Strategic Working Group #4

Overview
Campus internationalization is the “intentional process of integrating an international, intercultural, or global dimension into the purpose, functions and delivery of post-secondary education, in order to enhance the quality of education and research for all students and staff and to make a meaningful contribution to society” (Hans de Wit, Fiona Hunter, Laura Howard, and Eva Egron-Polak)

If the College made a bold and deep commitment to investing in global education and internationalizing our campus, prioritizing and integrating student experiences abroad and on campus, it would set Bryn Mawr apart from our six sibling peer institutions and foster a more dynamic and inclusive campus that is ready to meet the challenges of the 21 Century.

Why It's Exciting

Research shows that study abroad, service learning, and other special programs are linked to student success and positive learning outcomes while fostering a successful undergraduate student experience. As the College makes clear in its Global Capacities for Student Learning, developing global consciousness is one of the cornerstones of an undergraduate liberal arts education:

Whether students major in the humanities, social sciences, or sciences, a profound awareness of global issues - climate change, inequalities, and migration trends, to name but a few—is critical to their development, both during their years at the college and afterward, as a global citizen. Learning the language of the nations and people involved, developing familiarity with their cultural norms, and interacting with them through internships, service projects, study abroad, and in the classroom are all critical steps to achieving such effective engagement.

A commitment to invest in global education and campus internationalization would indicate the College’s Intentionality in shaping global citizens and expand opportunities for interpersonal and interprofessional connections and community. It would build on the College’s identified strengths, including:

• dynamic study abroad and experiential learning programs, including 360 and Tri-Co Philly
• robust supports for experiential learning opportunities such as internships
• strong (45%) junior class participation in semester-length study abroad
• a large (20%) international undergraduate population
• students from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds who are action-oriented
• teaching and learning from many different perspectives

Examples

1. Creating an International House living-learning community that:
   • Fosters community building across departments & backgrounds
   • Allows collaboration between students & faculty to build inclusiveness and address difference
   • Includes faculty living in residence, visiting faculty from exchange partner institutions
2. Guaranteeing funding to all students to participate in international opportunities
3. Offering short summer abroad opportunities that:
   • are faculty-led and offer course credit
   • could be expanded to include Postbac & GSSWSR
   • could incorporate initiatives such as the Dialogue Project
4. Creating a Center for Experiential Learning
5. Making international experience a graduation requirement

Potential Outcomes

Global education, studying abroad and campus internationalization efforts can:

• strengthen academics
• increase cross-cultural and inter-cultural understanding
• develop important skills such as adaptability, problem-solving, language learning, tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty
• foster an immersive and inclusive academic environment that goes beyond recognizing an individual student's identity and culture, and works towards understanding, embracing, and integrating diverse cultures into the educational experience. Such efforts also offer the potential for increased international student enrollment

Open Questions

Funding and staffing needed will vary depending upon the specific initiatives pursued.

Overview

Utilize technology and AI to develop a robust, interactive, exciting,online platform that allows for College-wide wayfinding [pathways]through each major that would include types of courses each majorrequires, along with mapping out opportunities for research, workingwith faculty, study abroad, volunteer, community-based academicopportunities, student clubs, on-campus employment, summerexperiences, potential fellowships and internships., and alumnae/iexperiences. Include references to leadership/digital competencies tomake the learnings from the opportunities inside and outside of theclassroom transferable to different audiences ( BMC Leadership &Digital Competencies based on: NACE Job Outlook 2023 , WorldEconomic Forum, Skills Imperative [Appendix 6] ).

Why It's Exciting

A college-wide articulation of wayfinding would help/assist/facilitate:

• Providing information to all current students (including additional relevant exploration info to BIPOC students to navigate and explore options regarding their education at BMC)
• Maximize student educational experience by connecting them to opportunities within their majors as well as college-wide opportunities to explore different interest areas, acknowledging that a report from 2014 raises an interesting point that “only 27% of undergraduate degree holders are working in a job that is directly related to their college major.”
• Connect students to Career & Civic Engagement which has tools to broaden students' connections to both Alumnae/i and broader networks
• Prospective students to understand/imagine what studying at BMC would look like
• Doubling down on the idea that a liberal arts degree can create opportunities for the future in many ways
• Connects content of a Bryn Mawr education to employers and graduate schools who are looking to select our students

