President

See also:

2008 Strategic Plan

FROM VERY GOOD TO GREAT - THE PLAN FOR JUNIATA

As Jim Collins' popular book suggests, "Good is the enemy of Great." By any measure Juniata has never been better at accomplishing its mission as demonstrated by the following statements:

"Juniata is truly a student-centered college. There is a remarkable cohesiveness in this commitment - faculty, students, trustees, staff and alumni, each from their own vantage point, describe a community in which growth of the student is central." The Middle States Commission 2003 report on Juniata.

"Juniata is one of a baker's dozen of the nation's best-performing liberal arts colleges." The Teagle Foundation's 2005 study of the top 105 national liberal arts colleges.

"The faculty, staff and administration with whom the Hartwick team met appeared to share a common interest in instructional innovation and experiential, student-centered learning. Major themes appeared to be getting students involved to "own" their learning and helping each student see how his or her learning could contribute to a larger evolving plan for personal development and aspiration achievement. Juniata appeared to consider their experiential education philosophy to be an important factor in influencing student success." Hartwick College Team visit report 2007.

These statements are reaffirmed in the National Study of Student Engagement (NSSE) 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2006; numerous other student and alumni surveys; and unsolicited comments.

Indeed, Juniata is the only college listed in all the following diverse guides to high quality colleges and universities:

While Juniata is performing well, the best news is that throughout its history this College has never been satisfied with the status quo. Thus we began this strategic plan with a rewriting of our mission statement to succinctly describe what we expect the outcome to be for every Juniata graduate. We should emphasize that at the heart of every discussion was not how can Juniata be better, but rather how can Juniata be better at producing outstanding graduates? We believe that our new mission statement envelops that philosophy. It reads:

"Juniata's mission is to provide an engaging personalized educational experience empowering our students to develop the skills, knowledge and values that lead to a fulfilling life of service and ethical leadership in the global community."

Juniata is already providing much of the experience our mission statement outlines and by accomplishing our new strategic goals we will become even better at preparing our graduates for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century. At the beginning of the process we also revisited the challenges and opportunities originally developed for the 2001 strategic plan. Only minor adjustments were made.

The updated challenges and opportunities for our graduates include:

  1. Significant advances in biotechnology and medicine, and tension regarding the ethics of the implementation of these advances;
  2. Ubiquitous information technology with a transformational effect on communication;
  3. Unprecedented entrepreneurial opportunity;
  4. Growing environmental limitations;
  5. Conflicts of increasing complexity and danger;
  6. Changes in content and delivery of education with demand for greater accountability and affordability;
  7. Frequent interactions with people of diverse political, religious and cultural perspectives and practices;
  8. Finally, a significantly greater career opportunity for our students as the "baby boomer" generation retires.

We are well positioned for the next step toward greatness. Juniata has reached its highest enrollment, largest number of applications, most talented students, and largest capital campaign in the College's history. In the last ten years the College has also created a much more hands on learning experience assisted by the addition of 200,000 square feet of new and renovated learning space and by developing many more off campus educational experiences through new partnerships. Most importantly we now have the College's best faculty ever - no simple task considering the talent of the faculty over the College's history. Certainly the adage "great faculty hire great faculty" is absolutely true at Juniata. These successes provide the launching pad for further improvement.

THE PROCESS

After reviewing potential elements of a new strategic plan with the faculty and administration President Kepple and Executive Vice President of Advancement and Marketing John Hille met with over 100 alumni in 12 cities during the spring and summer of 2006 to gauge their interest in these elements. In addition, the Board of Trustees discussed items for the plan at its retreat in the summer of 2006. The input from these meetings was given to the plan's subcommittees to be used in their deliberations.,/p>

The Strategic Plan committees included 88 members representing students, faculty, staff, alumni and trustees. These individuals were provided access to Jim Collins' book Good to Great and the Social Sectors as well as the Drucker Foundation's Self Assessment Tool. Through the Collins book we learned that "greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness it turns out is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline." We also recognize greatness as a common dedication to a shared vision. Through the Drucker Self Assessment Tool we answered the questions: What is our mission; who are our customers; what do our customers value; what are our results; and as you will see, "what is our plan?" Through this process there emerged three major strategic iniatives:

THE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENT INITIATIVE

To empower every student for a fulfilling life of service and ethical leadership in the global community we will:

