Dear Colleagues and Students,
I hope you had an opportunity to relax and refresh over the spring break! I look forward to enjoying the Quad with you across the second half of the semester and the good weather ahead.
As the semester began in January, I provided an update on the progress of our strategic plan, particularly related to the mission and values statements that are foundational to this work. I now want to update you on the latest steps forward.
In February, after gathering feedback through the fall and into the early spring semester, we brought the mission and values to students, staff, and faculty for endorsement to the Board of Trustees. Informed by important discussions at last month’s faculty meeting regarding the latest version of the statements, the Strategic Planning Steering Committee decided to host additional listening sessions with faculty over the past several weeks. These continued discussions resulted in revisions to the statements, particularly the mission statement, including centering the mission more directly on students and their learning, and making the statements shorter and more focused. We look forward to presenting version 3.0 of the statements to the faculty at their March 26 meeting, and to bringing them forward to our staff and students through additional meetings early in April. My thanks to the Strategic Planning Steering Committee for their continued diligence in this critical work of succinctly expressing the College’s purpose and principles.
Meanwhile, the Campus-Wide Working Groups have also been meeting regularly and have met their first milestone of drafting strategic goals for each of their particular themes. The groups are now refining these goals and developing action steps to meet them. In April, we will host listening sessions for community members to gather feedback on these draft goals and action steps. The groups will then finalize their recommendations to the Strategic Planning Steering Committee. Please stay tuned to Lafayette Today and the Becoming Lafayette website for more information about these sessions as well as other opportunities to engage with the working groups. You can always provide feedback or ideas to planning@lafayette.edu.
Finally, as these planning efforts continue, we want to ensure that they are informed by data and responsive to issues on campus and in the wider world of higher education. We have been working with internal and external partners to review data sources within and beyond Lafayette, and in the coming days will invite faculty, staff, alumni, students, and prospective students to complete a survey about their views of the College. Many members of the campus community will be receiving such a survey via email. Upon receipt, please take a few moments to fill it out and contribute to the insights that are shaping the emerging strategic plan.
Thank you for your continued engagement in these planning efforts that are so important to the future of our College.
To great things ahead!
President Nicole Hurd