Students walking on the campus of Marietta College. The university is undergoing many changes, including a new strategic plan, “Marietta Forward,” and a search for a new president. (Photo provided by Michelle Dillon)
MARIETTA — Marietta College has announced it will eliminate 10 programs in October 2023, but that's just the beginning of changes to come at the school in the coming years.
The transformation effort at MC began in 2022, with the school bringing in AGB Consulting to help create a strategic plan. Of these, 27 initiatives were born. Tom Perry, MC's vice president of communications and brand management, said the school narrowed its focus to five key initiatives because there were too many challenges to tackle all at once.
The board approved a strategic plan called “Marietta Forward” in October 2023, according to a copy of the strategic plan on Mitsubishi Corporation's website.
“Our strategic plan, our mission, has to be student-focused. We talked about being a student-ready university.” Perry said. “From our perspective, a student-responsive university is one where we provide resources, meet students where they are, and do everything we can to help them get to another place. It means there is.”
Perry said he used to argue that colleges should prepare students for college. There is now a shift towards student-accommodating universities, where schools meet students as they enter college and help them learn the skills they need and develop what they need to succeed in college. It's progressing.
“In the old movies, it was like, 'Look left, look right, one of you won't be here at the end.' That can't be the way universities are anymore, and we… It should not be the way it is.” Perry said. “We have to look at everyone as an individual. They have special talents and sometimes they may have special needs that we can help them with.”
One of the first things the school did as part of its strategic plan was to expand its focus on Asian Studies, Environmental Engineering, ESL and Linguistics, Global Leadership Studies, Land and Energy Management, Music Education, Music Therapy, Spanish Language and Vocal Performance. undergraduate program and an athletic training graduate program starting in October 2023.
“We are constantly reviewing our programs.” Perry said.
On January 30th, Mitsubishi Corporation announced details of its strategic plan “Marietta Forward.''
“Marietta Forward responds to the changing environment in higher education.” MC President Margaret Dlugovic said in a media release. “This plan includes a significant expansion of critical support services that ensure the success of all Marietta College students. It better meets the needs of both types of students.”
The plan consists of five strategic initiatives and includes a long list of initiatives and projects related to those initiatives. Our strategic initiatives include: Fully implement student-oriented university initiatives. Strengthen current academic programs. Develop new educational programs focused on non-traditional student education and workforce development. Identify and launch new academic programs. See a copy of MC's plan on her website to create a campus culture that supports individual leadership, inclusion, and belonging.
According to the plan, as part of Marietta Forward, MC will address recommendations listed in the Student Ready College Quality Initiative, which was approved by the Commission on Higher Education as part of the school's reaccreditation cycle.
According to the plan, recommendations include increasing staffing in the Academic Resource Center, hiring a full-time position in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to support student initiatives and supporting efforts to hire a more diverse population. This includes hiring a diversity recruiter position in the admissions department. The diversity recruiter position used to be a university position, but it lost funding.
Marietta Forward said MC also plans to implement campus-wide customer service training, including creating and publishing how-to guides for the process in one place online and providing resources to families. This may include providing a directory or designating a single office as a help desk location. Sending students who don't know where to go and providing regular training for students and employees on DEI topics and issues, including multiple layers of diversity beyond racial and ethnic groups. It is mandatory to hold the event.
MC plans to review each academic program every four years to identify and track the program's direct and indirect costs, and projects that eliminating the program will save approximately $1.55 million by the end of fiscal year 2026. It is said that there is
As part of Marietta Forward, Mitsubishi Corporation will develop program and curriculum innovations at the McDonough Center for Leadership and Business and finalize the center's leadership structure by March 1, according to the plan. It's planned.
Mitsubishi Corporation will introduce a non-degree human resources development program that provides regional executive education and human resources development programs by July 2025, and will establish a new division, the Marietta College Executive Education and Human Resources Development Department, to oversee these programs by July 2025. It will launch in May. According to the plan, a new workforce development program.
MC offers new areas of high demand and uses market demand research and feasibility studies to determine which programs to add. This includes programs such as communications, graphic design, musical theater, data science, legal studies, and health administration. The plan said.
The plan is said to provide a more welcoming and inclusive environment for students and employees of all backgrounds and cultures, and throughout the life of Marietta Forward, the university will continue to build on the diversity of Ohio's college-going population. It plans to increase diversity as well. Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, and Michigan. Increase diversity in your employee community. Increase retention of both diverse students and employees. and increase the number and proportion of students from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.
According to the strategic plan, Marietta Forward's operating costs are projected to be $17,722,849 from fiscal years 2024 to 2028, or $4,666,738, including projected revenues and savings provided by the plan. Funding for the strategic plan will come from new sources such as grants. It will also be provided through philanthropic donations, new program revenues and the redistribution of current resources, according to the strategic plan outline.
Perry said MC is working on all plans included in Marietta Forward and is currently conducting a presidential investigation. Durgović's term as interim president is only one year, and ends on June 30th. Mitsubishi Corporation is currently vetting applicants for the position and hopes to begin interviews in March or April, when it plans to announce a new president. By mid-spring.
Mitsubishi Corporation plans to continue making personnel changes. The school announced in a Feb. 9 media release that it will eliminate 36 currently employed faculty and staff positions over the next three years due to the need to establish a more sustainable financial foundation for future operations. did. The 13 vacant seats will not be filled.
Of the 36 positions being eliminated, 22 are full-time or part-time teaching positions and 14 are administrative positions, Perry said. The reductions do not include tenured faculty members. The majority of the 14 management positions will be abolished as of March 1st. Some of the faculty members being cut will complete their contract requirements this school year, and the rest will complete their teaching responsibilities during the 2024-25 school year.
Michelle Dillon can be reached at mdillon@newsandsentinel.com.
