Strategic Plan for Amherst College

58 Pages·2015·3.01 MB·English

Strategic Plan for Amherst College
2015

Strategic Plan
for Amherst College
2015
1 | Strategic Plan for Amherst College
Preamble
committees. Eight of the trustees of the Steering Committee and
are alumni, and the views of many integrated ideas and perspectives
alumni were sought in meetings that had been developed in
Many people have contributed to held around the country for that campus framework and financial
the development of this strategic purpose. planning. The draft plan was
plan and we thank them for giving discussed by the major governance
so generously of their time and Each of the four core committees committees—the Committee of
ideas. We began the process of prepared a report and a series Six, Committee on Educational
strategic planning more than a of recommendations that were Policy, and Committee on
year ago with seven planning posted online last summer for Priorities and Resources—and by
committees that met during the community feedback. During the the College Council, Committee on
2013–14 academic year. Four core spring of 2014, the chairs of those International Education, Employee
committees focused on education, committees also organized dozens Council, Managers Council, and
research, student life, diversity, of meetings with students, staff, Association of Amherst Students.
and internationalization, and were and faculty to seek the views of Open meetings were organized for
chaired by faculty members— the larger community. As noted, those who wished to discuss the
Anthony Bishop, Judith Frank, alumni weighed in at a multitude draft plan in a public setting.
Rhonda Cobham-Sander and of gatherings, as well as in online
Amrita Basu. The three support comments. The feedback we got Once again, faculty, staff, student,
committees were chaired by from the College’s constituencies and alumni responses have helped
members of the senior staff: Jim was invaluable. It has played a us improve the plan, which is
Brassord served as chair of the crucial role in bringing us to the now ready to be brought to the
Campus Framework Planning final stages of the process. faculty, the Board of Trustees, the
Committee; Kevin Weinman Association of Amherst Students,
chaired the Financial Outlook This past July and again in and members of the Employee
Working Group; and David September, the Steering Council.
Hamilton led the discussion of Committee held a retreat to
information technology. The discuss the committee reports and We thank you for taking part in the
Strategic Planning Steering the responses to them. With the process of developing Amherst’s
Committee has overseen the help of Keeling & Associates, we strategic direction and look
entire process. It is made up of the developed a tentative articulation forward to your participation in
committee chairs, the former Dean of priorities and possible actions, its implementation.
of the Faculty, the current Dean of guiding the work that went into the
the Faculty, the Associate Deans document you have before you.
of the Faculty, the Provost (chair), Two of the support committees—
several members of the senior the Campus Framework
staff, a trustee, and the President. Committee and the Financial
Altogether, 34 professors, 28 Outlook Working Group—have
staff members, 18 students, continued to meet throughout
eight members of the senior this academic year. The draft
staff, and nine trustees served we circulated for comment in
on the planning and/or steering March reflected the deliberations
3 | Strategic Plan for Amherst College
Introduction
Amherst has long been known for intellectual rigor,
for the density and durability of its connections,
“
The college is called and for the contributions of its alumni. At a time
liberal. . .
when colleges and universities are considered by
because the
some to be “academically adrift,” Amherst has
instruction is
maintained high academic standards and kept its
dominated by no
special interest, is focus on liberal arts education for undergraduates.
limited to no single
Our goal is to preserve liberal arts country. As diversity has increased,
human task, but
education by reinventing it for the quality of the students has also
is intended to take changing circumstances and a risen by every standard measure.
human activity more heterogeneous population. This combination of academic
Higher education faces growing quality and student diversity puts
as a whole, to
criticism for the low priority many us in a unique position to rethink
understand human
institutions give to undergradu- residential liberal arts education
endeavors not in
ate education, for low academic in order to preserve it for a chang-
their isolation but
standards, and for rising costs. At ing population and an uncertain
in their relations to its founding, Amherst sought to future. As was true at the founding,
one another and to educate “indigent young men of the College’s commitments to op-
piety” and relied on philanthropy portunity and quality education
the total experience
to make education affordable. Over depend on philanthropic support
which we call the
the past decade, the College has and on the wise investment of our
life of our people.”
renewed its commitment to access resources.
