Over the next years, efforts to enhance recognition will be based upon the LH research.
While continuing to build the applicant pool, we also want to be recognized for developing practices of pragmatic liberal education that are relevant well beyond our campus. Our online Coursera classes have attracted more than 1.6 million students, and we will continue to explore ways of raising our profile – and that of liberal education – in parts of this country underserved by educational institutions and in parts of the world (like China and India) where economic development is allowing more and more people to pursue higher education.
Goal 3: Work within a sustainable economic model while retaining core values
Our successful THIS IS WHY campaign makes it possible to add $2.5 million over the next four years to our financial aid budget. In addition to having (approximately) another 100 financial aid recipients, we will take a closer look at our financial aid packages and other practices – from support services to work-study requirements and the level of family contributions – to ensure that we bring sufficient resources to those who need them to flourish here.
Faculty and staff are currently developing a civic action plan, and we will seek out more campus-learning opportunities to nurture by building bridges to the city of Middletown. The latest such bridge is the Wesleyan Bookstore, which moved in Spring 2017 to downtown Main Street. The next accreditation report should reflect on the success of this move. Likewise, it should also report on our progress with respect to sustainability. We have a comprehensive Sustainability Action Plan for the next five years that outlines goals, objectives, strategies, timelines, metrics, and responsible parties in the core areas of the university: administration, academics, and operations.
Thanks to our century bond issued in 2015, we are no longer faced with an impending balloon payment on our debt, and this frees us to devote an additional $1 million over the next four years to our major maintenance budget while setting aside for facilities projects as much as $3 million each year (depending on budget surpluses). A list of such projects (over the next three five-year periods) is being developed and shared with campus constituencies. So far, the largest project would be replacing the Hall-Atwater science building with first-rate laboratories and teaching spaces. We also expect to make significant improvements to the housing of our collections, our informal learning spaces, the Film Studies center, and the Public Affairs Center, among others. These projects, amounting to more than $250 million in facilities improvements, will be pursued in stages with input from faculty, staff and students and in concert with fundraising.
At the same time, we must continue to raise funds for the endowment. Building the endowment is key to any serious, sustainable effort to make Wesleyan affordable, and our plan is to raise $40 million annually, of which only $10-11 million is to be spent annually. Maintaining post-campaign enthusiasm among donors will be key for University Relations, which will also focus on analyzing alumni engagement metrics and increasing the number of alumni donors. And already it is thinking about the next fundraising campaign – one likely focused on facilities, financial aid and internships, and innovative academic positions and programs.