Public Statements

Strategic Plan Update

August 28, 2018

Tags Public Statements

Dear Members of the Hamilton Community,

Following the Board of Trustees' review of the College's Strategic Plan in the spring, the senior staff began working on its implementation. We will provide periodic updates on our progress.

Suzanne Keen and Joe Shelley will coordinate the implementation of "Digital Hamilton." They will work with faculty and staff on ways to encourage digital pedagogy across the curriculum, so that students can acquire digital skills along with skills in writing, oral communication, and quantitative literacy. As outlined in the strategic plan, new efforts will focus on improving digital learning facilities, supporting new and continuing faculty members who have interest and expertise in digital pedagogy, providing assistance for digitally intensive courses, and supporting students in acquiring digital fluencies. At the same time, Suzanne and Joe will coordinate efforts to modernize administrative information systems to better support data-informed decision making and foster greater efficiency in campus operations.

Margaret Gentry, in her new role as senior advisor to the president for experiential learning, will take the lead on developing and coordinating the experiential learning section of the strategic plan. She will work with faculty, students, staff, and alumni to strengthen and support existing experiential programs, develop new programs, streamline student access to these experiences, and bring together resources from across divisions to better coordinate experiential learning at Hamilton. Margaret is also working with faculty and staff on the development of an advising network to integrate advising resources on campus so that students can more easily access these resources at the appropriate time in their education. Terry Martinez, Tara McKee, Karen Brewer, Nathan Goodale, and Janine Oliver are working with Margaret on the advising network.

Terry Martinez will oversee the implementation of "The Residential Experience" at Hamilton. As part of this process, she and colleagues will explore various housing options for our students and will initially focus on developing a comprehensive First Year Experience, coordinating a Special Interest Housing option for sophomores and juniors, decongesting our residences and enhancing lounge space, and, as indicated earlier, working in partnership with Margaret Gentry to develop an integrated advising network. This work will include the creation of programmatic goals and assessment.

Karen Leach will coordinate the overall implementation of the plan by creating and monitoring progress on a list of initiatives and related projects. A budget plan and timeline will be developed and coordinated with the work of the Faculty Committee on Budget and Finance, senior staff, and the trustee committees on Budget and Finance and Development. Lori Dennison is integrating the initiatives identified in the plan with the other priorities for the capital campaign that will launch later this year.

If you have questions about a specific initiative in the plan, please feel free to contact me or one of the people working on that part of the plan's implementation.

David