This remains a busy and exciting time for Saint Mary’s. We’re building leadership at the College with the search for a new provost, the Angela Athletic and Wellness Complex remains within budget and on time, and our initial work on Shared Governance has further increased collaboration among faculty, staff and students.
On February 28, I will deliver a State of the College address to officially launch Saint Mary’s next strategic plan, sharing with the community a roadmap to ascend to new levels of excellence and integration. With the strategic plan, we will also design a process of continuous planning and evaluation, to ensure that we are constantly monitoring our internal and external environment and modifying our programs to address new challenges and opportunities.
Additionally, we are also developing a website that will document the planning process publicly, keeping the Saint Mary’s community informed of progress, meetings and events, and providing a mechanism for ongoing community input. When we meet later this month, I also want to discuss student retention. While our enrollment is strong, we remain concerned about students leaving voluntarily, even when their academic performance is acceptable. We are identifying factors that influence students to withdraw from Saint Mary’s and are exploring new ways to decrease attrition.
Resilience and renewal remain a hallmark of Saint Mary’s College. As we advance our next strategic plan, we will invigorate our community and bring our institution to new heights.
Enrollment
Enrollment numbers for the incoming Class of 2021 have been strong. Saint Mary’s received a record number of applications before Winter Break, and although we heard from others that such trends declined after the break, we continue to run ahead. Academic quality has remain stable. Graduate applications for Master of Science in Speech Language Pathology are strong. There have been fewer applications to date for the Doctorate of Nursing Practice and Master of Science in Data Science programs, however, there are months to go before their application deadline.
Memorandum of Understanding with Notre Dame and Holy Cross
Father John Jenkins of the University of Notre Dame, Brother John Paige of Holy Cross College, and I have prepared a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to address student sexual assault and sexual harassment in our tri-campus community. We expect to formally sign and announce the agreement in early 2017. Over the fall semester, I had encouraging meetings with Father Jenkins and Brother Paige. The MOU seeks to deepen communication and foster the sharing of information across our campus communities regarding awareness and prevention education, resources, reporting options and procedures. We view collaboration on this issue as essential to making substantive progress.
Update on Provost Search
Saint Mary's has retained the higher-education consulting firm Academic Search to conduct the search for a distinguished scholar and innovative academic leader to serve as the new Provost, succeeding Patricia Fleming. An ad hoc committee, co-chaired by Mona Bowe, Vice President for Enrollment Management, and Karen Chambers, Associate Psychology Professor, is also working to help fill the position. The detailed position profile may be found at saintmarys.edu/provost-search.
The position has been posted in a number of online publications, including The Chronicle of Higher Education. Academic Search is reaching out to its network of contacts and following up on nominations. The Search Committee also asks the Board to identify outstanding candidates for this critical position. Nominations may be made via the online form on the Saint Mary's College provost search webpage, or by sending names and contact information to SaintMarysProvost@academic-search.com. The success of the search will depend on the involvement, support and interest of our entire campus community.
Search Committee members will begin meeting candidates for the first round of interviews in Chicago on February 9-11.
Angela Athletic & Wellness Complex
Work on the new Angela Athletic & Wellness Complex remains within budget and on time, with the facility scheduled to open in spring 2018. Contractors are working on the foundation for the three-court fieldhouse addition that will enable indoor practices and competitions and provide additional recreation space. The steel structure for the field house began in January. Interior work is also underway on the electrical and mechanical rooms. The new complex, which will more than double the space of the existing facility to 103,000 square feet, will also house updated health and counseling services, relocated from Holy Cross Hall. Watch Angela continue to rise via two real-time cameras: angela.saintmarys.edu/cam1.html and angela.saintmarys.edu/cam2.html.
Leadership Development
I recently had the opportunity to attend the Council of Independent Colleges’ annual Presidents Institute and its New Presidents Program, directed by Saint Mary’s board member Mary Pat Seurkamp, who recently completed 15 years as president of Notre Dame of Maryland University. I have engaged former Alverno College President Mary Meehan as my mentor. Alverno is also a Catholic women’s college offering co-educational graduate programs. I also attended the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities annual meeting January 28-30 in Washington, DC, a great gathering of people with ideas to strengthen Catholic mission in higher education.
Listening Tour
I’m more than halfway through my Listening Tour, having met with 56 out of 105 identified groups. A summary report will be produced later this year, in collaboration with the College’s Office of Institutional Research, based on the data collected and personal input from stakeholders. This feedback will inform the College’s next strategic plan.
If you haven't yet completed the Listening Tour survey, providing confidential information to help us set and meet future goals, please do so here (http://bit.ly/SMC_Listening_Survey).
Strategic Planning
A planned Steering Committee for Strategic Planning will identify initiatives and subject areas of importance to the campus community. I am seeking representation from faculty, staff, administrators, and students. The College’s Mission Statement is the starting point for the Strategic Plan with the Steering Committee and subcommittees shaping priorities for the future. Initiative areas for the Strategic Plan include: Health Sciences; Women Religious; Environmental Studies; Design Thinking; and Women’s Leadership.
Shared Governance
An ad-hoc committee on Shared Governance, comprised of faculty, staff, administrators and students, met for two, half-day sessions guided by an outside moderator. The committee developed a mission for governance, outlined how to accomplish the mission, and identified core values for governance.
The goal of Shared Governance is to advance the College through:
- Shared decision-making
- Clear lines of responsibility and accountability
- Focus on process and results
- Efficient and nimble response to needs and concerns
- Good communication
Divisions of responsibility include:
- Board of Trustees - Delegates authority to the President to lead and manage the College
- President - Empowers and delegates management of resources, college relations, physical plant, and so on to administrative leadership. Also delegates academic governance to the faculty.
- Governance - Organizational structure, policies, and processes create a vision for the College’s future and a system for shared decision-making and accountability in the service of advancing that future Crosses Board, faculty, staff, administration and students.
We are excited about the future as the initiatives outlined above come to fruition. I look forward to the opportunity to further discuss when we meet February 15-17.