Goals 2005: Fifteen General Priorities for Bates

Priority 1.

Achieve the highest levels of rigorous learning and teaching; put student responsibility more at the center, and encourage the engagement of teacher and learner.

Priority 2.

Support additional connections of research to teaching, as well as the value of research by faculty members and by students.

Priority 3.

Develop and support linkages among disciplines, as well as among models of teaching, without devaluing or diminishing the importance of the disciplines or the contributions of scholarship.

Priority 4.

Enhance learning and teaching by extending the traditional classroom, both on- and off-campus; create greater flexibility in the calendar, in new venues for learning, and in collaboration among institutions.

Priority 5.

Identify and recruit a student population that will have the highest levels of potential for achievement.

Priority 6.

Develop and support greater international educational experiences, on campus and beyond, confirming the connection of learning and work in a global context.

Priority 7.

Develop new structures and alignment of College resources that allow students more control over their experiences at Bates.

Priority 8.

Reinforce the implicit covenants that bind the community; seek to understand and strengthen connections that honor civility, service, collegiality, social justice, and community trust.

Priority 9.

Confirm diversity as a College priority both by valuing the increased diversity of our student, faculty, and staff, as well as through the emphases expressed by the College's programs and curriculum.

Priority 10.

Provide spaces and facilities that strengthen the connectedness of learning, student and faculty interaction, and reinforce the culture of equal access and use.

Priority 11.

Reinforce a work ethic among College employees that values flexibility, cooperation, experimentation and positive responsiveness to change, as well as supports the development of professional advancement.

Priority 12.

Envision learning as continuous and cumulative, connecting experiences at the College with those both before and after Bates (including pre-college education), employment, graduate education, and experiences as Bates alumni.

Priority 13.

Create adequate resources to accomplish Bates' excellences; creatively and positively manage finances, resources, facilities and environment.

Priority 14.

Collaborate with the local community in ways that both serve the College's mission and recognize the reciprocity with the external community of both obligations and opportunities.

Priority 15.

Identify, express, and strengthen those aspects of Bates that are exemplary of its leadership and distinctiveness among the nation's finest colleges.

Rev. 10/15/98