Strategic Planning at LaGrange College

2003-2004

The Mission

• Challenge the Minds of our students.

• Inspire the Souls of our students.

• Improve our students’ Creative, Critical, and Communicative abilities.

• Do this in a Caring and Ethical Community.

The Vision

• LaGrange College is committed to being the premier private college of the liberal arts and sciences in Georgia.

Guiding Principles

· Focus: Everything we do is guided by a shared mental image of the Mission and the Vision.

· Inclusion: Give everyone a voice that has an interest in pursuing the Mission and attaining the Vision of the College.

· Alignment: The entire College community is pulling in the same direction.

What it means for LaGrange College to be the premier private liberal arts and sciences college in Georgia:

For six years, LaGrange College has articulated its vision of becoming Georgia’s premier private liberal arts college. By virtually every measure--faculty size, program quality, and student quality--we have made good progress in this regard. As we continue our efforts at fulfilling this lofty, yet very necessary vision, it is important that we continue to define clearly what we mean by this vision.

Below are some measurable key markers (many others could be used, but these are judged to be the most significant at present) that will demonstrate we have fulfilled our vision:

*claim the top spot in USNWR rankings among all Georgia colleges;

*increase the enrollment to 1,200, with at least 1,000 of these students enrolled in our traditional day undergraduate program;

*at least 80% of the 1,000 traditional day undergraduate students live on campus;

*average SAT score in excess of 1100;

*freshman to sophomore retention rate of 80% or more;

*graduation rate of 60% or more;

*employ at least 10 full-time faculty who hold membership in Phi Beta Kappa

*undergraduate degree holder giving rate of 30%.

Strategic Initiatives

Adopted October 21, 2003 by the IPC

These are the College’s strategic initiatives that will guide our strategic planning for the next several months. They are the result of numerous conversations beginning last summer and have now been adopted by the Institutional Planning Council.

Our next step is to develop a set of goals and objectives under each initiative that, when accomplished, will move the College forward toward its vision of being the premier private college of the liberal arts and sciences in Georgia.

If you have any interest in participating in the ongoing planning process, please contact Dr. Boozer in the Office of Institutional Research and Planning. More specifically, if you have a strong desire to participate in the development of the goals and objectives under one or more of these initiatives, please contact the following individual(s).

Enrollment Ms. Kim Myrick

Curriculum Dr. Jay Simmons

Learning Center Rev. David Rowe

Enrollment

The College will promote the enrollment of an academically strengthened student body approaching 1200 by fall 2008.

Curriculum

The College will foster a more rigorous and challenging academic community characterized by exemplary student achievement, undergraduate research, and faculty scholarship.

Learning Center

The College will secure funding and construct a new learning center sufficient to meet the needs of a growing institution and support the rising academic expectation of its faculty and student body.

Goals Associated with the Strategic Initiatives

April 2004

Adopted by the IPC April 13, 2004

Enrollment

o Enrollment

n Increase enrollment in all programs to approach 1200 by fall 2008.

o Student Quality

n Improve the academic quality and “fit” of each new student class.

o Admission Operation

n Build a state of the art admission and recruitment operation.

o Web and Electronic Media

n Develop the College web site for use as a recruitment tool.

Curriculum

o Teaching

n Add new faculty positions in critical areas.

n Ensure that adequate numbers of faculty are available to teach all sections of Cornerstone.

o Academic Rigor

n Improve the College’s scores in the areas of academic challenge and rigor on the NSSE and SSI instruments.

o Scholarship

n Identify resources for faculty scholarship and undergraduate research.

o Advising

n Attain full implementation of the Advising Report adopted by the faculty in the spring of 2002.

Library

o Funding

n Develop a compelling Case Statement.

n Acquire funding.

o Construction

n Develop an architectural design.

o Function

n Review and continuously improve a use plan for new and affected buildings.