Examples

1. Here is a basic example; our hope would be to expand on a model like this in a way that would be like a choose-your-own-adventure concept.
2. Here is an example of this type of work being done as part of theMawrter Connect platform. This is only available by signing in. (Bryn Mawr students and alums have access to this through Career & Civic Engagement Center).
3. Here is an example of this type of work done at a more generic level –What Can I Do with this Major?(Bryn Mawr students and alums have access to this through Career &Civic Engagement Center, but this doesn’t directly tie the work with Bryn Mawr)

Potential Outcomes

College-wide articulation/incorporation of wayfinding would facilitate:

• Streamlining all knowhow and available information in a user friendly/21st century way
• By making information more accessible & engaging it would free up resources(academic as well as career advising)
• Having a common framework for sharing this information will allow all people working with students to provide support in a consistent way, ideally making the message and resources already available clearer to the BMC community

Overview

Creating a culture and environment to thrive is a proactive endeavor. Bryn Mawr needs to be intentional and show through actions and programs the desire to create a campus that is inclusive, inviting and invigorating. If the college made a bold and deep commitment to invest in programs and spaces that bring the community together and offer opportunities for connection across departments throughout the year, it would have a stronger sense of belonging.

Why It's Exciting

Research shows that environments where people have autonomy, feel competent, have a sense of belonging and meaning, feel motivated, and thrive. (Deci & Ryan)

A commitment to invest in culture-building activities would indicate the College’s intentionality in creating an environment for interpersonal and interprofessional connections and community. It would build on the College’s identified strengths, including:

• Our Global program (360)
• TLI program
• teaching and learning from many different perspectives

Examples

1. Community building across departments & backgrounds by creating a program that includes staff, faculty, and students (who are interested) randomly paired to meet(not limited to student-to-staff pairing, could be staff to faculty, faculty to faculty, etc.), could lead to great connections and interesting new opportunities
2. Our Global program (especially 360) is particularly appealing. We could create a 3–4-week intensive program led by faculty members that would be international and offer credit during the summer (May/June). This could be extended to Post Bacc or GSSWSR students during the winter break
3. Secure more op-ed placements and interviews for faculty to show the relevance of their humanities & social science research in addressing issues of the day
4. Expanding the TLI program to focus more on collaboration between students & professors to build inclusiveness and address differences, as well as create programs to educate other educators (beyond Bryn Mawr)
5. Making international experience a graduation requirement
6. Community Day of Learning Wellness: We create mini-courses focused on well-being and mental health. Making sure we offer fun, community, and culture building activities (not just lectures)
7. Mental Health and Wellness, connecting to Physical Education and the offerings we might have connecting the science of movement and wellbeing
8. Community enhancement days where the academics are quiet & students can engage in enrichment activities that cultivate joy
9. Enhance student experience though use of campus, residential learning communities, downtime, community day of learning, expanded "friends" program
10. Expanding opportunities for interpersonal and interprofessional connections, particularly by thinking about the dining hall or the dorms as centers for community building and provide budgets for affinity groups so they can build community 
11. Leverage beautiful campus (specifically with regards to outdoors) via classes &programs (e.g., Praxis, environmental science studies, etc.) as well as for students’ mental health (e.g., during Customs student orientation and Thrive program)
    • Arboretum/outdoor sculpture garden/trail for students, community, and visitors highlighting alums, underrepresented College history, and beauty of the campus. Existing outdoor features that could be leveraged include Morris Woods, the Labyrinth, Perry Garden, Taft Garden, and the Sunken Garden
    • Creating a safe bike path between BMC and HC

Potential Outcomes

• Sense of belonging and meaning
• More attention to mental health and well-being is included in activities that involve the whole community
• Profit through classes and diplomas that can be offered to large community

Open Questions

• Funding and staffing needed will vary depending upon the specific initiatives pursued

Overview

Bryn Mawr College does many things well. BMC is not the only school with the following areas of strength, but these are assets that not all institutions have and/or are resources to which not everyone has access.

The impetus behind these suggestions is that the College can leverage its strengths and offer services to new audiences to increase revenues and its name recognition (and therefore the prospective student pipeline). Although these is ideas that excited Working Group 4, a thorough business plan is recommended component in a strategic plan so that revenues and expenses are more accurately forecasted and alignment to the mission can be confirmed.

Why It's Exciting

Suggested programs address real-world trends and challenges while reinforcing Bryn Mawr’s commitment to driving pedagogical innovation, building civic capacity, promoting equity & inclusion, and cultivating women leaders.

