Introduction

THE PRESIDENCY OF GETTYSBURG COLLEGE:

Profile of the opportunity that awaits our 14^th President

Gettysburg College is a nationally recognized liberal arts college that attracts a highly selective and diverse body of students from across the country and abroad.

While anchored in firm intellectual standards and in the historical values associated with Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the leadership at Gettysburg has made every effort to enhance the College's place among liberal arts institutions. Those sustained efforts have met with considerable success, and the College has clearly become a leader in liberal arts education with distinctive programs, most notably: the Eisenhower Institute (located in Washington, D.C. and on campus), the Sunderman Conservatory of Music, and the Civil War Institute.  

Gettysburg College has grown in size and reputation at a faster pace than many of its contemporary and better-endowed institutions. Enrollment, now stabilized, increased from approximately 2,553 students in 2003 to nearly 2,650 students in 2008. At the same time, the selectivity of the College has improved markedly. Within the past five years, the College has gone from an acceptance rate of 46.2% (2003) to 35.6% (2007). The applicant pool for the academic year 2007-08 was just under 5,800, the second largest in the history of the College. Among national educators, there is a sense that Gettysburg is a college on the move.

The College has recruited and developed a strong, intelligent, and hardworking cadre of faculty members and administrators. Nearly half of the faculty has been recruited within the last six years. Much as with students, Gettysburg has been able to attract an increasingly higher caliber of faculty members and administrators.

In 2007, the Board of Trustees approved the Strategic Directions for the College that were the result of an inclusive two-year planning process. The Strategic Directions provide a blueprint for creating a bolder, stronger Gettysburg College that will prepare future generations of students for leadership roles in a world of unprecedented global complexity. The themes outlined in the document are: Engagement, Distinction, Access, and Connection.  For more information, follow this link to the Strategic Directions website www.gettysburg.edu/plan/home/.