Strategic Plan 2020-2025 Fall 2021 Progress
Fall 2021 Progress and Accomplishments
Collaborating, Serving, and Innovating for a Brighter and Better World
Focus Area 1: Service and the Community Matter
Goal 1: Become a leader in community service-focused higher education.
Architectural renderings are ready, funding is in place, and plans are moving forward for the Desmond Center for Community Engagement and Wellness. Renovations will begin on Guzman Hall to prepare for the center, which will provide medical and educational services for the community. Genesis Ramos was hired as the center’s Executive Director and expects to begin rolling out programming within the next few months. The College's academic divisions, schools, and administrative departments will collaborate with local healthcare and service providers to offer opportunities for our students to engage with the local community.
A $1 million Higher Education Capital (HECap) matching grant and $425,000 Mother Cabrini Health Foundation grant are helping to fund the center. We applied for another round of funding from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation and have been awarded an additional $325,000 in funding.
Focus Area 2: Students Matter
Goal 1: Develop a collaborative and innovative approach to ensure completion of student academic and service requirements.
The Implementation team surveyed academic divisions on their advising process to better understand common practices and policies in order to create a uniform structure across schools/divisions and faculty advisors. The results of this survey revealed a wide variety of approaches and some inconsistencies when it comes to how students engage with the advising process.
A communication schedule was developed for each division to follow when the advising process begins each semester. Email templates with consistent content will be adopted by each division to standardize messaging around our evolving policies and procedures. For example, every school/division will utilize the holds function within Jenzabar moving forward, placing a hold on each student declared in their major at the start of advising months to facilitate advisor/advisee interaction.
In collaboration with the Office of Marketing and Communications, one-page 4-year plan of study sheets were created for all programs with consistent formatting, text and content. While the information included will be based on plans of study developed by academic divisions, formatting and wording will be streamlined to ensure consistency and clarity. These are not meant to replace the more detailed “Plans of Study” created by each division for their academic program. Instead, these are meant to serve as an easily accessible resource for students to improve clarity around degree requirements, time to completion and help students more easily see the impact when deciding to change their major/program throughout their time at the Mount.
Focus Area 3: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Matter
Goal 1: Create a thriving culture of diversity, equity and inclusivity among all members of the MSMC community.
The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee is in the application review phase to hire MSMC’s Chief Diversity Officer. DEI subcommittees and campus departments are collaborating to collect data and perspectives across campus to inform our plans to develop a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion across campus. The data will support finding solutions for recruiting and retaining students, faculty, staff and administrators.
The Academic Divisions and Schools were tasked to review their courses to identify ways they are incorporating DEI topics and how to expand practices. DEI focused programming this fall included a workshop for Resident Assistants led by Dr. Lee-Gonyea on introducing DEI concepts to students, and campus-wide online training on DEI in the workplace sponsored by Human Resources. The Faculty Development Committee and DEI Committee presented an August workshop to faculty and planned a follow-up winter 2022 Faculty Development Day, A Journey, not a Destination: A Path to a More Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Campus Community, with Dr. Kevin Gannon, Professor of History and author of Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto.
Focus Area 4: Communication Matters
Goal 1: Build a strong culture of campus synergy with highly effective community and collaboration across campus.
The College Coordinating Committee has assessed the feedback on internal communications and identified these internal communications priorities:
- Regular communication from leadership
- Better communication between departments
- Improved campus calendar
- Improved college portal
- Streamlining of email communications
- Standardized messaging/chat platform
The committee is working in collaboration with the Marketing & Communications office to develop an internal communications plan that will roll out in two phases:
PHASE 1: SPRING 2022
This piece of the plan includes a communications matrix that charts preferred channels for different types of communications (e.g., policy updates should be posted on the college portal and communicated via announce to all employees) as well as a communication schedule.
The schedule would identify source, topics, and timing for major updates to campus (e.g., Academic Affairs will provide an update with new faculty, promotions, new programs, accreditation updates, etc…. each September).
PHASE 2: FALL 2022
The committee is identifying ways to improve all internal communication channels to address each of the priorities above. We expect to have final recommendations this spring. When implemented, this phase may include new guidelines, protocols, and systems.
Each phase will include an awareness campaign.
Focus Area 5: Innovation and Quality Matter
Goal 1: Maintain and develop competitive academic programs.
The Office of Institutional Research developed and launched an interactive retention dashboard that tracks persistence and completion rates within all of our undergraduate majors and education certifications. The results provide a year by year summary of where and when students are migrating to other programs who remain at MSMC.
The School of Business of Mount Saint Mary College was granted reaffirmati
on of specialized business accreditation by The Board of Commissioners of the International Accreditation Council for Business Education (IACBE). The School of Business has demonstrated a commitment to continuous improvement, excellence in business education, and advancing academic quality in its business programs and operations through a rigorous process of self-evaluation and independent peer review.
Goal 2: Optimize financial sustainability across campus.
A thorough assessment by external consultants has led to significant improvements in our financial aid awarding methodology and operational business processes. These changes have resulted in a more efficient generation of competitive financial aid awards that make attending MSMC a more affordable option to a more diverse range of students. Additional financial support through endowed scholarship giving in the form of new donations from reunion classes, local friends and businesses continues to increase over last year.
Continuing with the collaboration between Admissions, Alumni Association, and the Parent Leadership Council, a primary focus has been the Fall 2022 recruitment cycle. Strategies to improve the recruitment experience include additional event support, more personal communication, and additional connections to target area high schools through this collaboration.
MSMC has entered into a three year partnership with Phoenix Philanthropy Group to provide campaign consulting services as we move forward with the college’s Comprehensive Campaign. The first phase will be an internal audit of database, budget, staffing, volunteer structure, policies, reports, etc. and is expected to run in Spring 2022.
Goal 3: Promote environmental stewardship.
The college has tapped into its “roots” in an effort to move forward with our environmental stewardship objectives. Sister Lorelle Elcock, former prioress of the Dominican Sisters of Hope which founded Mount Saint Mary College, is joining forces with our own Natural Science Division faculty. Sister Lorelle’s credentials include a PhD in strategic planning and a decade-long commitment to environmental matters both inside and outside of the higher education landscape.
Stay tuned for similar updates from the college’s Strategic Planning and Budgeting Committee.