Though offerings may tap new audiences by building upon existing programming and expertise, the proposals continue to align with the college’s mission. New audiences include institutions (higher education institutions, secondary schools, other non-profit and corporate entities) and individuals (non-BMC faculty, non-BMC students, high school teachers, high school students, other non-profit and corporate employees, and mid-career professionals).

Examples

1. Exploring the Expansion of TLI
   • The Teaching and Learning Initiative (TLI) is a valuable and productive tool for our faculty, particularly its programs that engage trained student-consultants to observe classes and provide feedback to a faculty member on his/her/their course to enhance its effectiveness. It addresses the ongoing demand to create inclusive, equity-based learning environments, and both students and faculty who have participated in the program have found it invaluable.
   • As a particular institutional strength, BMC could expand the TLI program locally and offer it to external organizations, either other higher educational institutions in the region (of which there are 40+) that may not have such a tool at their disposal or at the secondary school level. This would enhance the teaching capabilities at of other organizations aligned with BMC’s own educational mission. It would also expand the experiential fieldworkcomponent of the education for BMC’s own students who wouldfind such real-life consulting work a valuable experience. This would also appeals to future employers relying on collaborative problem-solving in the workplace.
   • Alternately or additionally, BMC could develop a service by which the College is paid to help establish a TLI-like program at other institutions. There could also be some consideration of this being more of a national or even international service, rather than just regional but the training of student-consultants might have to be done in a remote format using various technologies. The Director of TLI has been invited to speak with 65+ schools of varying sizes and across the globe, suggesting external interest in such consultation and guidance.
   • In addition to the potential revenue opportunity, expanding awareness of BMC’s TLI program (
     which began 15+ years ago)reinforces the school’s position as a leader in pedagogical innovation and DEIAR practices. Both elements may boost the brand among prospective students and prospective faculty.
      
2. Dialogue Project Expansion
   • BMC’s new Dialogue Project is intended to facilitate the creation of a community where all viewpoints are heard and understood and where all members can thrive and feel that they belong. In particular, this BMC program works on building capacities to listen actively, examine complex ideas, and engage in an open exchange across identity or political or ideological differences. This is a dire need in our society generally right now, and developing that sense of belonging and breaking down barriers that inhibit the development of a sense of genuine community are goals of virtually all educational institutions as well as corporate entities. The Dialogue Project addresses the growing need for great empathy, both as an antidote to “cancel culture” and as a prerequisite for effective leadership. Although BMC is not the only entity that is attempting to tackle these issues, there is certainly enough interest to support many providers of such services.
   • BMC could market its program to external entities (educational, other non-profit, and corporate) and either offer programming on BMC’s campus, onsite at other locations nationally or internationally, or using remote teaching tools. In addition to offering the intensive workshop to entities who would provide individual participants, BMC could also adopt a train-the-trainers model and offer the structure and curriculum to Human Resources or other relevant departments at these institutions that are focused on DEI initiatives and their actualization.
   • Like TLI, greater awareness of BMC’s Dialogue Project can further elevate the school’s brand among prospective students, prospective faculty, and prospective parents.
      
3. Leveraging Skill in Women’s Education and Leadership
   • The very nature of BMC puts women front and center and develops their leadership skills in a way that other educational institutions or corporations cannot. Experiencing the BMC women-centric environment can be transformational for women who want to develop their leadership skills. This could manifest in many ways. One might be to create a robust exchange program that would allow women undergraduate students who are enrolled in a co-ed institution to experience BMC’s unique environment for a short period of time, like one semester or even a summer program or new May term that could be introduced. The student would earn transfer credits that would be applied at their home institution but would get to temporarily experience a women-centric environment. It could be organized similarly to the Posse program in that there would be a designated cohort, and there would be programming around leadership skill development to supplement the “normal” academic curricular programming. Rather than at the undergraduate level, this could be a program developed for high school juniors.
   • A second manifestation might be to develop programming that would train women who have taken on or are hoping to take on Board of Directors roles, particularly in the corporate environment. As entities are making conscious efforts to diversify their governing boards, BMC can help prepare women for that work and become a pipeline for qualified candidates for Board positions. This could bea credential-granting program that is formatted with both a short-term intensive onsite component as well as remote components(similar to an executive program). Here, BMC could leverage or learn from its experience with GSSWSR’s Nonprofit Executive Leadership Institute (NELI), which launched 15+ years ago. While NELI focuses on nonprofit management, many elements of the curriculum may apply to corporate environments as well. In 2017, Villanova established the McNulty Institute for Women’s Leadership, suggesting demand—and potentially local competition—for such an offering.
   • As data science becomes an area of strength for BMC, a similar credentialing program can be developed to offer women skills in data analytics that are already so vital in the workforce of the present and future.
      
