President Roth Presents Wesleyan 2020 Update

In May 2010, the Board of Trustees adopted “Wesleyan 2020” as a fundamental tool for strategic decision making at Wesleyan. Designed to be flexible, this framework for planning will assist the university in making decisions about the allocation of resources in the next five to 10 years. It reflects the input of faculty, trustees, staff, alumni and students and begins with an introduction that gives a sense of some of the recent achievements that have shaped the Wesleyan of today.

Each fall, Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth sends an update on the university’s progress in meeting the goals set out in the Wesleyan 2020 framework. The updated report is online here. The update is organized under the rubric of Wesleyan’s three overarching goals: Energize Wesleyan’s distinctive educational experience; Enhance recognition of Wesleyan as an extraordinary institution; Work within a sustainable economic model while retaining core values.

In an all-campus e-mail on Dec. 6, President Roth wrote:

“Over the last 12 months we undertook a major self-study as part of the regional Accreditation process. I don’t explicitly discuss that process in the update, but I can say we were very pleased with the first response of the Accreditation Committee that came to campus. We will be releasing the official Accreditation materials when they are available in 2013.

Over the last year we have been involved in extensive (and sometimes intense) discussions with faculty, students, alumni and staff about our present operations and our plans for the future. This is as it should be. Receiving the most attention so far is the change in how we will budget for financial aid (leaving us about 90 percent need blind), and in this update I review the rationale for the change. Affordability, accessibility, and financial aid are key challenges for Wesleyan, and in the fundraising campaign we are launching, financial aid endowment (complemented by gifts to current scholarships through the Wesleyan Fund) is our highest priority.”

President Roth invites the campus community to comment on the 2020 plan on his blog.