Pillar 1 | Empowering Excellence

Home > Strategic Plan > Strategic Plan Goal One

Strategic Plan Goal 1

Continue To Evolve Curriculum, Research, Pedagogy And Modality

Strategic Plan Goal One

Rationale: Closely examine and modify the curriculum as appropriate, to prepare students for lives of personal fulfillment, service, leadership, and impact. Our aims are to innovate the curriculum continuously to meet contemporary and future challenges, expand co-curricular experiences to align with 21st Century demands and prepare for the 22nd Century, facilitate and enhance support for leadership development through experiential learning, and achieve meaningfully integrated educational experiences for gainful post-baccalaureate achievement.

Initiative 1: Elevate and expand Spelman’s stellar academic learning environment.

Anticipated Outcomes:

  • Examine and restructure the curriculum to prepare students for productive 21st Century lives in a world infused with ubiquitous, rapidly changing technologies.
  • Update signature programs—African Diaspora and the World (ADW) and Interdisciplinary Big Question Colloquia (IBQC)—and requirements (General Education and capstone) that incorporate knowledge and skills essential to future demands.
  • Identify topics and methods that modernize General Education; update assessments and metrics for General Ed; review curricular and policy changes; implement proposed changes and assess.
  • Determine appropriate uses of technological advances to enhance student learning and ensure appropriateness in the Spelman learning environment.
  • Track implementation of learning technologies across General Ed and major courses.
Initiative 2: Utilize integrative tools for course planning and implementation to enhance student success. 

Anticipated Outcomes:

  • Implement optimization tools to better manage and plan course access, innovation, and completion necessary for maintaining student success.
  • Plan and integrate semester-long research, internship/externship, and other experiential learning opportunities to enhance educational experiences.
  • Strengthen career development for students through clinics, badging, and certificates in the eSpelman platform.
Initiative 3: Craft a holistic student success pathway that fosters an integrated curricular and co-curricular experience resulting in a strong start and strong finish in the undergraduate program.

Anticipated Outcomes:

  • Create curricular pathways that align with students’ post-baccalaureate goals.
  • Develop options for a co-curricular transcript that will augment students’ grades and provide broader perspective of performance and engagement.
  • Accelerate acculturation to the college environment by offering summer bridge courses and pre-entry experiences to all entering students.
Initiative 4: Promote faculty success through targeted support and resources.

Anticipated Outcomes:

  • Attract world-class faculty who meet the needs of Spelman’s evolving teacher-scholar model to transform from liberal arts to research-forward status.
    1. Review recruitment strategies for faculty.
      • Examine salary and research costs to support and retain faculty.
    2. Produce interactive resources map that faculty use for professional development and advancement.
    3. Examine workload for faculty (e.g., teaching, research, and service)
      • Reduce teaching load for tenure-track/tenured faculty.
      • Support and provide faculty development for non-tenure-track faculty.
  • Prepare faculty to be public intellectuals and sought-after experts and creatives in non-academic and academic spaces. Utilize the podcast studio to establish outlet that shares faculty expertise and knowledge.

Strategic Plan Goal 2

Expand Student Access

Strategic Plan Goal ThreeRationale: Meet full financial needs of students while minimizing student and family loan debt. Our aim is to raise sufficient additional funds for annual and endowed scholarships to ensure that every student can afford tuition and expenses, regardless of their financial situation. We seek to increase the numbers of women who benefit from a Spelman education.

Initiative 1: Increase college affordability by increasing scholarships and alternative revenue.

Anticipated Outcomes:

  • Develop timeline and criteria for expanding scholarships.
  • Set target for annual gift inflows into endowment to support additional scholarships and aid that replaces student loans.
  • Evaluate and develop alternative pathways to degree that may reduce average time and/or cost to degree.
  • Set target for increases in eSpelman alternative revenue growth to increase affordability for traditional Spelman students.
Initiative 2: Explore the possibility of planned growth.

Anticipated Outcomes:

  • Model options for phased increases in enrollment for various offerings [in-person, virtual, co-operative, etc.].

Strategic Plan Goal 3

Invest in People, Processes and Culture Change

Strategic Plan Goal FourRationale: Invest in people, policies, and processes to increase capacity, adaptability, and innovation. Consistent with Spelman’s commitment to shared governance and responsibility, develop and implement an effective constituent- and service-orientation that results in increased efficiencies, streamlined communications, and policy adherence. Develop and grow a campus culture that prioritizes life/work balance, professional development, entrepreneurial and innovative mindset, productivity, accountability, job satisfaction, and retention.

Initiative 1: Create and transform policies and processes to increase capacity, responsiveness, adaptability, and innovation.

Anticipated Outcomes:

  • Identify priorities in human capital management (HCM), including onboarding, training, productivity, career development, etc., to enhance with staff and technology improvements, and establish timeline for implementation.
  • Leverage technology to increase efficiency in recruitment of human resources.
  • Fully implement PeopleAdmin to streamline recruitment process by August 30, 2024
  • Complete pilot testing of full PeopleAdmin solution for campus wide rollout to streamline recruitment process and decrease time to hire.
  • Collect hiring timeline data to inform implementation of changes to hiring workflow.
Initiative 2: Make Spelman a great place to work.

Anticipated Outcomes:

  • Leverage HR climate and culture survey data to inform future opportunities to improve the employee experience.
  • Implement Deloitte Operational Assessment and Organizational assessment recommendations. [Not reflected in workflow.]
  • Assess current recruitment efforts to determine the best strategy for faculty and staff by division.
  • Adopt industry standards for recruitment and on-boarding of new employees.
  • Develop a short- and long-term workforce housing strategy in partnership with community and business partners as a benefit for faculty and staff.
  • Assess efficacy of existing training opportunities for faculty and staff and identify opportunities for training, mentoring and development for staff.
  • Implement a training, mentoring and development program for staff and faculty employees by June 2026.
  • Create on-demand training tools for faculty and staff.

Strategic Plan Goal 4

Modernize And Expand Infrastructure

Strategic Plan Goal TwoRationale: Enhance and upgrade technology infrastructure for academic and administrative operations to facilitate systems integration, greater efficiency and functionality, and access. Upgrade physical plant to support existing and new initiatives and to support sustainability. Explore real estate opportunities.

Initiative 1: Install next-generation information technology (IT) infrastructure and technology solutions.

Anticipated Outcomes:

  • Monitor effectiveness of governance and project management frameworks.
  • Implement automation and productivity tools.
  • Enhance physical campus security and signage.
Initiative 2: Enhance Physical Plant to support student success and recruitment/retention of an excellent workforce.

Anticipated Outcomes:

  • Develop Blueprint Implementation Plan
  • Prioritize initiatives.