4. Expanding Niche Academic Programs
   • Some of the programs BMC offers are not available at higher education institutions that are not as well-resourced. For example, archeology, geology, and museum studies are less likely to be available options for coursework at other institutions, particularly small liberal arts colleges. It might be possible to somehow expand the audience for these more niche academic courses to students at from other area institutions (assuming we could generate partnerships/arrangements with the counterpart institutions such that the revenue was worthwhile).
   • In each of the above, before moving forward, there should be consideration given to the expenses that would be involved in implementation (including marketing/advertising and program administration) to determine whether the ultimate financial impact of the endeavor would be positive for the College. It is possible that expenses may exceed the expected revenues. Another factor to research is the competition, meaning whether there are similar programs being offered already and how likely BMC is to take market share from existing providers.

Image - A collage of a number of virtual boards used to gather sticky notes depicting strengths into categories. Text is mostly illegible.

Commitment to allowing students to trailblaze and catalyze change.

Examples:

• honor code
• alumni network
• staff resources
• consistent messaging
• supportive environment
• intentionally inclusive of the student voice
• agile responsiveness
• historically women's college
• emphasis on intellectual inquiry & scholarship

Devotion to an intimate and challenging learning space.

Examples:

• strong presence of minority students which creates a space for a more inclusive teaching experience
• financial commitment to each student
• small class size
• Teaching and Learning Institute
• location
• beautiful campus
• facilities

Intentionality in shaping global citizens & resources provided to students to progress academically and sociopolitically.

Examples:

• broad range of course topics to ensure a comprehensive liberal arts educatio
• GSAS & GSSWSR graduate programs
• 360 & Tri-Co Philly programs
• summer science research program
• active research faculty
• senior capstone & thesis are completed by a large percentage of students
• critical thinking emphasis
• creating "challenging women"

Expansion outside of the BMC institution to other opportunities for educational development.

Examples:

• Career & Civic Engagement Center which responds to emerging student interests
• sophomore plan
• experiential learning opportunities
• strong pathways to graduate school
• connections to potential employers
• post-bac programs & links to medical programs
• Tri-Co Consortium expands possibilities

Community Survey

High-level Takeaways from the Community Survey:

• (12) Growing impact of climate change on institutions' ability to continue to operate as they do currently
• (12) Rising numbers of people in the population focused on their mental health and emotional wellness
• (11) Decreasing ability of people to engage in genuine open dialogue across differences of opinion and/or identity
• (9) Rapidly growing impact of artificial intelligence and other technological advances on how higher education recruits/retains students, manages daily operations (i.e. what is thought and how), etc.
• (8) Increasing rhetoric in news and social media that devalues higher education, particularly liberal-arts oriented education
• (7) Changing demographics of the U.S. population such that a majority will be people of color by 2050
• (7) Growing awareness of neurodiversity - its impacts on higher education and on the world of work after graduation
• (7) Increasing need for critical thinking and collaborative problem solving skills for the future's workforce
• (6) Increasing criticality of strong data literacy and analytical skills to employers
• (4) Increasing varieties of modes and timelines for delivering education (online, virtual reality, shorter terms, credentialing/certificate programs, etc.)
• (3) Continuing if not increasing impact of instant sharing of unfiltered information via social media channels and other modes.
• (2) Growing global inter-connectedness requiring multi-cultural proficiency
• (1) Increased investment of foreign countries in developing liberal arts colleges intended to be similar to/competitive with those in the U.S.

