Goals and Initiatives
1. Live the Mission
Nurture the spirit of the Principia community rooted in faith, hope, and love.
Rationale
The Principia community will recognize and value one another as children of God.
Because Principia is an institution founded on Love and Principle, we desire to create additional opportunities to encounter and engage with faith in our community grounded in Christian Science. As we strive to embody the fruits of the spirit, we will be deliberate and intentional about creating activities and a healthy environment that guides and supports those who study, work, and live at Principia.
Principia will support making Christian Science more relevant for today’s students wherever they are in their personal journeys.
Initiatives
1.1. Individual Spiritual Practices: Support individual spiritual practices that nurture “the spiritualization of thought and Christianization of daily life.” (S&H p. 272: 19-20)
1.2. Community Spiritual Practices: Support community practices that strengthen and deepen authenticity, engagement, and skills that allow us to better “love our neighbor” (Matt 22:39).
1.3. Inclusion: Develop activities and vocabulary designed to foster stronger inclusion and awareness of exclusionary behavior and communication. Identify and correct possible barriers to communities and a stronger sense of belonging.
2. Grow Enrollments
Ensure a thriving, richly diverse, and enduring community through strategic enrollment growth.
Rationale
The desire to grow the student enrollments and more fully utilize the campus resources is a shared goal between the School and College, although they will approach this target in different ways. We will actively seek to attract students from throughout the world who are interested in being part of a learning community grounded in Christian Science values.
Any new outreach and admission processes will be governed by the concepts included in the Trustee’s statement of August 2019, titled “Enlarging the Tent, Strengthening the Stakes.” To better fulfill the Principia mission in today’s world, the enhanced student recruitment efforts will be designed to maximize the enrollments of Christian Science students while also exploring new markets for students open to a deeper engagement with Christian Science.
Beginning school year 2021-22, the institution will establish total new student recruiting and enrolling target goals each year of 115 to 135 in PreK to 12 at the School and 125 to 145 at the College, while maintaining strong student retention rates at both campuses. Enrollment goals will be reevaluated each year to better ensure progress toward the Strategic Plan’s broader enrollment profile goals and budget targets We will treat the target goals to the extent they include new market students as a pilot for the initial phase, during which time no Policy changes are contemplated.
The annual process and outcomes reviews will allow campus leadership and the Trustees to closely evaluate the impact of the new recruiting and enrollment practices on the culture and character of the Principia experience. These regular assessments will guide practice adjustments and provide for a continual improvement cycle for the new marketing and student support services going forward.
Based on the current educational structure, the optimal enrollments for programmatic and financial sustainability are between 500 and 600 students at the School and between 525 and 545 residential students at the College. In addition, the College may explore new online and post-baccalaureate programs to serve the broader Christian Science community.
Initiatives
2.1. Traditional Christian Science Undergraduates: Update enrollment plans to better maximize the enrollment of Christian Science students and utilize campus resources.
2.2. Diverse Undergraduates: Develop an enrollment diversity plan that defines the desired student profile and creates new outreach, recruitment, and retention programs for each new student market. If the pilot program is approved, a separate plan will be developed.
2.3. Adults in the Christian Science Community: Explore the need for and feasibility of offering post-baccalaureate programs that meet the identified learning and professional development goals of the broader Christian Science community. Initial offers will build on existing life-long learning programs, utilize online delivery resources, and be aligned with current faculty competencies.
3. Boost Engagement
Enhance Student Engagement to Better Prepare Students for the Future.
Rationale
We will reimagine the student experience to enhance engagement in high impact practices. We anticipate this goal will improve students’ development of the skills, attitudes, and competencies needed to be productive, contributing community members and prepared for workforce and post-baccalaureate success.
Initiatives
3.1. Career Readiness: Create a comprehensive student career development program across the institution that connects and integrates student employment, careers, academics, and alumni.
3.2. Quality of Campus Life: Reimagine quality of campus life programming (life skills, healthy relationships, resiliency skills, work/life balance, financial literacy).
3.3. Global Citizenship: Create and facilitate opportunities to cultivate students’ international engagement and intercultural competencies needed to thrive in a diverse, multicultural world.
4. Practice Sustainability
Strengthen and continually improve Principia's organizational sustainability through innovative and active stewardship of its human, ecological, and financial resources.
Rationale
Principia will broaden its commitment to sustainability. As a learning community and an educational institution, we have the responsibility to demonstrate sustainable practices and education to our community by balancing stewardship of its resources across the three pillars of sustainability (social, ecological, economic).
Our goal is to meet the needs of the existing Principia community without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
We seek to demonstrate social sustainability by nurturing Principia's human resources through active support of staff and faculty engagement. In support of ecological sustainability, we practice active and careful management of Principia's natural resources, including its significant land and water resources, and through the wise design and maintenance of its infrastructure. Using best practices create a long-term financial plan that implements sound fiscal protocols so that we exercise "wisdom, economy, and brotherly love" in ensuring that Principia's financial future is sustained.
Initiatives
4.1. Human Capital & Social Equity: Actively promote the vision of Principia as a sustainable community, through an emphasis on faculty and staff engagement by valuing human capital, professional development, and social equity across operational, administrative, and academic landscapes.
4.2. Ecological / Environmental Sustainability: Actively promote the use of best practices in Principia's stewardship of its natural resources by implementing actions that facilitate achieving zero waste and carbon neutrality that are sustainable in terms of food and campus infrastructure, and that minimize our ecological footprint.
4.3. Economic/Financial Sustainability: Actively promote the vision of Principia as a fiscally resilient community by developing a long-term economic strategy that includes financial initiatives that balance short and long-term revenue against expenses.
7. Advance & Improve the Academic Experience
Advance academic excellence by enhancing opportunities for Principia College to be a dynamic community of thought leaders, independent thinkers, and lifelong learners.
Rationale
We are committed to developing and engaging our students to become leaders of tomorrow. We recognize that educating future leaders requires a commitment to faculty and staff skill development, research, creative work, and/or experiential learning, as well as the enhancement of academic engagement of our students. We believe that an engaged student body, staff, and faculty will promote academic excellence and a dynamic community.
Initiatives
7.1. Embrace Best Practices: Continually assess and improve our academic programs. Use intentionality and integration of the curriculum to better meet the needs of current and upcoming student populations.
7.2. Increase Student Engagement: Intentionally provide opportunities for greater student engagement throughout the academic experience.
7.3. Faculty Development: Increase support for formal faculty development.