Aerial view of campus with Williamsport, the Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Mountain as a backdrop

Strategic Planning: The 2014 Plan

Strategic PlanningLycoming College President Kent Trachte has launched a campus-wide strategic planning process. He also is traveling from coast to coast to meet with alumni and friends to discuss the process and encourage their participation. The following are details about Lycoming’s strategic planning initiative.

Vision

Renew and deepen Lycoming College’s identity as a national liberal arts college with the goal of becoming recognized as one of the very best liberal arts colleges in the country.

To achieve this vision, we must harness our energies and inspire our supporters and, most importantly, exercise our collective imaginations to build an even Greater Lycoming.

Process

We have established multiple on-campus working groups and a steering committee. Representatives of the faculty, professional staff and students have been appointed to serve on each working group. A steering committee includes the president, the administrative cabinet, a professional staff member, faculty members serving on the Long-Range Planning Committee and a Student Senate representative. The steering committee will produce a draft of a strategic plan for adoption by the trustees.

Strategic Framing

Defining the Goal

How do we define “being one of the very best liberal arts colleges?” What indicators will tell us when we have achieved that goal? What measures should we use to monitor our progress?

Points of Distinction

Our strategic plan will identify existing or potential points of distinction for Lycoming College we will undertake a serious evaluation of probable success, ascertain investments that would be required to leverage those points of distinction, and determine how we can identify the needed resources.

National Leadership

We should ask if there are opportunities for Lycoming to serve as a national leader in a particular area of higher education or as one responding to a pressing national need.

Features that Define the Very Best Liberal Arts Colleges

What are the features that define the very best liberal arts colleges and where does Lycoming need to progress or change in order to be thought of as a peer?

Strategic Framing

Lycoming College’s Areas of Strategic Focus

  1. Sustaining and enhancing academic excellence
  2. Attracting and graduating a talented and high-achieving student body
  3. Preparing, launching and sustaining graduates on trajectories of success
  4. Integrating the residential experience and the liberal arts
  5. Deepening the role of the college as a citizen of Williamsport
  6. Financing even greater excellence