• Race and belonging remain issues on campus and beyond
• These concepts are increasingly polarizing in some  communities, reducing ability for cross-community dialogue
• Inequitable financial affordability of higher education
• World is ever-growing in its interconnectedness and need for global approaches and collaborative problem solving
• Position as a Women's College invested in equity may be an asset to partners (e.g. employers,funders)

• Growing public disinvestment and antagonistic rhetoric devaluing higher education
• Increasing need to support online learning, student-centered pedagogy
• Opportunity to explore better quality assessment and support mechanisms, for students, and faculty

• Future employers seeking data literacy and analytical skills
• Rise of artificial technology and its impact on student recruitment, college operations, and curriculum
• Intentional approach to transparency and speed afforded by social media

• Rising need for institutional investment in supports and coping skill-building in response to mental health challenges

• Impact of global warming and college operations (e.g. shifting physical needs for the campus) and curriculum (e.g. increased environment and sustainability classes

Image - A collage of sticky notes depicting ideas in the following categories:

• Pathways
• Women's Leadership
• Culture-Building Activities
• Global Education
• Expanding our Audience
• TLI

Most of the text is illegible.

Description

If the college made a bold and deep commitment to investing in global education and internationalizing our campus, prioritizing and integrating student experiences abroad and on campus, it would set Bryn Mawr apart from our six sibling peer institutions and foster a more dynamic and inclusive campus that is ready to meet the challenges of the 21st Century.

Example

• Creating an International House living-learning community, guaranteeing funding to all students to participate in international opportunities.

Description

There are emerging societal trends and even threats foreseeable in the coming decades that BMC and other institutions of higher ed that will require different, deliberate strategies to address in order for BMC to persist and maintain its relevance into the future.

Example

• Changes to the academic schedule to avoid the hottest days of spring and fall and/or expand our air conditioning footprint, zero-waste initiative across campus.

Description

Creating the culture and environment is a proactive endeavor. We need to be intentional and show through actions and programs our desire to create a campus that is inclusive, inviting, and invigorating.

Example

• Revamped Community Day of Learning, investment in outdoor environment, increased Mental Health and Wellness

Description

The College can leverage its strengths and offer services to new audiences to increase revenues and its name recognition

Example

• Exploring the Expansion of TLI, Dialogue Project Expansion, Leveraging Skill in Women's Education and Leadership, Expanding Niche Academic Programs

Description

Utilize technology and AI to develop a robust, interactive, exciting, online platform that allows for College-wide wayfinding through each major that would include types of courses each major requires, along with mapping out opportunities for research, working with faculty, study abroad, etc.

Example

• Investment in current Mawrter Connect platform (BMC students and alums have access to this through the Career & Civic Engagement Center)

Below are some of the trends we identified as being particularly vital to be addressed more comprehensively in the strategic plan/vision that is developed:

• Climate change and the environmental crisis and its impact on the College's ability to continue to operate as it does currently.
• Rising need for neurodiversity and accessibility needs in the population.
• Public disinvestment and high volume of rhetoric in media and social media that devalues higher education.
• Reduced ability for people to have genuine open dialogue when they start with differing opinions, particularly in the context of instant sharing of unfiltered “information” in social media and its impact on campus discussions and on preparing students for life after BMC.
• Rapidly evolving technologies which are likely to lead to new modes of delivering higher education in the future (online, virtual reality, etc.); Artificial intelligence’s and other technological advances' impact on how the College recruits/appeals to new students; how the College manages its work/operations; how higher educational institutions teach in the future; and our ability to maintain the infrastructure to support rapidly evolving technology to support both academics and operations.

Climate Change & Building Resiliency

The threat of Climate Change to the earth is well documented. Specific impacts on Bryn Mawr include severe storms leading to power outages and flooding and loss of business continuity; increased water bills as drought becomes more common and, water potentially becomes more scarce; and health effects for students and staff as peak temperatures increase, particularly in spaces that lack airconditioning. In addition, to these impacts, higher education has a leadership role to play in both developing and modeling solutions to large global problems. A response to Climate Change as well as a resiliency strategy for the changes we know will come, must be built into the strategic plan to ensure the proper attention and resources are provided to be prepared.

Building on the College’s strategy to plant 300,000- 400,000 trees by 2035 to offset our carbon footprint for the next 40 years, the College should create a robust climate Action Plan to include all aspects of sustainability, including investments in conservation and campus-wide campaigns to create a culture of conservation throughout the community. Examples of campus-wide campaigns could include a zero-waste initiative, a ban on single-use plastics, and purchasing policies that favor recycled goods. Initiatives should also include the academic program by offering learning opportunities to address emerging career paths in sustainability across several disciplines. Some of this happens now, such as in Victor Donnay’s math modeling class, but such opportunities seem to be dependent on the initiative of individual faculty members rather than an intentional, institutional academic initiative. Capital investments could include visible investments in targeted solar, electrification, and other emerging technologies as they become available .