CREATE
Schools of Excellence
‘Bold Synergy’
TO REDEFINE MBC
IN
By Jacquelyn Beals, MBC adjunct instructor of biology and freelance writer
H E R S TAT E O F T H E C O L L E G E A D D R E S S launching the 2009–10 academic year, MBC President Pamela Fox called for a creative, comprehensive restructuring of the college’s programs to reach the “sweet spot” where mission — MBC’s long-standing core strengths and values — intersects with market needs and expectations. “I call upon us to launch four schools, Schools of Excellence, on July 1, 2010,” Fox told the faculty and staff who filled Francis Auditorium in August. These schools will increase the visibility of the many existing strengths at Mary Baldwin College and “highlight our unique and distinctive programs,” she emphasized. The myriad developments and innovations of the past 30 years need to be showcased in a clear framework, making them more obvious to prospective students and potential donors alike. In other words, MBC needs a structure to ensure that the college is understood as greater than the sum of its parts. The Schools of Excellence model is a bold synthesis that provides clarity and organization, retaining existing academic programs and creating new opportunities for synergy among them. It affirms the college’s long-term commitment to the liberal arts, collaborative research, women’s education, diversity, international connectivity, and civic engagement. It adds structure that “connects theory to practice” and — most importantly — “makes our strengths visible” to those outside the MBC community, Fox said. The reorganization is based firmly in the college’s mission — the foundation or ground in the “tree” diagram (see p. 21). At the top of the graphic are MBC graduates, the women and men whose Mary 18
Winter 2009-10
