Warren Wilson College

2010 - 2015

The mission of Warren Wilson College is to provide a distinctive undergraduate and graduate liberal arts education. Our

undergraduate education combines academics, work, and service in a learning community committed to environmental responsibility, cross-cultural understanding, and the common good.

All proceedings, programs, and initiatives of the College are grounded in a commitment to the following core values:

• The Triad: Academics, work, and service

• Community: Civic engagement and participatory governance

• Liberal Arts: Experiential and innovative education

• Sustainability: Environmental responsibility, social and economic justice

• Diversity: Inclusivity, international and cross-cultural understanding

• Wellness: Personal growth and well-being

Drawing from its core values, the College accomplishes its mission through an enduring commitment to the following objectives:

1. To practice an integrated Triad of academic study, productive work, and meaningful service

2. To prepare students for service, leadership, and meaningful lifelong work and learning

3. To offer an undergraduate educational program that

A. enables students to think critically, obtain and evaluate information effectively, and communicate clearly;

B. introduces students to a variety of ways that humans acquire and use knowledge;

C. provides students with opportunities to develop a breadth of understanding and to make connections among areas critical to a liberal arts curriculum;

D. requires that students demonstrate a depth of understanding through competence in one or more academic disciplines;

E. leads students into considered reflection on the meaning and value of work and service to others;

F. engages students in Triad activities that deepen understanding about the environmental, economic, and community bases of sustainability;

G. guides students in examining their lives and articulating their beliefs and values;

H. provides opportunities for personal, physical, moral, and spiritual development;

I. imparts an awareness of the commonality of human problems while encouraging the development of civic engagement and a sense of social justice;

J. offers educational opportunities for students to better appreciate the diversity of the world and to develop cross-cultural and international understanding.

4. To offer select, innovative graduate programs grounded in the liberal arts tradition

5. To promote environmental responsibility in students through education, campus operations, policy, and community outreach

6. To create an educational community representing a broadly diverse world

7. To nurture, through responsible and resourceful management policies, a small, residential community where students, faculty, staff, and governing board share close, mutually supportive, personal relationships and collaborate in College governance

The strategic plan draws on the College’s Enduring Institutional Objectives and identifies those for specific initiatives during the strategic plan period, 2010-2015.

Warren Wilson College will lead the nation toward a new model

for liberal arts education through the innovation of its Triad educational program, the quality of its academic engagement, the fulfillment of its sustainability principles, the depth of its commitment to diversity, the vitality of its community, and its nurturing of individual well-being.

Strengthen the Triad of Academics, Work, and Service

Goal 1.1Integrate objectives of the Triad and continually assess student learning

Goal 1.2Increase experiential and innovative learning opportunities through academics, work, and service

Goal 1.3Ensure a productive and educational work experience for students

Goal 1.4Support staff and faculty development as teachers and mentors, including appropriate facilities for all areas

Goal 1.5Engage in service-learning outreach that reflects the College’s values and addresses the needs of community partners

Honor the Liberal Arts Tradition through Rigorous and Innovative Academics

Goal 2.1Determine where the mission of the College belongs in the broad arena of higher education and establish clear goals for improving academic standing in that arena

Goal 2.2Identify, support, and increase distinctive academic experiences

Goal 2.3Increase opportunities and resources for classroom teaching, faculty and student research, and student academic success

Goal 2.4Assess the academic curriculum to identify strengths and to address areas of weakness, making decisions that further highlight the distinctive strengths of the College’s curriculum

Goal 2.5Make the academic program more visible and engaging

Foster Environmental Responsibility and Action

Goal 3.1Encourage innovation, and implement and assess best practices across campus in operations, policy, and education

Goal 3.2Honor the College’s formal environmental commitments

Goal 3.3Share best practices through educational outreach to the greater community

Promote Personal Growth and Responsibility

Goal 4.1Advocate health, safety, personal responsibility, and wellness on campus

Goal 4.2Provide opportunities for personal, physical, moral, and spiritual development

Enhance Civic and Community Engagement and Promote Social Justice

Goal 5.1Increase programs on and off campus that deepen a sense of civic and community engagement and promote social justice

Goal 5.2Support co-curricular activities and civic and community engagement by ensuring adequate facilities and resources

Increase Diversity and Advance Cross-Cultural and International Understanding

Goal 6.1Establish and sustain a community that reflects our commitments to inclusivity and diversity

Goal 6.2Increase domestic and international cross-cultural opportunities for students, staff, and faculty

Ensure Sound and Responsible Fiscal Position and Practices

Goal 7.1Increase fundraising and meet enrollment goals to support scholarships, financial aid, salaries, and capital expenditures

Goal 7.2Explore options for nontraditional revenue that reflect College core values

Goal 7.3Use all resources responsibly and efficiently to support College operations

Nurture an Unwavering Sense of Community

Goal 8.1Determine the enrollment size that best fits the College mission, market, budget, and sense of community.

Goal 8.2Improve the quality of life on campus

Goal 8.3Support participatory governance to honor community values, give voice to all, and conduct business effectively

Warren Wilson College is an independent, accredited, liberal arts

college offering undergraduate and selective graduate degrees. Founded as the Asheville Farm School for boys in 1894 by the Presbyterian Church, the institution was strengthened by its merger with Dorland-Bell School for girls in 1942 and by its association with Asheville Normal Teachers College. The new Warren H. Wilson Vocational Junior College and Associated Schools continued until 1967. At that time, Warren Wilson College became a four-year liberal arts institution. Direct support and governance by the Presbyterian Church (USA) ended in 1973, and today the College maintains covenant relationships within the Church.

These roots continue to nurture the College’s commitment to an inclusive community, social responsibility, the value of work, and openness in the pursuit of truth. The College’s residential campus, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Southern Appalachians, offers a profound sense of place and an opportunity to those from all religious faiths and secular perspectives to participate in a community composed of individuals dedicated to pursuing whole, examined, productive, and fulfilling lives.

Warren Wilson is distinctive among American colleges and universities. Students engage with the liberal arts in the classroom, and they have opportunities to put what they learn to the test—on their work crews and in their service. Students participate in classrooms and laboratories that celebrate experiential learning in majors ranging from

art to environmental studies. They work on their crews 15 hours per week in jobs spanning the 1,100-acre campus. They serve in the community beyond Warren Wilson to fulfill a 100-hour graduation commitment. This learning Triad philosophy of academics, work, and service is a hands-on liberal arts curriculum infused with model work and service programs.

The story of Warren Wilson is unlike that of any other college or university. It is the story of students who started the first recycling operation in the most populous county in Western North Carolina; students who have worked more than 10,000 hours in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts; students whose quality of undergraduate research has been recognized by the North Carolina Academy of Science; students who not only study abroad but also work on behalf of economic and social justice in the communities they visit; and students who were involved in the conception and crafting of an EcoDorm—the first building on a college campus to achieve LEED-EB Platinum Certification. It is the inspiring story of a small, resourceful college with a rich history, and with much yet to be written.

Given the challenges facing the world today, the need for a Warren Wilson College education is more pressing than at any time in its 115-year history. The Triad is an educational philosophy that demands learning beyond the classroom, beyond the campus, beyond the surrounding community. It is a methodology that dares students to address complex problems with complex solutions. It fosters engaged liberal arts—for our students and for society at large. By remaining flexible and adaptable while keeping its heritage at heart, the College will continue to provide students with a progressive, meaningful education.

For more information, please contact:

Warren Wilson CollegeP.O. Box 9000

Asheville, NC 28815

(828) 298-3325