Overview of Planning Process
What are the major parameters and assumptions as we engage the planning process?
Time frame
Planning extends over one year – January through December, 2005Planning horizon of six years – 2006 through 2012
Students
Keep student body at 2350 on Middlebury campus; consideration of long-term enrollments beyond 2012Maintain need-blind admissions for domestic students, with a range of 40-45 percent of students aidedContinue enrolling 10 percent international studentsMaintain priority for diversity of student bodyCommons to remain central organizing principle of residential life
Financial
Continued policy of avoiding deferred maintenance by budgeting maintenance and renovations each yearComprehensive fee increases constrained and linked to inflationSteady growth in annual giving to the CollegeReduce endowment spending to 5% and keep it thereMajor capital campaign during timeframe of plan
What issues has President Liebowitz identified as being among the focuses central to our planning?
Strategic goals
Strengthen further the academic reputation of the CollegeEnsure that Middlebury's public reputation reflects the level of excellence the College has attainedContinuous efforts to further strengthen the quality of enrolling students, with agreed upon measures of progressContinuous efforts to further strengthen our faculty and staff, with agreed upon measures of progressLeverage the reputation and strengths of Language Schools, BLSE, and BLWC with prospective students, alumni/ae, peer institutions, and the general publicSupport an institutional climate in which fresh perspectives, creative ideas, imagination, and an entrepreneurial spirit are valued and rewardedExplore strategic collaborations with other institutions (including opportunities for students and faculty)
People and Community
Ensure intense faculty-student interactions in the face of competing time demands on both faculty and studentsAsk how our community can better acknowledge and celebrate the successes in various areas of the college – to view success in one area as a success for the entire collegeEmphasize Middlebury's people, for example, by expanding opportunities for the development and professional growth of employeesMeet existing compensation goals for both faculty and staff
Students
Re-assess packaging in our financial aid programs, with a goal of reducing financial barriers for those students we accept and who require aidCarry out an evaluation of the Commons program; establish measurable goals for the Commons;Identify future steps in Commons evolution (for example, equalizing the quality of housing across Commons)
Faculty
Identify ways to better ensure that faculty energies are focused on the primary teaching and scholarship missions of the facultyReduce the student-faculty ratio as part of increasing faculty time for teaching, mentoring of students, and scholarship; give careful assessment of costs and tradeoffs
Curriculum
Re-assess the distribution requirements with a focus on: "What is a 21st Century Middlebury College liberally educated student?"Examine role of the sciences in the 21st century liberal arts curriculumAssess levels of foreign language competency and cultural learnednessContinue and strengthen internationalization of the curriculumIdentify how we can best capitalize on our traditional curricular strengths – our "peaks'Continue strengthening of interdisciplinary programsRe-assess senior-year academic experience, especially "senior work"Assess the role and impact of increasing numbers of double majors on curricular gridlock, teaching resources, faculty time, and a narrowing of our students' liberal arts studies
Campus and Infrastructure
Refine the definition of, and then develop, the pedestrian campusContinue and strengthen the College's collaboration with the townContinue to take advantage of emerging technologies in teaching while always balancing that use with the human dimension of our teachingContinue and enhance our reputation as the "Environmental College"
Resources
Prioritizing many good ideas must be a major emphasis for the planning process; "We can do anything but not everything."Establish priorities for competing demands on both human (time) resources and financial resourcesMeet the requirements of Middlebury's $50 million challenge gift
Please note that the lists of assumptions are framed to help provide background information for planning; we have not tried to make the list complete. Similarly the lists of issues and goals identified by President Liebowitz represent some of the priorities for his administration. They are not meant to constrain the work and the ideas of the various planning task forces. President Liebowitz anticipates that other important goals will emerge from the planning process.
John Emerson: 12/22/04
