Goucher Forward
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Goucher Forward
We are approaching Goucher’s 140th year and the final two years of our five-year strategic plan with an enhanced focus and a new name: Goucher Forward. Having completed more than 20 initiatives in our original 2021-26 strategic plan, “Cultivating Global Changemakers,” we are now focusing our efforts even more on innovating and strengthening three essential aspects of the college: enrollment, student success, and financial sustainability.
As we work to ensure Goucher College inspires global changemakers through our focus on academic excellence, global educational experience, and forging new partnerships with world-class higher education institutions and global businesses, we position Goucher to deliver its transformative liberal arts education not only to today’s students but also for generations to come.
When we first introduced our “Cultivating Global Changemakers” strategic plan in 2021, we organized the plan around three pillars: our programs, our people, and our resources. Our tireless efforts on initiatives that support these pillars have resulted in a marked difference for our students—we have created success teams, enhanced our global learning opportunities, introduced new graduate programs and undergraduate majors, and hired highly qualified faculty.
The Goucher Forward plan for academic years 2024-25 and 2025-26 builds upon the successes we have already achieved while placing a greater emphasis on strengthening three essential aspects of the college: enrollment, student success, and financial sustainability. Primary among these is continuing to grow Goucher’s undergraduate and graduate enrollment and retention by further increasing the number of international and transfer students on Goucher’s campus, which has already grown from 3% of our incoming class to 11% in the past three years.
Additionally, Goucher will be leveraging all its assets—whether that be its financial resources, 287-acre campus, highly desirable location, or domain expertise—to form additional partnerships and launch innovative initiatives that can further ensure the college’s financial sustainability for decades to come.
Better define Goucher’s distinctive value proposition and branding to increase the yield of prospective students.
Enhance Goucher’s national and international reputation as a leader in global education, social mobility, and innovation by improving the college’s standing in several strategically important national rankings.
Grow undergraduate enrollment by developing and implementing strategies to recruit and retain high-affinity, right-fit students.
Increase prospective undergraduate student campus visits through targeted outreach, personalized experiences, and strategic incentives to enhance recruitment and drive higher enrollment.
Increase the number of transfer students from Maryland community colleges via a vertical transfer strategy.
Increase the number of United World College students.
Successfully launch an international 2+2 transfer program yielding 50 or more students annually.
Increase graduate student enrollment by more effectively partnering with local school districts, corporations, and other organizations to drive growth.
Increase the opportunities for students to engage, develop a sense of belonging, and feel comfortable expressing their views at Goucher.
Successfully complete the discovery phase of the Hallowed Ground Project to further the college’s commitment to study and recognize the role of slavery and racism in the history of the land the college currently occupies.
Improve four-year and six-year graduation rates.
Expand LAUNCH to support all incoming first-generation students.
Implement robust January, June, and July term course schedules with online-only offerings in January and a mix of online and in-person options during the summer J-terms.
Give faculty the resources and training they need to develop world-class Complex Problem Exploration (CPE) courses as a signature component of the Goucher Commons Curriculum.
Strengthen career development and internship opportunities by forging deep partnerships with several major corporations in key growth fields.
Invest in ongoing training to increase the organizational capacity, expertise, and professionalism of Goucher’s faculty and staff.
Employ best practices in hiring, retention, and employee satisfaction to achieve an employee population more representative of our student body.
Establish a culture of collaboration among Athletics, Enrollment Management, Facilities Management, and Advancement in order to build a best-in-class athletics program.
Continue to enhance the athletic facilities to better support our current student athletes in consistently competing for conference championships.
Leverage our reputation as a leader in global learning to design and launch a revenue-positive, multigenerational educational travel program for Edenwald URC members and Goucher alums.
Significantly increase annual auxiliary revenues by utilizing the campus to host conferences, camps, and other activities year-round.
Review the college’s opportunities to leverage our endowment to reduce annual debt service.
Upgrade the college’s energy infrastructure and lower annual energy consumption through implementation of an energy performance contract.
Lower the college’s annual operating expenses through consoritum purchasing of insurance, of health benefits, and in other areas where economies of scale can be leveraged.
Migrate the existing student information system (SIS) to a single integrated cloud-based, mobile accessible platform to enable better decision-making and a best-in-class user experience for our students and employees.
Reduce the risks posed by potential cyber attacks and single points of failure by moving to an outsourced managed services model for information technology.
Successfully complete the [UNDAUNTED] capital campaign by securing the funding commitments necessary to start construction of the Science Innovation Center.
Increase annual fundraising by continuing to secure an ever-larger percentage of unearned revenue from government, foundation, and corporate sources.
Negotiate a ground lease development that leverages Goucher’s real estate assets to grow new revenue and accelerate distinctive program growth.
Incorporate the Peabody Prep program into the college’s campus.
