opportunities for Mills students to live and study abroad. Success in these areas will also help achieve another imperative: to provide a vibrant and inclusive campus life. Mills has a strong tradition of social engagement and civic responsibility. These core values are paramount in our curriculum, our internship opportunities, and in connections to our community. To expand on the College’s community outreach, we will develop institution-wide partnerships with a small number of prominent, local community organizations. This concrete demonstration of our commitment to the Bay Area community will enhance the College’s profile locally and nationally and will provide internship and other opportunities for our students. As we implement the strategic plan, the following three factors are paramount: • Increasing enrollment through greater numbers of new first year, transfer, and graduate students as well as improved retention of current students • Developing a balanced budget grounded in financial best practices within five years • Enhancing a student-centered culture, where administrators, staff, and faculty promote students’ academic success and overall satisfaction with the Mills experience. I hope you join me in my enthusiasm about our direction for the next five years. While there is plenty of work to accomplish through the life of this plan, many steps toward implementation are already underway. Specific action and financial plans and timelines are being developed. I am grateful for the numerous ways alumnae have helped shape the plan, and look forward to your engagement in the work ahead. I invite you to review the strategic imperatives, which were approved by the Board of Trustees at its May meeting: alumnae.mills.edu/strategicplanning. When you reach the last page of the plan, take a moment to reflect on President Reinhardt’s prophetic comments. I think she was correct. The emerging Mills will indeed be one known for “the diversified curriculum, the enlarging group of students, and the linking of all campus activities with the needs and opportunities of the great world.” How exciting for Mills and our students! Sincerely, Alecia A. DeCoudreaux
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Mills College Art Museum Women of the West & A World at War May 7–September 1 This exhibition, organized by history students, showcases works from the collection of the Mills College Art Museum. Additional selections are on view in the lobby of the Vera M. Long Building for the Social Sciences.
West of Center: Art and the Counterculture Experiment in America, 1965–1977 June 12–September 1 In the 1960s and 1970s, a diverse range of artists based in the American West broke the barriers between art and lifestyle and embraced the new, hybrid sensibilities of the counter-cultural movement. West of Center, organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, brings together a range of projects by groups and individuals that demonstrate this outlook. For more information, see mcam.mills.edu or contact 510.430.2164 or museum@mills.edu. The museum is open 11:00 am–4:00 pm Tuesday through Sunday, 11:00 am–7:30 pm Wednesday, and is closed Monday. Admission is free.
From West of Center: The Ultimate Painting, Richard Kailweith (in collaboration with Clark Richert, JoAnn Bernofsky, Gene Bernofsky, and Charles DiJulio, 1966), 2011. SUMMER 2013
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