Good afternoon, as our Fall Term begins to draw to a close, I want to once again thank the DePauw community for the support I know each of you has provided to others during these most challenging and stressful times. In a season of cherished celebrations, I wish you and your family members good health and hope for brighter days ahead.
As our community continues its work to envision the renewal and reimagination of DePauw as a twenty-first century liberal arts institution, I write to provide you with an update on our strategic planning process and invite you to be a part of Phase II.
You will recall that in October we convened a series of community discussion groups; collectively more than 500 faculty, staff, students and alumni engaged in these conversations and/or submitted written feedback. A summary of this first phase (Phase I) of the process, including a description of the themes that emerged from our community conversations, is attached below. For the second phase (Phase II) of the process, we are organizing ten Thematic Working Groups (TWGs) to dive more deeply into these themes. Our TWGs are organized around three central concepts:
1) Developing students who thrive intellectually, civically, socially, and professionally
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Theme A: Liberal Arts and Career Connections
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Theme B: Experiential Learning and High Impact Educational Practices
2) Strengthening community amongst students, between students, faculty, staff and
alumni, and with our local and regional communities
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Theme C: Student Belonging and Community
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Theme D: Student Wellness
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Theme E: Faculty and Staff Belonging, Community and Wellness
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Theme F: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
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Theme G: Community Connections
3) Moving from institutional survival to institutional sustainability
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Theme H: Tuition Policy
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Theme I: Deferred Maintenance
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Theme J: Short-Term Financial Austerity Tactics
While TWGs will operationalize Phase II of the process in various ways, each TWG has been charged with engaging our community and gaining input from wide audiences. In addition to TWG conversations about each of these themes, these efforts may also include focus groups, collaboration with established committees, surveys and other discovery tools.
On behalf of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SPSC), I encourage you to take part in Phase II of our strategic planning work by adding your expertise, passion, and ideas to the conversations around one of these themes. If you are interested in participating in the conversations, please complete the form found here. Periodic updates to our planning process will be available here.
Thank you for helping to reimagine our future, together.
Sincerely,
President White