  Click the cover above for the online version of A Report on Colorado College, February 2005. Last year's report, a publication that examined the action agenda, Colorado College 2010, is also available. Check here for more updates on CC 2010, Please share comments or questions with the Office of External Relations. |
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"I challenge you
to find ways to make Colorado College -- already a very good
enterprise -- even better between now and 2010."
This was President Dick Celeste's charge to a campus group known as the "mappers." For months the mappers, along with trustees, faculty, staff, students, and alumni, explored a long-term vision for the college. At the end of the 2002-03 academic year, they delivered to the president a report that identified key themes and priorities for Colorado College. They also articulated a new mission statement that captures the college's distinguishing characteristics:
Over the summer, President Celeste digested the mappers' work. He also read hundreds of pages from books, papers, and past reports on Colorado College. As he reflected on his first year at the college, Celeste was struck by the extraordinary devotion among CC's faculty and students to teaching and learning.
Celeste organized his action agenda for the future into three overarching themes: I. Rigorous Intellectual Experience: The mappers assigned a high priority to intellectual engagement and called for "a greater, more outspoken, and constant commitment to the most rigorous academic expectations and standards and to the centrality of intellectual pursuits in the college community." Celeste asked the college to seek a new level of academic rigor "in every academic department, in every course, every block." II. Diverse Respectful Community: CC will continue to actively promote diversity of backgrounds in all areas and an even more human-friendly environment for teaching, learning, and working. The college will be characterized by respectful interactions, a strong sense of community, and fair, dignified treatment for all. III. Next-Generation Campus: The college will enhance the physical campus to support curricular, co-curricular, and social aspects of campus life, for today and tomorrow. "It is not a question of whether we forge ahead on this new course," says President Celeste. "We must, if we aspire to offer the best liberal arts and sciences education in the country." Projects sparked by Colorado College 2010 include the State of the Rockies Project which builds on Colorado College's 130 years as an institution of higher education in the Rocky Mountains and on a solid grounding of teaching, research, and publication about the region. |
In
the fall, Celeste presented his vision for 2010 to the CC
community. "We need to build on our unique strengths, such
as the Block Plan and our location in the Rockies at the gateway
to the southwest." He referred to this concept as "the Block
and the rock," and set several benchmarks for CC in 2010:
The college will become more selective, attracting more diverse
and better-prepared students who graduate in four years. It
will better recruit and support a more diverse faculty. It
will make better use of staff talents and skills. CC alumni
will be more involved in the college's mission. The campus
will meet this century's priorities while preserving historical
traditions.