Dear Students, Faculty, Staff and Trustees,
Following
a year of intense collaboration involving countless Pitzer College
community members, I am delighted that our strategic planning goals and
objectives were approved unanimously by the College Council on April
25. Completing the strategic plan during this academic year was an
aggressive goal and we should be proud of the hard work that went into
this milestone achievement.
The strategic planning process was
truly a community endeavor in the best of Pitzer traditions. A number of
key conversations during the 2017-18 academic year gave us a running
start as we began information gathering efforts in the fall semester.
Hundreds of community members contributed to the development of the
planning themes. Over 800 people responded to our surveys, another 800+
comments were shared during the November Idea Wall activities, and over
250 people met with our planning consultants, Keeling & Associates,
during their campus visits. The breadth of our community commitment
gives me confidence that the strategic plan accurately reflects our
priorities for Pitzer in the coming five years.
Please join me in
thanking some of the key contributors to this process, starting with the
members of the Strategic Planning Committee, co-chairs Brinda Sarathy
(faculty) and Don Gould (trustee), Melissa Coleman (faculty), Brendan
Schultz (student), Matthew Brunstad (student), Shahan Soghikian
(trustee), Carlos Alvarez (staff) and Mike Segawa (staff). The SPC’s
leadership was invaluable and we are fortunate to benefit from their
wisdom and dedication to the College. In addition, our Working Groups
were instrumental in bringing key perspectives from a broader range of
campus constituents, and we extend our thanks to those individuals for
their critical work. Finally, Jamie Jorgensen, Melanie Lacy and the
Keeling & Associates team were key players in keeping our process
focused and organized.
On May 17, we will present the strategic
planning goals and objectives to the Board of Trustees for approval.
Assuming approval by the Board, we will begin the equally important work
of implementing the strategic plan. We will again need to rely on
Pitzer’s collaborative spirit to implement our plan successfully.
I
can think of no better person to lead these efforts than Jim Marchant,
and so I am very pleased to announce that Jim has agreed to take on the
new role of Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Community
Relations. Jim’s role will be to bring focus to the achievement of our
goals by coordinating the efforts of key people, internal and external
constituencies, and resources to formulate a workable tactical plan that
will lead to measurable and concrete outcomes. Jim brings decades of
experience at Pitzer to this important work, and his familiarity with
our campus and the challenges we face make him ideally suited for this
project. Jim will begin by working with the summer FEC and continuing
his work in the fall with our existing committees to build an
implementation plan that will involve a cross-section of our community.
Please join me in congratulating Jim on his new role.
Again, I
want to thank all the many contributors to our strategic planning
process. I very much look forward to building on the outstanding work
that has been done and engaging with you as we pursue our goals
together.
Melvin L. Oliver
President
