Update on Strategic Planning

Dear Friends,

We are pleased to share an update on Smith’s strategic planning process.

Since December, progress has been made in several ways, including:

• The Strategic Planning Steering Committee developed four strategic goals drawn from themes that emerged from extensive community listening and data gathering completed in the fall.
• More than 4,000 faculty, staff, students, and alums completed a survey.
• Working groups composed of faculty, staff, students, and alums have been meeting to develop additional details related to the strategic goals.
• The Strategic Planning Steering Committee and the co-chairs of each of the three working groups met and discussed over 60 draft initiatives.

Our next phase of work involves refining the objectives and initiatives that will underpin each of the strategic goals. Below, we share each of the goals, along with the kinds of supporting details we expect will emerge in the coming weeks:

Goal 1: Inspire and support academic excellence, exploration, and discovery.
Draft objectives and initiatives focus on encouraging academic exploration among students; supporting faculty to remain at the forefront of scholarship, teaching, and learning; and increasing opportunities for student research.

Goal 2: Prepare students for fulfilling careers and a lifetime of leadership.
Draft objectives and initiatives focus on supporting students to take advantage of leadership opportunities and career development, integrating those opportunities with the curriculum, and engaging alums to advance student success and the college’s financial sustainability.

Goal 3: Foster resilience, well-being, and belonging across our community.
Draft objectives and initiatives create a more welcoming and connected community through traditions and practices and support communal well-being through care, physical spaces, and recreation.

Goal 4: Strengthen institutional sustainability to ensure the college’s enduring contributions to the world.
Draft objectives and initiatives ensure that the college puts its energy and resources toward our highest priorities: sustaining exceptional faculty and staff, advancing our commitment to mitigate climate change, maintain the selectivity of our student body through financial aid, and ethically leverage technology to advance our goals.

In the weeks ahead, working groups will continue to meet to further hone their ideas, and we’ll be reaching out to existing groups on campus to contribute feedback. Save the date March 31—our partners from Wellspring will be on campus to provide more opportunities to share feedback on the emerging plan.

Finally, as I’ve mentioned previously, the campus use planning process is occurring in tandem with the strategic planning process to enhance collaborations and integrate recommendations effectively. 

Please visit the Strategic Planning webpage, where you will be able to provide input.

Thank you again for your continued interest in this important work,
Sarah

Sarah Willie-LeBreton, on behalf of
the Strategic Planning Steering Committee