A Strategic Vision for Albright College

From The President

Dear Albright College community,

June 2020 marks three years since I arrived on campus as president of Albright College. Upon my arrival, I held several core beliefs:

That Albright has long offered a high-quality education to students of academic promise – America’s middle class – and continues to do so to this day.
That this educational mission is essential to America’s democracy and must survive and thrive during this time of disruption and decreasing support for a college degree.
That Albright was and is positioned to lead challenging and relevant 21^st century curriculum, supported with a sustainable financial model.

Over the past few years, through deep dive discussions, community strategic planning exercises, and board strategic discussion we have learned much, allowing us to better understand our own situation, the higher education market and the students we serve. We have also made great progress in tackling several key areas, including:

Defining our core values, mission and vision
Adjusting our tuition and pricing strategy to better align with both the Pennsylvania higher education market and the socioeconomic reality of our middle class students
Developing a stronger message about out academic quality and strength in the marketplace
Recognizing the needs of today’s students and building processes and programs to support their success
Beginning to recognize the needs of our faculty and staff

We have an ambitious goal for 2030! This goal is shaped and defined by seven strategic themes, developed with our institutional priorities at the forefront, and will guide our work as we move forward. This goal and these strategic themes, laid out for you here, are critical to achieving success as an institution and in preparing our students for successful lives and careers.

Endorsed by both the board of trustees and the faculty in early 2020, this strategic vision serves to guide Albright College in defining and building a sustainable financial model that focuses on understanding its students and their needs, and the thriving, well-being of our entire community. The intersection of Albright’s programs with the real-world needs of students and employees is where Albright works to create real value.

It is with great excitement that I share with you this strategic vision for Albright College and its future.

With warm regards,
Jacquelyn S. Fetrow, Ph.D.
President and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Our Mission & Vision

Mission: As a diverse community of learners, we cultivate integrity, curiosity, connection and resilience.
Vision: Albright College endeavors to be an equitable, sustainable, inclusive learning community and a leader in advancing lives in our dynamic world.

Our Purpose & Passion

Our longstanding commitment to educating students of academic promise in a community where individual students enhance their ability to learn how to learn, to approach challenges from multiple perspectives, to cross boundaries both in and outside of the classroom, and to make connections with intellectual confidence.

Our Distinctive Niche

Albright’s cross-disciplinary, personalized education and close-knit community prepares students for success in lives and careers.

Our Commitment

Albright College as a premier learning environment in the 21st century where students learn to learn. We will create an environment comprised of the spaces and programs where all students, faculty and staff have the opportunity to engage through the exploration of ideas, the love of learning and the appreciation of each other.

An Ambitious Goal For 2030 – shaped and defined by seven strategic themes

In 2030, we envision that Albright will have a national reputation for closing the gap on education for all students of academic promise — for students who earn an affordable and high quality degree with a strong liberal arts foundation, who are prepared to enter the workforce, who experience significant socioeconomic mobility, and who are prepared to hold fulfilling jobs, across all student demographics (gender, racial, ethnic, first-generation).

Seven Strategic Themes

The following broad themes are designed to engage, rejuvenate, and focus our community on building on the strengths of what we currently do, bringing together programs and initiatives that are currently disjointed. They are designed to allow new creative initiatives to arise to take advantage of opportunities, address weaknesses and threats, and to achieve our ultimate goal of national name recognition… “Oh, Albright College is the college where…”

Cross-disciplinary academic collectives – Provides the opportunity for faculty to build and foster communities of creative scholars and artists creating clusters of boundary-crossing programs and experiences that support student engagement and success.

Lifting Up Lions – Expands Albright’s new program for supporting students in times of difficulty and will endeavor to support and lift community members to reach their full potential.

Lions’ Edge: Lion Learning and Career Development Commons – Builds on Albright’s ongoing work with the Title III grant and focuses on developing the programs, processes, technology and spaces that support student success, both at Albright and beyond.

Lion Pride – Supports Albright student-athletes – over one-third of Albright’s student population is comprised of NCAA student-athletes, and an additional 10% or more participate in club and intramural sports – in their engagement in their sport and the organization and self-discipline required to balance and succeed in athletics and in the classroom.

“Albright Is” – Points of pride for the Albright community – Focuses on a series of initiatives around Albright’s pride in itself, and on marketing and communicating our identity and distinctiveness so that the Albright community, the regional Reading and Berks community, and the world know and understand who Albright is.

Lions at Work – Aims to build a series of initiatives that will produce workplace efficiencies and financial sustainability, and process effectiveness and efficiencies for the workdays of our employees.

Albright as an anchor institution – Strengthens Albright’s role as an anchor institution in northeast Reading, a crucial component of being an enduring institution, one playing the long game of equity now and in future generations.

Annual Goals, Metrics, and Scorecard (Lion Password Required)

Annual Goals

Metrics

Scorecard

Coming Soon…