Grove City College President Paul J. McNulty ’80 announced a new, five year strategic plan for the College during a State of the College address Wednesday at the Fairmont Hotel in Pittsburgh.
The goal of McNulty’s ambitious agenda is for Grove City College “to be the best Christian liberal arts college in America.”
The plan includes a renewed statement of vision and mission that reaffirms and strengthens the school’s commitment to its historic identity as a Christian and comprehensive liberal arts college, grounded in conservative values and dedicated to the development of leaders of the highest proficiency, purpose and principles ready to serve the common good.
The College articulated its core values as:
• Faithfulness – We are committed to the Christian faith and service to God.
• Excellence – We are devoted, in and out of the classroom, to the highest standards.
• Community – We foster lifelong engagement through shared experiences and respect.
• Stewardship – We honor our responsibilities and manage resources wisely.
• Independence – We value and safeguard institutional autonomy and our heritage of freedom.
Grove City College produces outcomes that far exceed national averages for graduation and retention, job and graduate school placement, post-graduate earnings and return on investment, McNulty said.
“Then, if you consider that our tuition is about a third of other top ranked schools, we don’t accept federal financial aid, we don’t discount tuition -- a practice that necessitates a portion of a school’s families subsidize the education of the rest of the student body -- and we don’t like to borrow money, you begin to understand what I mean when I say that there is no other school like Grove City College,” he continued.
Recently the U.S. Department of Education excluded Grove City College from data sets that impact national rankings based purely on the College’s refusal to accept federal financial aid. “We will seek a remedy to this situation in the coming year, and advocate for a change in the G.I. Bill, as well, so that military men and women may attend Grove City College without jeopardizing our independence,” McNulty said.
The strategic plan broadly calls for the College to focus on academic excellence and to adapt to the changing needs of students and society while maintaining its historic independence.
New academic programs, exploration of graduate offerings and expanded bricks and mortar projects are on the horizon, McNulty said.
“For example, the success of our engineering program in particular will be a key driver as we seek support for another capital project in the STEM discipline. Our student athletes need new and better facilities, and plans call for a new field house and remodeling the Physical Learning Center,” McNulty said. The plan also calls for transforming Henry Buhl Library for the 21st century and upgrading residence halls.
“The state of the College is strong,” McNulty said. “May the Lord indeed bless us with a strong and faithful future.”
For more information about Grove City College’s vision, mission and values, visit: www.gcc.edu/mission.
To watch a replay of the address, visit: www.gcc.edu/livestream.