To the Dickinson Community,
As a new academic year begins, I know you are as eager as I am to immerse yourself in the work ahead of us. And there is much work to do.
This will be a critical and exciting year for our community, as we undertake our strategic planning process and focus together on mapping a course for Dickinson’s future. Fortunately, we are in a very strong position. Dickinson is hot! Prospective students understand the value of our useful approach to the liberal arts, and there is great demand for what we offer.
As we welcome a record number of first-year students, we do so well-prepared to provide them with our hallmark individualized Dickinson experience. In fact, don’t let the numbers worry you. In 2010 and 2011, for example, 2,168 students called Dickinson home. This year, we expect our student body to be about 2,208 strong—a difference of 40 students.
Our admissions team works diligently to enroll talented students who represent diversity in every sense of the word, and the class of 2019 is record-breaking in this sense as well. Yet it is not enough to bring students to campus. We must ensure they experience a sense of pride and attachment once they arrive. My conversations with many students last year confirmed to me that we must do better to develop a truly inclusive community and create a rich student experience.
As a result, we will launch a student survey in October asking for feedback on issues of climate, inclusiveness and engagement on campus. In addition to conducting the survey, we will hold dialogues with students this fall. We, as a community of academic inquiry, must be respectful, open and frank with each other. We must also remember the words of our exceptional Commencement speaker, Ian McEwan: “Being offended is not to be confused with a state of grace; it's the occasional price we all pay for living in an open society.” I encourage each of our students to take the time to participate in both the survey and the dialogues. If we want to move forward, we must have bold—and respectful—discussions, and we cannot be afraid of having uncomfortable conversations that push us and transform us as individuals and as a community.
We expect to have insights from this effort by late fall to share with the team who will be shepherding our strategic planning process. Helen Takacs, associate professor of international business & management and chair of the planning & budget committee, and Stefanie Niles, vice president for enrollment, marketing & communications, will serve as co-chairs. Helen’s scholarship and teaching revolve around strategy and organizational performance, and Stefanie was instrumental in a similar process at her former institution. Representatives from across campus, including students, will be selected in consultation with the planning & budget and the faculty personnel committees to make up the team.
This marks a pivotal moment for Dickinson, not because we expect to dramatically change who we are but because we want to stake out new areas of expertise that capitalize on what we do well. We have been leaders in global education for decades, and, more recently, we have been pioneers in sustainability education. It is not enough, however, to simply do what we have always done. We must be liberal-arts leaders for the 21st century.
We must leverage our intrinsic strengths, such as our expertise in connecting ideas across disciplines, our intellectual flexibility and our practical, useful approach, to take on new challenges. An area of continued focus is on improving our student experience. While Joyce Bylander, vice president and dean of student life, Neil Weissman, provost and dean of the college, and their teams have made significant improvements in this area, we know there is more work to do. Upon admitting each student, we have an obligation to fulfill a compact with that student and the student’s family. We have a responsibility to educate, to support and to be responsive to the complex needs of an increasingly diverse population of students. We must do all we can so they thrive here, and beyond.
We expect to complete our planning process by the end of the academic year. Our new plan will identify priorities that will shape our next comprehensive fundraising campaign. We must engage our alumni and increase philanthropy so that we can realize our full potential as a national leader in the residential liberal-arts experience.
This planning process will be transparent and broadly inclusive. We will, of course, post all committee materials and summaries of discussions on a special Web page. You may email your thoughts and questions to planning@dickinson.edu. We will give you many opportunities to interact with the strategic planning team. So that all perspectives are considered, it is absolutely crucial that each of you be engaged in this process.
I look forward to working alongside you at this critical moment in Dickinson’s history as we strengthen our community and set our course for the mid-21st century. Welcome back to what will be a busy and exciting year.
Sincerely,
Nancy A. Roseman
President and Professor of Biology