Spring 2013 - Oglethorpe University

strategic plan
President Schall leads
the groundbreaking
ceremony for the new
Campus Center.
Ask
This involved one of the earliest efforts to develop
a core curriculum, with the twin aims to “make a
life and to make a living.” It was a concept that
attracted nationwide attention.
PRESIDENT’S
LETTER
By Lawrence M. Schall
This year, my eighth as President, has been both a year of exciting
progress on campus and the exercise of leadership on an issue of critical
national importance off campus—gun safety. Let me begin there.
After the tragedy in Sandy Hook, Conn., I made a decision to speak out
and express my personal views on the need for rational and reasonable
gun safety legislation. I shared the open letter I had composed with
a few colleagues who also serve as college and university presidents.
They shared it with others and within 72 hours, more than 150 higher
education leaders had signed on. A few days later, the number grew
to more than 300 and additional presidents have continued to
add their names every week. You can read the letter, see the
signatories, and read the press coverage of our collective effort at
www.collegepresidentsforgunsafety.org.
Our letter (and our university) captured a great deal of attention across
the country and was an important part of the conversation on the
Hill and in the White House as the country works to find solutions to
this ongoing national tragedy. I certainly knew that not everyone in
our community would agree with my views. You can also read on the
website the two pieces I wrote about why I made the decision to write
and distribute the letter. The letter belongs to me and doesn’t purport to
represent the views of our trustees, our faculty, students or alumni. That
said, I do believe the writing of the letter does say something about our
community, about the value we place on rational discussion and debate,
about the connections we make between what we study and how we act,
and finally, about the obligation we all have to speak out.
My vision and hope for Oglethorpe students
is that each of them becomes active in their
communities and that their life of action
starts during their time with us.
From the start of my tenure at Oglethorpe, I have worked to help our
community connect the deep and rigorous learning that happens inside
our classrooms with real world experiences. You might recall that my
inauguration back in 2006 was a day of service to our community and
that theme of service has carried through until this day. Inside this issue,
you will read about the “Oglethorpe Idea” and the university’s strategic
plan, which arose out of that idea. For several decades Oglethorpe has
sought to better integrate our mission and our place to set ourselves
apart from other small colleges whose locations are not as desirable
as ours. The American system of higher education, here in Atlanta
and across the country, is filled with examples of schools that excel at
training students in specialized fields or in educating students broadly
without regard to a career. However, it is rare that a college excels at
both. That is the foundation of the Oglethorpe Idea, which is captured
best in our motto: Make a life, Make a Living, Make a Difference. Our
mission is to provide a rigorous and superior interdisciplinary education
in an intimate learning environment that prepares students to think,
critique and communicate across a broad range of subjects—and to
provide them significant exposure to deep learning experiences in the
real world so they will be prepared to succeed and make a difference.
In this issue of the Carillon, read about the new campus center
scheduled to open in August and the A-Lab (the Atlanta Laboratory for
Learning at Oglethorpe University), which will lie at the center of that
building. The A-Lab, future home to the Center for Civic Engagement,
Center for Experiential Learning and our new Center for International
Studies, is designed to help our students connect theory to practice each
and every day.
I often share with our students the life course of our namesake James
Edward Oglethorpe who, at an age not much older than most of them,
led a successful crusade to empty British prisons of the thousands of
debtors who had been confined there. He then founded the Colony
of Georgia as a slave free state, the first among all British colonies.
Oglethorpe was a visionary who was called to act upon his vision. My
vision and hope for Oglethorpe students is that each of them becomes
active in their communities and that their life of action starts during
their time with us.
Timeless
Questions
Redefining Undergraduate Education
through Unparalleled Engagement
During the middle of the last century,
Oglethorpe President Philip Weltner
and a group of faculty conceived of a
revolutionary approach to undergraduate
education called “the Oglethorpe Idea.”
Part of what made The Oglethorpe Idea so
innovative in 1940 was the university’s embrace
of the world beyond its gates—the intentional
goal of using knowledge to prepare graduates
exceedingly well for life and work beyond the
“ivory tower.” Recently, that goal has taken on
another dimension: Atlanta as a laboratory to
test theories learned in the classroom during the
undergraduate years.
Today, Oglethorpe is one of the very few
coeducational liberal arts colleges in a major
U.S. city. Nearly two centuries ago Oglethorpe
was founded, like many liberal arts colleges, out
in the country. After the Civil War, our founders
transplanted the classic liberal arts ideal to Atlanta.
Their decision gives us an exceptional advantage
that Oglethorpe has yet to maximize to its fullest.
Because of its size, mission and location, Oglethorpe
is in the unique position to integrate the enduring
knowledge of an interdisciplinary liberal arts
education with the immediate and tangible impact
of real-world experience. Make no mistake—
we are already doing this for many of our students.
The difference, already in motion, is to make
engagement between theory and practice—
on campus, in the city of Atlanta, and beyond—
the hallmark of an Oglethorpe education.
Where will Oglethorpe
University be in 2020?
Oglethorpe’s current strategic plan sets forth to
fulfill more ambitiously than ever our mission to
“make a life, make a living, make a difference.”
The strategies have been specifically crafted
to build a strong, compelling identity for
Oglethorpe that will lead to enrollment growth
and improved retention. This growth, along with
new strategic partnerships, many of which are
highlighted in this issue, will lead to greater
financial strength, allowing Oglethorpe to
reinvest in our people, programs and facilities.
Such investments will allow us to provide an even
more exceptional education, creating a cycle of
growth, strength and continued excellence.
Adapted from “THE OGLETHORPE IDEA:
Redefining Undergraduate Education through
Unparalleled Engagement, A Strategic Plan for 2020.”
4 CARILLON | spring 2013
spring 2013 | CARILLON 5