2018-2024 Strategic Planning

Commitment to intellectual engagement and challenging academics.  We seek to achieve our academic mission through:

• Scholar-teacher model as critical to the goal of academic excellence.
• An intentionally designed curriculum that builds students’ critical thinking and communication skills --- with a strong experiential component (from research to praxis to 360s).  This curriculum allows for student progression academically through early and advanced offerings.
• Vibrant graduate programs that offer distinctive programs.  Our GSSWSR, GSAS, combined degree opportunities and Post Baccalaureate Pre-Medical Program are differentiators among most of our peer group.
• Creation of intimate and challenging learning spaces that are inclusive of a diverse student population and a rich array of perspectives in meaningful dialogue with one another.
• Pathways that support students to trailblaze, to be self-directed learners, and to catalyze change. 

Commitment to racial justice and to equity across all aspects of diversity, as is stated in our mission statement.  We seek to achieve this commitment by:

• Prioritizing access and excellence by advancing generous financial aid policies so that limited-income and middle-income students who earn admission can attend.   
• Creating programs and resources so that students of all backgrounds and preparation can thrive and realize their full academic and personal potential at this important life stage. Our programming and resources must be optimized for our current student body.
• Developing structures and processes that are experienced as inclusive and supportive by all community members.

Commitment to connect the liberal arts to varied life pathways and the world beyond Bryn Mawr.  Find ways to highlight Bryn Mawr’s success in preparing students for careers and other post-graduate pathways.

Commitment to balance academic excellence with opportunities for self-development, fun experiences, collaborative projects in and out of the classroom, and with time to pursue extra-curricular interests. 

• Offer a vibrant and diverse array of opportunities for co-curricular engagement, including robust residential life programming.
• Utilize our proximity to Philadelphia and other campuses to emphasize/actualize the richness of opportunities for activities.

Commitment to graduate education that is excellent in its own right. This education provides classroom experiences, fieldwork, internships, clinical experiences and research opportunities that prepare students for a wide range of post-graduate pathways.  Our graduate programs also provide opportunities that contribute to an outstanding undergraduate experience across many dimensions. 

Commitment to center a positive student experience in our close relationship to Haverford College and more broadly in our connection to the Quaker consortium.

Support a 21st Century Education focused on key issues of our time approached through the deep study of the liberal arts and sciences on both a local and global scale.  From a student’s first days on campus, a Bryn Mawr education allows students increasing opportunities for local and global consciousness of the central issues of our time as a signature goal of a Bryn Mawr education.  Given the complexity of today’s challenges, interdisciplinary study is a cornerstone of this approach --- one that builds on the strengths of existing programs. Key to our current and future approaches are the identification of clear pathways from the core disciplines, which take a modern approach to their fields in ways that support the development of the critical tools of inquiry needed for interdisciplinary work to student opportunities for the interdisciplinary exploration and study of key issues.  Another dimension of this “key issues focus” is the inclusion of an experiential component --- study abroad, other forms of global engagement, internships, service projects, and research opportunities. Taking a holistic approach to students’ intellectual development, residential spaces, and local community connections create opportunities for living/learning communities as an important aspect of the educational experience. 

Continue to build/support our institutional strength of student access to a comprehensive curriculum. The hallmark of a Bryn Mawr education is access to very strong programs across STEM, humanities, arts, and social sciences fields.  Students get the latest and best thinking in these fields through interaction with accomplished professors and engaging in knowledge creation as they pursue their passions.  Bryn Mawr’s curriculum allows students to develop habits of inquiry, strong critical thinking skills, and a deeper understanding of the forces that shape our society, culture, and ourselves.   Bryn Mawr (along with its partners in the Quaker consortium and its easy access to Philadelphia --- a vibrant, urban environment) provides the infrastructure for a variety of intellectual pathways and supports students in determining what they will make of these experiences.  Key to our success will be focus resources on a sustainable scope of offerings to make them robust and high quality, taking advantage of our consortia relationships to provide additional opportunities.

Revised/integrated approach to student advising focused on the whole student.  Create an integrated set of advising experiences that combine academic advising, robust student services, and post-college planning targeted to each class year that takes advantage of resources across the College.  Advisers guide students through an exploration of their interests and talents, helping them select classes, out-of-class experiences, career development opportunities, and other support services that enable them to thrive at Bryn Mawr and beyond. This team approach would involve advisors, career development professionals, mentors (peers, alumni, staff), and faculty.  The team would work with students to develop individualized plans that help students achieve success at Bryn Mawr and beyond.  In this way, academic advising occurs within a ‘whole student’ approach in a developmentally stage-appropriate way, starting from the transition to College and including post-college planning.  As part of this new model, we can design an enhanced approach to College-wide wayfinding (pathways) of coursework, research opportunities, competencies, and skill development facilitation ---taking advantage of any helpful technology to facilitate discovering diverse pathways.  These pathways would help students direct their experience in ways that capitalize more fully on the College’s many resources.

Intentional creation of culture-building programming and activities that emphasize collaboration and inclusiveness and that capitalizes on students, faculty, and staff dedication to creating an equitable community that fosters belonging for all. This culture should include attention to classroom inclusiveness and emphasize mental health and whole-person well-being.  Important to this effort will be ways to bring the campus together to discuss pressing issues and events of the day.  Opportunities for faculty, staff and students to understand each other and to make connections across departments and experiences would create a deeper sense of belonging and mattering across campus members. Attention should be paid to realizing the benefits of an in-person community to counteract the negative impacts of societal forces toward isolation.   A key component of this experience is self-governance and what it means to take responsibility for one’s actions through an honor code in an inclusive community.  It includes structures and processes that allow for learning, growth, and responsibility while respecting limits and boundaries.  This focus could include the exploration of new models for residential life and programming, including varied options for housing-type and living-learning communities.

Expand the audience locally, nationally and internationally (with associated revenue opportunities) for programs that build upon existing programming strength and expertise--- programs that showcase pedagogical innovation, build civic capacity, promote equity and inclusion, and cultivate women leaders.  Try to reach new audiences in institutions and communities (higher ed, K-12, and other non-profit and corporate entities) and at the individual level (at all stages of their educational development).  Examples include expanding the Teaching and Learning Institute, expanding the Dialogue Project, leveraging our skills in women’s leadership development or specific skill development where women are under-represented, and expanding niche/unique academic programs.  This is another way in which we can expand Bryn Mawr’s influence in shaping knowledge and/or excellence in program development.  Related to these program building efforts, explore how the use of the campus and other College resources (particularly during the summer) could enhance these mission-related activities.

This area grows from Bryn Mawr’s strength in creating an environment focused on the development of self-determination in women and others with historically marginalized gender identities.  Living and learning in this environment allows each student to develop their own voice, develop their own leadership style, and advocate for their place and well-being in the world.  This programmatic theme of empowerment through community could also provide a way to pull together different strands from the five areas above to provide proof points for how Bryn Mawr’s environment drives and guides students to develop this self-determination:

• Academic excellence and rigor across the board, with cross-disciplinary options.
• Holistic advising that includes post-college planning and career preparation opportunities.  Graduates feel well-prepared to reach their goals.
• Robust, inclusive community that takes a collective approach to DEI, where students, faculty, and staff explore and embrace DEI issues. The College provides a studious yet balanced social life with lots of vibrant activities and fun.