and affordability with generous
Alexander Meiklejohn financial aid and aggressive re- Amherst is among the first of its
President of Amherst College cruitment strategies. We bring the peers to experience the opportuni-
1912-1924 most promising students to Am- ties and challenges that greater
herst regardless of their financial diversity brings. Our student body
circumstances. The quality of the now looks the way the country will
institution depends on our ability look in 2050. What we do with the
to create opportunity for the most variation in background, identity,
academically talented young peo- and point of view matters not only
ple. Access and affordability are, to Amherst and higher educa-
for that reason, core strategies and tion, but to the world beyond our
key determinants of our success. campus. We are engaged in the
They have made Amherst’s student intellectual project of renewing a
body one of the most socioeco- tradition in order to make good on
nomically, racially, ethnically, its promise for a changed social
and internationally diverse in the and cultural world. Amherst faculty
4 | Strategic Plan for Amherst College
are already reaching down into the and national background a greater surprising connections, and ap-
fundamentals of the liberal arts educational benefit for all our stu- ply rigorous analysis to complex
to make changes in how and what dents; problems. Amherst graduates are
they teach. not inclined to offer simple, “point-
—a transformed east campus that and-click” answers to the growing
While many places emphasize inspires students, faculty, staff, and number of challenges that confront
diversity, few have acknowledged alumni; them. They respect and make use
how profoundly it requires a re- of the activity of thinking—care-
newal of the structure of a residen- —new, vibrant and durable connec- fully, critically, creatively.
tial liberal arts education or how tions across generations and across
socially necessary and valuable the differences in perspective. A flourishing democracy needs a
liberal arts project is in a rapidly population that is curious, open-
changing world. Few have ad- For almost 200 years, the College minded, aware of advances in
equately addressed the problem has prepared critical and creative knowledge, and capable of con-
of rising costs. thinkers who succeed across a tributing to those advances. It
wide range of careers. Amherst’s requires a vibrant public sphere
This plan celebrates the liberal graduates have an impact on the and citizens who care about the
arts as our defining mission and a world that is disproportionate to good of the whole. Now more than
form of education that our society their numbers, demonstrating the ever, it relies on creative problem-
(and the world) increasingly needs. importance of opportunity and solvers and principled decision-
When we reach our bicentennial academic excellence. In the face of makers who are confident and
in 2021, Amherst will be distin- pressures on colleges and universi- agile enough in their thinking to
guished by: ties to be all things to all people, handle rapid change, uncertainty,
Amherst has kept its focus trained and an increasing sense of threat.
—bold policies on access and af- on academic rigor and intellectual It is the obligation of a serious
fordability that ensure our net price engagement. Engagement is key. college to hold open the space for
continues to be one of the lowest The College flourishes because thought and deliberation, even in
among private institutions; of the connections it encourages the face of challenge, and to of-
among people and ideas. At the fer even more than knowledge. A
—high academic standards and a heart of those connections is Am- college of Amherst’s quality aims
curriculum that cements Amherst’s herst’s emphasis on close colloquy for understanding, which former
reputation for quality and inven- between a faculty of exceptional Amherst President Peter Pouncey
tion; teachers and students who are avid described as deeper and warmer
learners. Amherst faculty com- than knowledge. “Understanding,”
—a global outlook and global capa- bine high academic expectations he said, “is knowledge deepened
bilities as a dimension every gradu- of their students with an ethic of by sympathy.”
ate should possess, regardless of care and passionate commitment
career path; to their success—as students and The conditions for learning of the
as human beings. Generous and kind that Amherst offers are not
—a reimagined residential experi- demanding faculty equip students easy to create, and they can be all
ence that makes our differences with the tools and confidence they too easily eroded. They require
in socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, need to ask good questions, make freedom of inquiry, scholarly integ-
5 | Strategic Plan for Amherst College
rity, rigorous peer review, a passion support of a community and an in- Amherst today has few peers. Its
for teaching, and a commitment stitution. Learning is more than the academic excellence, the quality
to generations to come. Amherst simple accretion of new informa- and diversity of its students, its
responds to calls for the disruption tion or the mere filling of gaps. It outstanding faculty and staff, its
of these conditions and the institu- is often a challenge to the “already engaged alumni, and its financial
tions that have protected them— known” or to the way our thinking health set it apart. Nonetheless,
particularly by those who believe has been shaped—a challenge to the College also faces many of
technology will solve every prob- the assumptions to which we may the same challenges that confront
lem—by preserving what is pre- be wedded by virtue of prior learn- higher education as a whole. Our
cious about residential liberal arts ing, and even to what has been goal over the next decade is to
education while adapting to new transmitted within the bonds of meet those challenges, welcom-
challenges. We agree with those family and community. The history ing the opportunities for change
who see value in new technologies, of the development of knowledge while hewing to our core mission
who worry about costs that outstrip is a history of bitter battles that pit and proven strengths. Preserving
families’ ability to pay, and who discovered truths against prior as- the fundamentals is always hard,
lament the low priority given to sumptions, new knowledge against because the time, effort, and re-
rigorous undergraduate education entrenched prejudice, broadened sources that sustain them are often
in some of our universities. But we perspectives against narrow—if un- invisible, especially in a historical
reject claims of the kind made by conscious—interests. Much of what moment with a gravitational tilt
Clay Christensen that technology we take for granted as true was toward all things new. The qualities
will radically disrupt residential once heresy. Yet we are remarkably of mind that Amherst fosters are
education or by Kevin Carey that forgetful of the process of develop- not automatic; they do not come
we are approaching “the end of ment and change and of the need quickly or easily, and they cannot
college” as we know it. We seek to invest time, money, and hope be measured by standardized test-
instead to meet challenges head- in free inquiry, experimentation, ing or by superficial indicators. Our
on without destroying a form of scholarly collaboration, and out- task is to remember their incalcu-
education that has proven its value standing teaching. We forget the lable as well as their more measur-
over two millennia. importance of learning for its own able benefits.
