|
President's Column
Reach Your Full Potential!
Our mission is to inspire and educate the scholar
and leader in each student, building on a strong
foundation in the liberal arts and sciences and a
commitment to the best of human values, fostering a
commitment to a lifetime of service and learning.
As you may recall, the last issue of The Reporter
featured our great football program and the inspiring
leadership of Coach John Marzka, whose approach
to his charges is nicely summarized in the acronym,“RYFP” or “Reach Your Full Potential.” You’ll see“RYFP” on t-shirts, posters, bulletin boards and
lockers all around Shirk Stadium and the Bollman
Center. It seems to me that slogan also well describes our objective in developing our new Master Plan for
Albright College.
In this issue you’ll see an overview of that plan,
whose roots may be found in our strategic plan,
approved by the Board in the spring of 2007. Like
the strategic plan, the Master Plan was guided by
the following passage from St. Paul’s letter to the
early Christians in Thessalonica: “Test all things.
Hold fast to that which is good.” (5:21) Likewise
our goal was to enhance our ability to achieve
our mission—to help our students reach their
full potential as scholars and leaders with a deep
commitment to the best of human values and to a
lifetime of service and learning.
Thus, while it’s quite right to call the plan a
transformational vision, the change that we imagine
is deeply rooted in our 153-years of providing
a transformational learning experience for our
students. There is change envisioned, for sure, but
there is more continuity with the best of our past
than deviation from it.
One reason we selected the architectural firm
of Spillman Farmer to guide us was the excitement
evinced by Jim Whilden, the principal in the firm who
worked with us, as he walked the campus on several
visits photographing every nook and cranny even
before we retained his services. His evident delight
in the beauties of our campus and the eclectic variety of architecture that gives it such distinction sold me
on his being the right man to help us craft the plan.
We have not been disappointed.
Like our strategic plan, the master plan aims
to chart a path that will enable us to achieve an
excellence that is uniquely our own. It is part of the
glory and strength of American higher education that
there are so many fine liberal arts colleges, and we
succeed by not seeking to be copies of one another.
We aim to be distinctly, unmistakably Albright, a
bright light shining here in the shade of Mt. Penn.
Now that we have this ambitious plan on paper,
the inevitable question arises of when and how. In
pondering how best to answer such questions, I am
reminded of a story that an old friend told many
years ago at the launch of a major capital campaign
for another small liberal arts college.
A cynical young man climbed a mountain retreat
to visit a famed wise man. In his cupped hand, the
young man held a small bird. He asked the wise
man if the bird was alive or dead, intending to crush
the little creature or let it fly free depending on the
answer of the wise man. The old man looked into
the young man’s heart and simply said, “As you will,
my son; as you will.”
That’s the correct answer for when and how
we’ll realize the vision for our beloved Albright. The
bird is now in our hands!
Lex O. McMillan III, Ph.D.
President
top |
