To: The Wellesley College Community
From: President Paula A. Johnson and Andrew Shennan, Provost and Lia Gelin Poorvu ’56 Dean of the College
Re: Strategic Planning Progress
Date: April 8, 2021
The work of strategic planning began in August 2019, and thanks to the commitment and perseverance of the working groups and the steering committee, it has continued throughout the pandemic. Earlier this spring, we presented summaries of the draft of the plan to faculty and staff at Academic Council and Administrative Council meetings. The board of trustees also reviewed the plan at its retreat in March. Today, on behalf of the steering committee, we are pleased to present a draft of the full plan for your review and feedback.
We will be hosting a series of engagement sessions over the next few weeks with faculty, administrative and union staff, the Student Life advisory committee, College Government, and the board of the Wellesley College Alumnae Association to discuss the plan. We look forward to robust conversations at these meetings, and we will incorporate the feedback into the final draft, which the board will review and vote on at its meeting in late May.
We are proud to share this plan, which builds on Wellesley’s many strengths—our powerful mission, record of intellectual distinction, diversity and inclusivity, and sense of place—while embracing the challenge of reimagining the Wellesley experience and becoming an institution whose diverse community members can all thrive, and whose collective impact in the world can be greater than ever.
In the past year, which has been filled with such challenge and sacrifice, our community has demonstrated that we can come together to adapt, innovate, set priorities, and collaborate in new and powerful ways. Inspired by that lesson, and fueled by the deepest aspirations of this community, we look forward to your thoughts and feedback on this plan.