sake, which is always for the sake
In the emphasis on the finan- of continuing to learn. We worry
The Challenges
cial costs of education and the about the pressures on children
search for less expensive modes and adolescents to define success
of delivering it, we tend to ignore in narrow terms that produce “ex- Higher education in the United
the value of another shrinking cellent sheep,” in the words of Wil- States continues to be the envy of
resource, which is time—the time liam Deresiewicz, and we join him the world because of its role over
required for deliberation, experi- and others who call for a renewal time in creating opportunity, fos-
mentation, reflection, application, of the forms of liberal education tering independent thought, and
and integration. We also greatly that value moral imagination and promoting discovery and inven-
underestimate the courage and provide the opportunity for stu- tion.
encouragement that the activities dents to find meaning and purpose
of discovery and learning require, in their education. Despite these strengths, higher
and the consequent need for the education now faces a range of
6 | Strategic Plan for Amherst College
unprecedented challenges and Meanwhile, income stagnation for of understanding that graduates
mounting skepticism about its the majority of Americans makes it need. Even as it is gaining a reputa-
effectiveness. difficult, and in some cases impos- tion abroad as a key to creativity,
sible, for families to afford rising liberal arts education has come
Making higher education more prices. Unless colleges and univer- under particular scrutiny in the
affordable. Greater access to sities make a meaningful commit- United States, where job readiness
affordable higher education has ment to containing costs, higher and financial returns dominate
become a national rallying cry, education will put itself out of discussions of value. Many of those
because a college education has reach for middle-income families, discussions reveal misconceptions
never been more important to in- exacerbating inequality and losing about what a liberal arts education
dividual employment and career the public trust. is and what it does. The liberal arts
success or to national economic encompass the full range of schol-
health. The cost to institutions of Preserving the liberal arts. arly fields—the natural sciences,
educating each student has also Unfortunately, worries about math, social sciences, humanities,
never been higher, and the “sticker increasing costs and prices can and the arts. An education in the
price” of tuition and fees for stu- lead to shortsighted proposals for liberal arts cultivates breadth and
dents and their families has risen at change. The exclusive emphasis depth of knowledge; the ability to
a rate that outstrips inflation. The on the economic value of a college think critically, contextually, and
price of college when discounts (in degree obscures what it takes to creatively; and the love of learn-
the form of financial aid) are taken develop the breadth of knowledge, ing. Liberal arts colleges combine
into account has risen more slowly. versatility in thinking, and forms academic and residential programs
7 | Strategic Plan for Amherst College
that prepare students for many larly students from low-income qua non for the effective transfor-
possible careers, meaningful and disadvantaged backgrounds. mation of ideas, no matter how
lives, and service to society. An Amherst has made a commitment good, into deeds.” Bloch tells us
overwhelming focus by some on to increasing the numbers of such something that every faculty mem-
job training and career prepara- students in the sciences and math, ber knows: that students arrive at
tion, and by others exclusively but we lament President Obama’s college without adequate language
on science and math education, narrow emphasis on those fields and communication abilities and,
displays a perilous blindness to the and applaud commentators such therefore, are less able to do the
centrality of liberal arts education as Fareed Zakaria for challenging analytical and interpretive work
in safeguarding what we value as it in his book In Defense of a Liberal that the humanities train students
a society. To diminish or, worse, Education. Amherst is well-known to do, including “the recognition of
undermine our commitment to for the strength of our programs in a significant question, the making
liberal arts education would be the sciences; our graduates report of crucial distinctions, the articula-
tantamount, environmentally consistently that they are better tion of its terms, the drawing of
speaking, to destroying our habitat. prepared than their peers when consequential conclusions, the
A student who becomes skilled at they enter graduate and medical assessment of conclusions under
particular tasks may move quickly schools. A new Science Center human conditions, and the com-
into a certain job or career track, that fosters interdisciplinary con- munication of the procedures and
but over time, the person who nections and up-to-date teaching results of inquiry” (Bloch, 2012).
