Elizabethtown College announced its plan to develop a strategic plan for the upcoming years to create “a solid foundation for which to grow.” 

As mentioned in the purpose statement, the College is stressing visibility, the curation of new and existing partnerships, innovation and a social impact. To do so, the College is seeking feedback through the Strategic Planning Theme Discussions, as well as building on core values to establish new goals for the strategic plan. The plan is supposed to “leverage [the] College over the next five years.”

Jan. 20, the first Strategic Plan Theme Discussion Session was held to discuss equity, inclusivity and diversity initiatives for the strategic plan of the College. Following that, innovation in higher education was discussed Jan. 22, as well as engaged citizenship and experiential learning with a focus on the College’s motto Educate for Service Jan. 25. The last two sessions discussed financial resilience based on the College’s strengths and building capacity, as well as the region of Central Pennsylvania and the College’s connection to neighboring communities and beyond.

Sophomore political science major Jalen Belgrave attended the first session as he is a strong advocate for diversity and inclusivity, especially in Student Senate, the Etown chapter of the NAACP and his close work with the Office of Diversity through the Intercultural Board. Within the session, Belgrave raised the issue of the “retention of minority students” and emphasized the need to provide resources to flourish at the College, as well as focused on representation within the faculty and staff. 

Belgrave also said, “…to further educate students about the importance of diversity, learning about diversity should occur in students’ respective majors. For example, biology majors should learn about pioneers such as Henrietta Lacks, Marie Maynard Daly, and others.”

Vice President of Finance and Strategy Jerry Silberman and Dr. Susi Mapp are co-chairs of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee. Dr. Tamera Humbert, Dr. Kevin Shorner-Johnson, Dr. Sara Atwood, Dr. Matt Telleen, Dr. Jeff Rood and Dr. Emma Neuhauser also represent themselves on the committee. Of the administration, Director of Human Resources Richelyn Penn-Mekile, Director of Title IX, Compliance Programs, and Intercultural Affairs Nichole Gonzalez, Interim Managing Director of ITS Brian Helm, Director of Annual Giving Ben Osterhaut and senior Matt Smith serve on the committee as well. Liaisons include Executive Director of Marketing and Communications Keri Straub, Dr. Matt Skillen and Peggy Stauffer.

The role of the committee is to update the College’s mission, vision and values based on stakeholders’ input, recommend strategic themes, curate the main themes to develop a framework, coordinate with consultants, identify key strategic goals, produce a strategic plan, develop a strategy for implementation and make recommendations to monitor the plan, as well as report its outcomes.

According to Silberman, “The feedback has been very good.  We were a bit concerned about participation in the meetings since the groups have been rather large, but most of the participants provided a high level of feedback during the sessions.”

An average of 65 participants have attended per session and the committee utilized Google Jamboards to take note of feedback. Silberman also noted how the College is exploring new Masters programs, graduate certificates and “other unique offerings.”

Throughout February, the strategic plan will go through the following processes: refinement of the themes, drafting of a new roadmap, writing of a new plan, collection of input from stakeholders, review, revisions and finally, presentation of the plan, which will occur in May 2021. 

As emphasized on the FAQ, the College invites students, employees, partners and more to participate in development of the Strategic Plan. They note how all participants will essentially “own a piece of the Strategic Plan and the vision it sets forward for our community.”

As stated by the College, “It is up to each one of us—to be highly engaged, constructive in feedback and supportive in its implementation, assessment, and continual revision.”