Meeting the Challenge of the 21st Century

Bethany College

MEETING THE ST 21 CENTURY

Bethany at a Crossroads

MEETING ST THE 21 CENTURY The founder of Bethany College, Alexander Campbell, proclaimed that a Bethany graduate would be distinguished by having received

“an education of great usefulness.”

We stand by our commitment to preparing students to lead in a fast-changing and culturally interconnected world. We will demonstrate in our educational programs both our understanding of the important skills and knowledge sets our students need to understand the world today and our commitment to providing them with skills that will prepare them to lead tomorrow.

We have identified several broad areas of interdisciplinary focus that we will target for more faculty and institutional resources. These areas of focus represent fields in which we have current faculty resources that will allow us to quickly generate distinctive and effective programs.

Bethany at Study

A CULTURE OF SCHOLARSHIP As it has since its founding, Bethany College is committed to collaborative scholarship and student engagement with professors and peers in research initiatives and scholarship.

We will intentionally recruit students who seek to learn in a rigorous and innovative environment. Additionally, we will seek to maintain a leading first class scholar-teacher faculty. We will likewise value the contribution of valued staff in creative enterprise and steward resources for educational initiatives, scholarship and research effectively.

We seek to invest in a culture of scholarship that enriches the academic experience for all of our students. This comes in the form of new academic scholarships, as well as endowed faculty positions, majors, departments, programs and lectures. It also entails identifying and supporting visiting distinguished professors to enhance learning opportunities, new learning technology and resources, and facilities.

Similarly, Bethany seeks to further develop and improve its non-academic facilities, such as residence halls, social spaces, athletic and recreation facilities, and other amenities that contribute to the quality of student life on our campus.

Bethany in the World

GLOBAL CAMPUS A major priority of Bethany College is to create a community of diverse students, faculty, and staff hailing from a range of backgrounds and perspectives. Bethany will recruit new students from abroad and send our students from the U.S. out into the world. Study abroad will once again be a Bethany calling card, and within the next decade we will implement a requirement that all students must study abroad.

This initiative will require that we create a fund that will enable 100% of our students to travel abroad at least once during their undergraduate career at Bethany.

Additionally, other cultural exchange opportunities that broaden the personal and educational experience for our students will be identified and implemented, helping to make Bethany a truly global campus.

We are also pledged to sustain a learning environment that lives up to our reputation for academic excellence for all of our students while living on the Bethany campus. Bethany will also demonstrate a growing commitment to diversity and cultural competency. This process has already begun with the development of the Students First President’s Council on Diversity and Inclusion, and it will continue with the deliberate effort to incorporate diverse voices from the United States and across the world in our Convocation Hours speaker series.

Bethany in Research

DEVELOPING SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & THE ARTS Bethany College participates in an ever-expanding world of technology and scientific transformation. Careers that existed in the past are no longer available and many jobs that the next generation will occupy do not yet even exist.

Rapid change in technology dictates that new workforce development is required in nearly every field of scientific expertise. The emerging world calls for leaders who ask and answer complex questions using a variety of scientific skills and who can cross-pollinate their scientific thinking with the skills and insights they gain from a robust liberal arts core and extended studies in the social sciences, arts and humanities.

Bethany College will lead the way in these integrated studies and will use our location and the unparalleled natural resources we find on our 1300-acre campus to prepare students to confront the technological and environmental challenges of our times. We will leverage new partnerships and restored facilities to offer students a unique opportunity to expand their worlds.

A cornerstone of this initiative is the When completed, we will have

renovation and expansion of Richardson

created new research-rich learning

Hall and Kirkpatrick Hall, the buildings

environments that encourage creative

that house our science and technology

and critical thinking, interdisciplinary

classrooms and facilities. The many

study, and ultimately get more of our

modifications we seek in these buildings

students involved with science and

include a new Innovation Center, a

technology.

mathematics library, an Air Gap Lab, a molecular biology research lab, a student research lab, and other new facilities.

Bethany at Work

EMPLOYMENT/ INTERNSHIP DEVELOPMENT A key component and value proposition for Bethany College is the direct networking available through our alumni. The offices of Career and Professional Development and Alumni Affairs will continue to develop “The Bethany Promise” by making it possible for every student to connect to a “next step” mentor and/ or internship opportunity. We will remain committed to assisting our students as they investigate the possibilities inherent in their chosen areas of interest.

The Bethany Promise will be focused on ensuring that 100% of our students have access to professional networking, graduate preparation, curriculum vitae assistance and possibilities for post-graduate internship connections.

Moreover, we are forging new partnerships and relationships beyond our alumni network with organizations where Bethany students can make an impact, either as interns or after graduation. The benefits of a well-rounded liberal arts education are key assets to a broad spectrum of prospective employers in virtually every sector of society and we are focused on making Bethany College an important part of their external resources.

An Engaged Global Community Bethany’s goals for its near-term future are bold and aspirational. Collectively, they represent one of the most ambitious development programs in the modern history of the College and realizing them will require the support of major donors and alumni alike.

Bethany College is fortunate to have an active and engaged alumni community around the world whose support is vital to the continued success of the institution. And our alumni giving is rising. In just the past year, the percentage of our alumni donors has increased by more than 25% percent!

There are multiple ways for alumni and donors to participate in the growth and success of Bethany College. Recognition of investments made in support of these goals will be available through a program of commemorative opportunities.

We invite you to join us in building on Bethany’s proud and storied history, and creating an exciting pathway into the 21st century for generations of students yet to come.