After nearly two years of committee work, debate, discussion, and revision, the Guilford faculty approved President Kent Chabotar’s five-year Strategic Long Range Plan (SLRP) for the college on Sept. 22.
The document consists of two parts, a 44-page formal plan proposal and a 63-page appendix of supplemental data consisting of information ranging from the plan’s fiscal workings to what high school students look for in a college.
Chabotar said this supplemental data is what keeps the plan “tethered to the ground.”
Two major areas of concern remain: increasing the size of the college to 3300 students, and focusing academics on principled problem solving.
During a faculty discussion, psychology professor Richie Zweigenhaft expressed concern over whether Guilford could maintain a sense of community while adding 800 students.
“The college is going to be a different place,” Zweigenhaft said. “We are making a fundamental change.”
“Issues of class size and student faculty ratio are paramount,” Randy Doss, Vice President for Enrollment and Campus Life, replied. “Thirty-three hundred students is still a very small college nationally.”
The SLRP dictates that the student-faculty ratio remain at 16 to 1 and that the average class size never grow larger than 20 students.
The other major concern among the faculty involves the concept of principled problem solving, defined in the plan as “students in courses and teams using their talents and life experiences with faculty guidance to address real world problems.”
The search for solutions “will be driven by the College’s core values and Quaker testimonies,” according to the SLRP.
What this means is students will work together with each other and faculty members to solve real world problems.
An example of principled problem-solving could involve a local public high school with a struggling music department. Education studies majors could examine the detrimental effects of poor music funding; business students could propose grants and find additional funding; and music majors could implement the program and serve as tutors for the high school students.
Dean for Continuing Education and Business professor Bill Stevens said that the best part of the long-range plan is that it is “focuses on outcomes after graduation.”
Chair of the Theatre Studies Department Jack Zerbe agreed when he said the plan would give students several helpful skills for life after graduation such as the ability to recognize and solve problems.
“It brings into focus institutional identity,” Zerbe said. He then stated that the plan gives a degree from Guilford “something concrete” as a basis.
However, not all faculty members are as excited about this aspect of the plan, and questions linger.
Art Department Chair Adele Wayman asked, “How do we define real world?” She queried whether students must find real-world applications for their work or if they can create and explore for the sake of satisfying curiosity.
The Strategic and Long Range Planning committee revised the planning document in light of such concerns, leading to the faculty’s approval. The plan now goes to the Board of Trustees.