New plan guides the consortium’s activities for the next three years
Today, the Associated Colleges of the Midwest released its new strategic plan, Your Pathway to Collaboration, which the Board of Directors unanimously approved at their fall meeting last week.
The new plan will guide ACM’s activities for the next three years, focusing on five strategic areas to support students, faculty, and staff:
- Develop and Cultivate Leaders
- Foster Inclusive and Equitable Environments
- Build Community and Advance Well-being
- Incubate Innovative Ideas
- Refine and Enhance Existing Programs
This strategic plan builds on a long history of collaboration among ACM’s member colleges to advance their educational missions.
“For nearly 65 years, ACM has been our pathway to collaboration, bringing scale to our 14 members and driving collective impact,” said Clarence Wyatt, President of Monmouth College and Chair of the ACM Board of Directors. “More than ever, the world needs the liberal arts, which help us engage differing perspectives and to empower our students to live lives of achievement, service, and leadership. Our new strategic plan focuses our activities to ensure that ACM provides the most significant value to our community at this critical time.”
A committee of ACM presidents and other senior leaders led the planning process, which included input from members and discussions with academic deans and presidents over a two-year period.
“The strength of our consortium comes from the participation of our campus communities,” said Davis Schneiderman, Krebs Provost and Dean of the Faculty at Lake Forest College and a member of the strategic planning committee. “When our students, faculty, and staff engage in ACM initiatives, they bring their experiences to us and make an impact back on their home campuses. With this new plan, we each have an opportunity to help shape our collective future. The ACM is strong when we are its ambassadors.”
Among the activities outlined in the plan are the recently announced ACM-Mellon Academic Leadership Fellows Program, which seeks to strengthen and enhance diversity in academic leadership; broadening and deepening our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion; and exploring new programs to support mental health and well-being among students, faculty, and staff.
ACM will assess and adjust the plan each year to address changing needs on the campuses and in the world. Activities will evolve as the plan progresses and programs are evaluated.
“Through collaboration, we are greater than the sum of our parts,” said Sonya Malunda, President of ACM. “We could not do this important work without the thoughtful preparation from our strategic planning committee and the participation and support of our talented members, funders, fellow consortia, and partner organizations. I look forward to building our future together with the ACM community.”