Strategic Plan Overview and Process

In the 2023-24 academic year Mount Holyoke will complete a bold strategic plan that will chart an audacious path for the College. All constituents are warmly encouraged to get involved.

Strategic planning for the current cycle began in 2021, led by a Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) of students, faculty, staff, alums and trustees who gathered ideas for the College’s future during listening sessions with the Mount Holyoke community. The College then commissioned market research to test these ideas. This research was completed in Fall 2022, and identified a number of potential strategic directions for the College, including

  • Cross-Cutting Themes: In addition to a major, each student chooses a broad cross-disciplinary theme (e.g., sustainability, social justice, technology) that will affect how they approach their major.
  • Career Focus: In addition to pursuing a major, all students also take courses and have experiences in areas that will prepare them for professional life after college.
  • Experiential Learning: All students make meaningful connections between coursework and experiences inside and outside of class.
  • Embedding DEI and Inclusivity into the curriculum: DEI is central in the content of courses and in how they are taught.
  • Gender Diversity: Make it more widely known that Mount Holyoke recognizes all identities as multi-dimensional, and welcomes students who identify as women, trans, and non-binary.

Approximately 250 people from across the College community came together in Spring 2023 to think together about which ideas offer the most promise for Mount Holyoke, how they align with our values and how they could be implemented most effectively.

In Fall 2023, President Holley invited the Academic Priorities Committee (APC) and the Faculty Planning Committee (FPC) to join the Strategic Planning Committee. The SPC meets monthly to plan and receive feedback on planning sessions for faculty, staff, and students that occur during the committee’s off-weeks. (An alum session is being planned for December 2023 and will be announced soon.) Notes from all meetings are shared on the internal strategic planning website. Asynchronous feedback can be shared by emailing mhcstrategicplanning@mtholyoke.edu.

The Board of Trustees will consider an early draft of the plan at their February 2024 meeting, joined by the Strategic Planning Committee. They will vote on a final draft at their May 2024 meeting.