  1. Immediately review our freshman year programs to assure that every student is receiving not only the best possible information for success but is also fully engaged in a coordinated, interactive and collaborative learning process with other students and his or her advisor beginning with summer orientation and continuing through the freshman year. Further we will review the activities in the sophomore year to improve that year's educational and social experience for our students.
  2. By 2009 we will have a Center for Teaching Excellence in place to support faculty who are working on improving various aspects of their teaching. There is considerable momentum for this among the faculty as shown by the strong response to learn more about the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Emeritus Professor of Psychology, Dr. David Drews, is currently leading a working group of about 20 faculty in this effort. We will seek funding for the Center for Teaching Excellence.
  3. By 2009 we will create a new plan for faculty development. This plan will include a realistic goal for increasing faculty development funds, will address how faculty development funds are allocated, and will develop a process to assess the use of faculty development funds.
  4. By 2009 we will create a variety of programs to address the interpersonal and intercultural skills of our students including: networking, interviewing, resume development, portfolio creation, and social skills.
  5. By 2009 we will have determined the feasibility of offering masters degrees in IT and Business through our international partners in Germany.
  6. By 2010 we will have expanded our international programs with special emphasis on new and expanded programs in China, India, Germany, and Africa.
  7. By 2010 to help meet a major national need, we will have at least 10 additional students in each class preparing to teach elementary through high school science and math by leveraging the assets in our highly successful Education, Science and Science in Motion programs.
  8. By 2010 we will have considered the possibility of adding summer masters programs in science education, environmental science and non-profit management taking advantage of our considerable resources in these areas.
  9. By 2011 every Juniata graduate will have at least one distinctive experiential learning opportunity related to that student's educational objectives. These may include: an internship, service project, extended off-campus class experience, research, student teaching, or international study. These experiences will provide the opportunities for our students to test and develop their skills in a "real world" setting, develop self-confidence and/or gain a better understanding of a culture or perspective different from their own. Our expectation is that the vast majority of our graduates will have several of these growth experiences. We will work much more diligently with Juniata alumni as well as cultivating existing partnerships and establishing new partnerships to provide enhanced opportunities.
  10. By 2010 develop a partnership with Campus Continuum a successful Age 55+ Active Retirement Community directly connected to the College.

THE 21st CENTURY CAMPUS INITIATIVE

  1. Environmental sustainability. We are making good progress on sustainability so our plan will take us to the next level by completing the American College and University President's Climate Commitment - a commitment to develop by 2009 an action plan and programs with a timetable and measurable outcomes to become climate neutral.
  2. Facilities. By the end of the summer of 2010 Juniata will have completed the restoration of Dale Hall, Good Hall, Founders Hall, Oller Track, the renovation of Muddy Run, and a new eating facility in the former main computer lab of BAC. By fall of 2011 we will have developed preliminary architectural plans, cost estimates and potential funding strategies for improving Beeghly Library, the continued renovation of Brumbaugh Academic Center, the renovation of South residence hall, a music wing for the Halbritter Center, a turf athletic field, a World Languages and Cultures Cluster, a studio art building, and the completion of the transformation of Alfarata, the old elementary school.
  3. Campus Master Plan. By 2011 we will have completed a campus master plan for campus improvements and opportunities through 2026 with particular emphasis on residence halls, recreational space, Ellis Hall, and enhanced accessibility.

THE ECONOMIC ADVANCEMENT INITIATIVE

For Juniata to continue to attract and educate outstanding students we must develop a long term economic model that provides adequate resources to make a Juniata education not only more affordable but also highly valuable and marketable as a result of our high quality and outstanding outcomes.

  1. Economy of scale enrollment. With the number of Pennsylvania high school graduates gradually declining and the make-up of these graduates becoming more diverse, Juniata must increase the number of students from outside Pennsylvania as well as the number of minority students. Not only is this added diversity educationally desirable for a 21st Century education for every student but it is essential in order to maintain an economically sustainable enrollment of 1460 FTE students. By 2011 our student body will be made up of at least 40% from outside Pennsylvania, of which we seek to include 10% international and at least 10% domestic minority.
  2. Retention. To reach our 1460 student enrollment by 2011 we will achieve a six year graduation rate of 80% or better with 95% of graduates completing their degrees in four years or less.
  3. Unfunded Financial Aid. We must insure financial aid as a percentage of gross tuition rises less than the average of our peer institutions.
  4. Endowment. By 2011 through additional gifts and market appreciation our endowment will have increased to $100m or more and our planned giving pipeline for endowment from $40m to $60m or more. A special effort will be made to raise scholarship endowments to assist students in attending Juniata.
  5. Annual Scholarship Fund. By 2011 our annual scholarship fund will have increased from $1,000,000 to $1,300,000 with a longer term goal of $2m.
  6. Capital gifts. Juniata will continue to seek funds for various facility and program needs as identified in the campus master planning process and through the ongoing capital budget process.
  7. By 2011 the Juniata Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, the Gravity Project, and the Raystown Field Station will have achieved self sustaining budgets.
  8. By 2011 we will have reviewed our art and library collections to decide what is compatible with the College's long term educational and outreach goals and what items should be sold. The process will honor all commitments the College has made to donors. The funds generated by sales will be reinvested in additions to the permanent collections, the facilities to house the collection and the staff to conserve the collection.
  9. We will continue to assist Huntingdon and this region to improve our community. Emphasis will be on projects that increase the tax base to support improved infrastructure (schools, water, sewage, transportation, recreation and improved appearance of the community), that support retention and development of amenities (retail, restaurants, hotels, childcare, healthcare, retirement housing), that improve primary and secondary education and that improve the employment opportunities for Juniata employee spouses and recent graduates. These projects will assist in attracting and retaining students, faculty and staff - the human capital so necessary for our success.
  10. By 2011 the College will have reduced its debt level below the $33m we had on May 31, 2007.
  11. Budget. By 2012 we will have increased the capital and special funding budget to 3% of our annual budget to support the maintenance of existing facilities and equipment, as well as support innovation and creativity. In addition, Juniata will continually review campus business processes to identify opportunities to improve operational efficiencies.

Approved by the Juniata College Board of Trustees, April 19, 2008.

Members of the Strategic Planning Committee: