Table of Contents
Preamble
Benedictine College’s board of directors set a new challenge to the college in the year 2020: Transform Culture in America.
The college’s vision statement directs the school to “build one of the great Catholic colleges in America” in order to educate students “who will transform the world through their commitment to intellectual, personal, and spiritual greatness.”
Benedictine College’s mission of “The education of men and women within a community of faith and scholarship,” commits the college to the same transformative work of the first Benedictines who saved civilization from darkness and set the world ablaze. Benedictine’s mission can Transform Culture in America by modeling community in an age of incivility, spreading faith in an age of hopelessness, and committing to scholarship in a “post-truth” era.
For two years, the college convened faculty, staff, students, alumni, and leaders from virtually every walk of life who discussed how to accomplish this high calling. A series of in-depth meetings, with nearly 300 participants who generated hundreds of initiatives, led to the creation of this plan.
To Transform Culture in America, Benedictine plans to:
- Form students in the mission of community, faith, and scholarship.
- Advance the mission by preparing our alumni for positions of influence in their careers, neighborhoods, families, and churches, where they can model community, faith, and scholarship.
- Extend the mission by providing Benedictine College’s unique formation in community, faith, and scholarship to off-campus audiences.
- Build a campuswide commitment to greatness.
The Transforming Culture in America meetings provided the college with starting Action Plans for this multi-phase Strategic Plan.
Priority I: Formation
Strategic Priority 1: FORM students in the Benedictine College mission of community, faith, and scholarship.
Transforming Culture in America will require Americans whose lives of courage, civility, character, and commitment make self-government possible.
Benedictine College intends to educate men and women committed to personal, spiritual, and intellectual greatness by providing intentional formation in community, faith, and scholarship.
Initiatives
A. Community Formation
The college will form students in the Raven Standard, emphasizing qualities necessary to develop meaningful relationships in their personal lives, provide an attractive witness to their faith, accomplish team-building at work, and build effective coalitions in their communities. The global Catholic Church which embraces the world’s races and cultures is our model for diversity. The college will develop initiatives to attract students, faculty, and staff from all backgrounds and cultures who can benefit from and contribute to its mission.
The Transforming Culture in America process emphasized developing strategies and programs to enhance the affordability of a Benedictine College education. There also was a significant emphasis on career preparedness and virtuous leadership and forming business leaders who use ethics-driven approaches to improve performance, create jobs and strengthen communities.
B. Faith Formation
The college will form students through worship, service, prayer, and study immersed in the Benedictine charism so that they will be intentional disciples who serve as lights at church, in the workplace, home, and public square. The college will emphasize ethics in conformity with the teachings of the Catholic Church in all disciplines.
The Transforming Culture in America process emphasized the sacraments and service, Eucharistic adoration, formation in missionary work, and preparation for family life.
C. Scholarship Formation
To form students in scholarship, the college will strengthen its commitment to the Catholic intellectual tradition. Through examination of the curriculum, pedagogy, and faculty development, the college will build on its liberal arts identity to provide an education which is both timeless in its basis in eternal verities, and timely in its focus on skills and abilities relevant to contemporary needs. The college will provide appropriate facilities to support the academic program of the college.
The Transforming Culture in America process recommended focusing on the library, fine arts, and new media training facilities, and emphasizing academic excellence together with a Catholic worldview throughout the curriculum.
Priority II: Profession
Strategic Priority 2: ADVANCE the mission by preparing our alumni for positions of influence in their careers, neighborhoods, families, and churches, where they can model community, faith, and scholarship.
Transforming Culture in America will require leaders in the workplace and public life who inspire others to be committed to living the Gospel.
Benedictine College intends to advance its mission in every walk of life by providing internships, service and experiential learning opportunities, and career preparation based on its distinctive, mission-focused education, to place students in key positions when they graduate.
Initiatives
A. Internships and Experiential Learning Programs
Internships and experiential learning programs will be central to Benedictine College’s efforts to enable students to obtain positions of influence. Through cooperation with mission-fit organizations, a vibrant and intentional Student Life program, and leadership formation programs, the college will prepare students to integrate the core competencies of their disciplines with a commitment to community, faith, and scholarship.
The Transforming Culture in America process particularly emphasized the need to advance the mission in the media, the technology sector, Catholic education, civic engagement, coaching, and financial literacy. Additionally, the process recognized a significant need for developing virtuous business leaders who support the free market.
