February 23, 2023
Dear Colleagues,
A little more than two years ago, the College launched a comprehensive strategic planning process. Guided by more than 60 people from across the campus—faculty, students, trustees, and staff alike—the strategic planning committees produced a compelling vision for the future of the College. That vision, the strategic plan, was endorsed by the Board of Trustees last spring.
Since then, the College has been working hard to situate the strategic plan into broader institutional priorities. We have also made important progress in advancing the commitments set out in the plan, and in sharpening how we are speaking about the College’s powerful vision for our future.
I am pleased to report that this work has reached an important milestone. This past weekend, the Board of Trustees was on campus for its annual winter meeting. We shared with them Living Our Promise: The Strategic Direction for Gettysburg College. It was enthusiastically supported and will now serve as an important marker for the College’s priorities and messaging.
The session with the Trustees is one of the many ways we’ve been engaging the community on the College’s strategic direction. I have met with every division, including each of the academic divisions. Carey Thompson, Vice President for Enrollment and Educational Services, and Jamie Yates, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer, have also been presenting the strategic direction across campus this semester. Carey and Jamie are scheduling additional meetings to ensure that a conversation takes place with every academic and administrative division. In the meantime, I invite you to read more about the strategic direction and how we’ve translated this work for the Class of 2027 and future incoming classes.
I would like to thank the Board of Trustees, the President’s Council, the Strategic Planning Committee, the Integrated Learning Committee, the Structure and Resources Committee, and our alumni and students for their invaluable contributions to this planning since we began this process in October 2020.
We have a unique opportunity before us—one guided by our mission and values. We have long been committed to preparing students “to engage the complex questions of our time through effective leadership and socially responsible citizenship.” This work matters as much as it ever has, and the College’s strategic direction represents a renewed and updated approach tailored to the specific challenges and opportunities of our time. We do this work together, as a community, and I am enormously grateful for it.
Sincerely,
Bob Iuliano
President