President's Message

Test all things. Hold fast to that which is good. - Thessalonians 5:21

At the first meeting of the College's Strategic Planning Committee, which I recently convened, Professor Richard Androne offered this trenchant Pauline admonition to the Thessalonians as a phrase that characterized our work.

Co-chaired by Professor Thomas Brogan and John Baily '65, vice chair of the Board of Trustees, the Committee is a broadly representative group of Albrightians that will chart the future of the College. Our task is ambitious. It includes reviewing and revising the current strategic plan adopted by the Board of Trustees in 2002; connecting the budget-making process to plan priorities; aligning the strategic-planning process with our Middle States Review; and developing an ongoing process to assess and revise our plan - all in time for the Board's endorsement in October.

Those are important tasks indeed, but the Strategic Planning Committee's charge is actually far broader and deeper than this rather nuts and bolts list. I am asking them not just to revise, but to set about re-visioning.

The act of planning has to work simultaneously in two directions -- looking back and looking forward. Albright is among the oldest institutions of higher learning in the nation, and the deep foundation of our rich heritage and history must be acknowledged -- we must, indeed, "hold fast to that which is good." From a thoughtful examination of what is good and what we must be certain to retain, we will turn to the future, knowing that the path ahead is not predetermined by our past, but will rather be the outcome of enhancing the good and building on it for the future.

Visioning for the future is a process that is both creative and disciplined, and along the way we must ask ourselves a lot of challenging questions. What makes the difference between a great college and a good one? (James Collins' Good to Great: Why some companies make the leap-- and others don't, is instructive for higher education in its analysis of why some institutions get ahead of the pack and stay out in front, in reputation and productivity.) What can we be best in the world at? What are we deeply passionate about? What drives our economic engine? How do we survive and thrive in a competitive higher education marketplace? How do we prepare for the unknowns of a rapidly changing world? How do we achieve an excellence uniquely our own?

Finally, and most importantly, what is the central value proposition of Albright College? Why have generations of faithful faculty and staff members, as well as alumni, parents and friends devoted themselves so generously to nurturing and advancing this place? Although it would be premature for me to offer a definitive answer to these questions, it has become clear to me in my short time here that the special relationship between our faculty and our students lies at the heart of what makes Albright great - and what makes it worth strengthening and supporting in the days ahead.

The Strategic Planning Committee will engage the on-campus community, alumni and friends in the conversation around these questions, and will ask for your input not just in the development of the plan but in its implementation and on-going assessment. I assure you that your voices will be heard and that you will have opportunities to respond to the work we are doing.

I look forward to our conversation.

Lex O. McMillan III