B. STEM Education
STEM education is a particular emphasis of Benedictine College. To advance the mission through science and health care, Benedictine College will form students comprehensively in bioethics, develop real-world skills, and foster external relationships to put our students in professional environments where they can be agents of change.
The Transforming Culture in America process recommended a vigorous program of internships and undergraduate research experiences to give students opportunities in the sciences.
C. Alumni Formation Program
To advance the mission through our alumni, Benedictine College plans to design ways to continue to support Benedictine Ravens’ integration of the mission and values of the college in their lives after graduation. Special attention will be focused on increasing opportunities for alumni to meet for various kinds of events and to return to campus.
The Transforming Culture in America process emphasized networking tools for alumni and programs that bring Benedictine Values into Ravens’ lives after graduation.
Priority III: Extension
Strategic Priority 3: EXTEND the mission by providing Benedictine College’s unique formation in community, faith, and scholarship to off-campus audiences.
Transforming Culture in America will require a renaissance of public-spiritedness, dedication to God, and commitment to the truth.
Benedictine College will extend its transformative mission regionally and nationwide by promoting the benefits of community, faith, and scholarship to local, regional, and national audiences.
Initiatives
A. Centers
To increase the impact of the college’s activities, the college will create Centers that combine targeted recruitment of interested students, interdisciplinary academic opportunities, experiential and service learning, focused co-curricular options, and significant public outreach.
The Transforming Culture in America process particularly emphasized the family, constitutional liberty, beauty and culture, free markets and virtue, and eco-stewardship.
B. Off-Campus Outreach
The college will develop opportunities using media both old and new to reach audiences beyond the campus who can be positively influenced to embrace community, faith, and scholarship including professors speaking at conferences.
The Transforming Culture in America process emphasized new media outreach, conferences, and other activities, regarding faith, coaching, civics education, and the impact of emerging media.
C. Transforming Culture Process
The college will continue to incorporate the insights of leaders from all walks of life into the college’s plans through an ongoing Transforming Culture in America input-gathering process, with results fed into the school’s strategic planning process.
The Transforming Culture in America process emphasized ongoing engagement, cultivating industrial relationships, and expanding the college’s academic conferences.
Priority IV: Excellence
Strategic Priority 4: BUILD a campuswide commitment to greatness.
To become one of the great Catholic colleges in America, Benedictine College must keep a focus on the fundamental aspects of the college’s operations and a continued strong relationship with the college’s sponsoring institutions, Mount St. Scholastica Monastery and St. Benedict’s Abbey.
Initiatives
A. Building Academic Excellence
To build its commitment to greatness, the college will continue to monitor its commitment to excellent teaching, effective mentoring, and engaged scholarly activity within the mission. It will immerse students in a culture of high expectations, providing a rigorous and challenging liberal arts-based curriculum, while providing the appropriate support and mentoring to enable them to succeed.
The Transforming Culture in America process focused on consideration of faculty workload, curriculum review, providing additional student support services, and providing effective faculty and staff formation in the Catholic intellectual tradition.
B. Building a Vibrant Campus Life
The college will provide a rich and engaging student life environment, built on its distinctive Family Model. The college will give students an opportunity to develop in their faith and put their academic learning into action. It will support a broadly attractive co-curricular program, allowing students to pursue a variety of interests, including intramural, club, and varsity athletics programs that emphasize winning within the mission.
The Transforming Culture in America process emphasized supporting and expanding targeted recruitment efforts and providing opportunities to have a significant impact in the city of Atchison. There also was significant emphasis on the power of athletics to support character formation and as a vehicle for cultural evangelization.
C. Building the resources and infrastructure necessary to support one of the great Catholic Colleges in America.
To build one of the great Catholic colleges in America, the college must ensure that it has the financial and human resources, as well as the facilities and infrastructure, to support its educational mission. This includes ensuring that all college facilities are configured appropriately to support the needs of students, faculty, and staff — that they are accessible to all members of the community and visitors, and that they contribute to the overall beauty of the campus.
D. Building an endowment capable of replacing tuition dependency.
Benedictine College will seek and establish investments in the longterm health of the college including endowed professorships and chairs to help in the recruitment and retention of excellent faculty; endowed programs and facilities to achieve professionalism and success while alleviating strain on operating budgets; and endowed scholarships to ensure mission-fit students are able to be formed in the college’s transformational mission of community, faith and scholarship.
The Transforming Culture in America process emphasized endowment building and ongoing attention to the technology needs of the campus.