Dear Campus Community:
I am pleased to share with you MCLA’s 2017-2022 Strategic Plan. This document is the culmination of an inclusive process that began in September 2016. Led by an 18-person steering committee representing all segments of the college community, the process generated voluminous and valuable input through outreach and engagement opportunities that included open forums; surveys of students, faculty and staff; questionnaires for the Board of Trustees and the Foundation Board of Directors; a survey of alumni; roundtable discussion with community members; and many meetings on campus.
The plan represents a call to action, charging all of us to challenge our assumptions, think creatively about how we approach our work, and act strategically as we pursue the shared goal of making MCLA a better, stronger, and more diverse institution. The result of the visioning, goal setting and planning we undertook is more than a document; it is a living plan that will engage all members of our college community.
I am impressed by the work of so many that created this plan that calls us to think differently about learning and teaching for a changing world. The plan will keep us focused, inspired, and in pursuit of excellence.
Already a public liberal arts college with an excellent reputation for providing an affordable, high-quality education, MCLA is ready to think differently as we begin our quest to be the best public liberal arts college in the nation.
Over the next five years we will create new educational opportunities for our students and new professional opportunities for our faculty and staff. We will emphasize the importance of communication; we will share MCLA’s story and values more widely. And we will make inclusion and diversity defining characteristics of an MCLA education.
I know our community will work together to advance these goals and enhance the positive impact MCLA already has - on our students and their families, our 18,000 alumni, our faculty and staff, our city and the region, and the Commonwealth.
I am excited about MCLA’s future and by the collaboration of my colleagues to achieve these goals.
James F. Birge, Ph.D.
President
Gina Puc, Director of Admission
Adrienne Wootters, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs
Amanda Beckwith, Head Volleyball Coach, Coordinator of Women's Center and Identity & Gender Equality
Resource Center
Mariana Bolívar, Assistant Professor of Modern Languages
Michael Birch, Professor of English/Communications
James F. Birge, President
Jason Canales, Institutional Research Analyst
Barbara Chaput, Director of Human Resources/Payroll Office
Charlie Cianfarini, Network/Computer Support Services and APA President
H. Jake Eberwein, Dean of Graduate and Continuing Education
Zach Finch, Assistant Professor of English/Communications
Buffy D. Lord ’98, Esq., Board of Trustees
Elizabeth Manns, Mailroom and Copy Center Clerk, AFSCME Steward
Nancy Ovitsky, Professor of Business Administration & Economics, and Director of MBA program
Graziana Ramsden, Professor of Modern Languages, and Faculty Association President
Denise Richardello, Executive Vice President
Ann Scott, Professor of Education
Diane Scott, Assistant Professor of Arts Management
Daniel P. Shustack, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies
Brianne O’Rourke, Student Trustee 2016-2017
Adazae Sheppard-Edwards, SGA Senator 2016-2017
Read the September 26, 2017 Community Open Forum PowerPoint Presentation.
MCLA community members have access to internal strategic planning.
More information is available about MCLA's former Strategic Plans, "Moving Forward, Building Excellence" (2013), "A Vision of Excellence" (2004-2010), and Strategic Planning Accomplishments, see below.
MCLA's Strategic Plan offers tremendous opportunities to keep moving MCLA forward.
The strategic plan provides a framework for the accomplishments, achievements, and progress realized through the work of the College faculty and staff, alumni, community members, and other stakeholders.
Through the planning process every division annually develops, implements, and evolves action plans to support MCLA's strategic goals:
MCLA's strategic plan has guided significant progress across all areas of the MCLA community over the past five years. Through the planning process every division has developed, implemented, and evolved action plans to foster academic excellence, increase enrollment and retention, strengthen student life, and strengthen the College's financial position.
At the May 2010 retreat we had the opportunity to have a conversation with Massachusetts Commissioner of Higher Education Richard Freeland about all the good work taking place at MCLA, as well as important state initiatives that will influence public higher education in Massachusetts in the coming years. We also reflected on the many accomplishments realized during through our first five year planning cycle, and heard updates on the student focused initiatives that are moving forward in the areas of the Center for Student Success, the Undergraduate Research Conference, and the E-Portfolio.
As we focus ongoing strategic planning work on the goal of advancing the institution over the course of the next five year planning cycle, we will continue to implement and evolve action plans while positioning MCLA for work we must do in preparation for our next NEASC accreditation, which will take place in 2013.
