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

Areas of Strategic Focus: The 2014 Plan

1. Sustaining and enhancing academic excellence

Academic excellence is the foundation upon which the finest liberal arts colleges build and sustain their reputations. What are the points of distinction and areas for national leadership within the academic program? What are the places where we need to become more like the very best liberal arts colleges? How might online learning affect Lycoming College? Which academic facilities need to be constructed or renovated?

Enrollment

How does the college best adjust to the dramatic demographic shifts in the college-going population that are taking place? What is the optimal student body size? How many international students should Lycoming recruit? From which countries should they be recruited? How does Lycoming put itself in position to attract the highest achieving students from American communities of color? How do we attract a greater number of high-pay students? How do we increase and best leverage financial aid to support our ability to recruit the student body that we want to enroll? How much should we increase endowed scholarships in support of our enrollment goals?

Retention and Graduation

We also know that the very best liberal arts colleges graduate more than 80 percent of the students who enroll as freshmen. What strategies and tactics will allow Lycoming to reach this graduation level? What programs and services will be needed to support the changing student body? How do we reduce the adverse impact that financial stresses have upon retention and graduation rates at Lycoming?

3. Preparing, launching and sustaining graduates on trajectories of success

How do we empower Lycoming students and alumni to compete even more successfully for the opportunities for which a Lycoming education prepares them? How do we enable students to identify, articulate and reflect upon the skills that they acquire through a liberal arts education? What should be our model for delivering advising and support for making the transition into life after college? What can we do to support Lycoming graduates as they navigate through their 20s? Can we turn our work here into a point of distinction?

4. Integrating the residential experience and the liberal arts

In what ways do we want the residential experience to contribute to the education of Lycoming students? How do we create stronger and more seamless connections between the residential experience and the liberal arts ethos of the institution? How might the faculty role change with regard to the student residential experience? What are the educational objectives of our athletic and recreational programs? Should we create a more robust outdoor recreational program that would promote the health and well-being of our student body? The natural assets of our geographic location could allow us to develop such an initiative into a point of distinction.

5. Deepening the role of the college as a citizen of Williamsport

Lycoming College and Williamsport exist in an interdependent relationship. How does the college best contribute to the economic, social and cultural well-being of Williamsport? How should and can the college best engage and make a positive difference in the Williamsport community?

6. Financing even greater excellence

A strategic plan must be coupled with a realistic financial plan. How do we cultivate a culture of philanthropy that will attract the investment that will allow us to launch innovative programs, build critical facilities and continue to grow the endowment, especially for financial aid? Where do we get the biggest bang for the buck?