understands the history and prin- facilities is crucial to our contin- Amherst prizes writing and claims
ciples that underlie his or her work, ued success and our competitive many great writers among its grad-
has well-honed analytic abilities, position, and it is a major priority uates and faculty—past and pres-
and can think creatively and com- for this plan. So, too, is our new ent. We also highly value the arts
municate effectively will be more Humanities Center, which, though and the various media which are
successful in life and career. A less costly, is no less important for the sine qua non of creativity. Over
narrow focus on specific skills in a the quality of Amherst’s intellec- time, we aim to enhance the infra-
world of accelerating change will tual life and students’ success. structure and programs across the
have diminishing returns. arts and to make art a more visible
Resisting the devaluation of part of our campus environment.
Despite the calls of too many gov- the arts and humanities. If the
ernors and politicians that college arts and humanities are luxuries in Recognizing the impact of
prepare students for the jobs we this new world, then being human technology and online learn-
need to fill, the country cannot af- itself is also a luxury. R. Howard ing. Technological changes add to
ford to go the way of job training Bloch ’65, an Amherst alumnus and the challenges faced by traditional
or of education by narrow disci- the Sterling Professor of French at forms of liberal arts education;
plinary specialists. It needs gradu- Yale, reminds us of the importance they also present new opportuni-
ates who are capable of creating of what used to be called “the ties. They have encouraged the
the jobs of the future. President language arts,” emphasizing that hope among many that “remote
Obama rightly emphasizes the im- “language is not a transparent ves- education” can deliver content
portance of attracting students to sel through which thought merely at greater scale; online purveyors
STEM fields (science, technology, passes unimpeded. It is the very promise individualized instruction,
engineering, and math), particu- stuff of thinking. And it is the sine lower costs, and shorter times to
8 | Strategic Plan for Amherst College
degree, with quality equal to that of and field-based learning, civic campuses—from abuse of alcohol
traditional residential education. engagement, internships, theses, to sexual assault. Higher educa-
Though the evidence that those and other capstone projects on the tion has an ethical obligation, an
promises can be kept seems far off, part of students. These pedagogi- obligation that goes beyond legal
online tools are already playing cal approaches have been shown and regulatory regimes, to educate
a role, and will probably expand to improve learning among all our students and involve them in
their role, at every educational students, and especially students setting standards of accountability
level in the next decade. Faculty, from low-income and disadvan- for one another and for the larger
staff, and administrators have taged backgrounds. They are also community, as well as to prevent
a responsibility to explore their time- and labor-intensive. Am- and, if it occurs, effectively to re-
potential and to integrate them in herst provides a number of these spond to sexual assault.
ways that enhance learning. Given opportunities and aims to offer
our students’ facility with the use more of them to more students Addressing demographic
of the Internet and social media, going forward. changes and divisions in so-
we also need to develop a better ciety and among students in
understanding of how they learn Providing a safe environment socioeconomic status, race,
and how best to educate them in with a greater number of sup- ethnicity, religion, cultural
a full range of media. Moreover, port services to meet changing norms, and political perspec-
the emergence of more and better student needs. For a very long tive. Demographic changes and
opportunities for online learning time large numbers of American divisions in society along these
makes it all the more urgent that families have sent their children lines make themselves felt on col-
we ensure the affordability and away to college for an education lege and university campuses and
clearly communicate the value of a and for a critical part of their de- challenge us to develop new mod-
residential college education. velopment from adolescence to els of community. Too few highly
adulthood. To be worthy of that selective colleges and universities
Addressing the differences in trust, our institutions must do ev- have assembled student bodies
high school preparation among erything in their power to ensure that reflect the country’s changing
admitted students. Students that students are safe and in a posi- demographic realities. Where they
come to the nation’s colleges and tion to learn. On average, students have, diversity provides an educa-
universities with varied kinds come to college with more needs tional benefit to everyone in the
and levels of preparation. Dif- for a range of support services than community. But it is no less chal-
ferences in preparation cross all they did in generations past. Some lenging to deal with differences
demographic boundaries, and of those needs are associated with and separation on campuses than
they require different approaches mental health and require more it is in the rest of society. There is
to teaching and learning. Online expert and better-staffed student also no better environment for the
tools are an increasingly integral affairs, counseling, and health exploration of what divides us and
part of faculty responses to new services. Colleges and universities how we can change. This is among
needs, but they are by no means have been the object of intense the greatest lessons that graduates
the only response. Research shows criticism over the past several can take into the world and one of
the value of a range of “high- years for having failed to deal ap- Amherst’s highest priorities.
impact” practices, including early propriately with the problems as-
undergraduate research, project- sociated with student conduct on
9 | Strategic Plan for Amherst College