I. Into the Fourth Century
A Vision for the Future of William and Mary

For more than 300 years, the College of William and Mary has been defined by its history. Almost a century older than the nation, the College has been shaped by and has in turn helped to shape the fortunes that have fashioned both the country and the Commonwealth. With the ending of the successful celebration of the Tercentenary, the task now before the College and its constituent community is to shape William and Mary's future in a challenging time. The College's reputation cannot rest only on what we have been, but on what we will become.

Our goal is to make the College of William and Mary the most distinguished small public university in the nation. As evidenced by our diverse schools and programs of advanced study, by our research expectations for our faculty, and our support for their research programs, we are a university, despite what our chartered name may suggest. But as that name accurately implies, we are a special kind of university -- one whose human scale permits a genuinely collegial environment, and one in which the excellence of the undergraduate program is a fundamental concern. We propose to build a future on these foundations by sustaining the excellence of the undergraduate program and by offering only select graduate and professional programs of unusual distinction, tied closely together in a coherent conception of the mission of the institution.

Reflection on the character and purpose of the College of William and Mary was the Strategic Planning Committee's first task. The College's Mission Statement, a decade old and under revision by the Institutional Purpose Committee of the Self Study, seemed no longer adequate. Together the two Committees prepared a set of Planning Principles that both shaped the work of strategic planning and informed the writing of a new mission statement. That mission statement has now been approved by the Faculty Assembly, the student body and the Board of Visitors (see Appendix 1). The Planning Principles are as follows:

• William and Mary will remain a small public university with undergraduate, graduate and professional programs designed to preserve, transmit and expand knowledge.
• William and Mary will blend the best features of an undergraduate college with those of a research university by continuing its tradition of excellence in undergraduate education and in selected graduate and professional programs.
• William and Mary will maintain the scale necessary for close personal learning experiences.
• William and Mary will foster integration of its instructional, research, and service programs.
• William and Mary's undergraduate program will emphasize a broad liberal education for its students.
• William and Mary's undergraduate program will remain predominantly residential.
• William and Mary will foster intellectual and cultural diversity in an environment that enhances individual growth and development.
• William and Mary, recognizing its special responsibility to the citizens of Virginia, will serve as a resource to the local, state, national and global communities and enhance its own programs by interactions with these communities.
• William and Mary will seek and allocate resources in a manner consistent with its commitment to quality and national and international stature in selected programs.

These principles are reflected in the major recommendations in the Plan which are to:

• help meet the needs of the Commonwealth by enrolling an entering class of 1290, beginning in fall 1996 rather than in fall 2002 as was projected in the enrollment plan already approved by the State Council;
• maintain the commitment to the excellence of the undergraduate program by allocating resources to implement the new curriculum, including freshmen seminars, small class experiences for juniors and seniors, and expanded opportunities for research;
• support selected graduate and professional programs at nationally competitive levels;
• encourage departments, programs and schools that share a common interest in broad areas of intellectual inquiry (i.e. in American culture, applied sciences, policy studies, and, potentially, environmental sciences and policy) to work together cooperatively so as to achieve a national and international reputation that, for individual units in a small university, is extremely difficult. This strategy takes advantage of William and Mary's distinctive mix of doctoral programs in Arts and Sciences and Marine Science, as well as the Institute of Early American History and Culture, the Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy, the Institute of Bill of Rights Law, and the Schools of Business Administration, Education and Law, and the proximity to and close working relations with Colonial Williamsburg, The Center for State Courts, the federal laboratory CEBAF (Continuous Electronic Beam Accelerator Facility) in Newport News, and the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC);
• phase out a number of masters programs in Arts and Sciences, Business and Law, and three educational specialist programs in Education, so that faculty may direct teaching time to the undergraduate program and the remaining graduate and professional programs, and so that financial resources may be reallocated to academic priorities;
• make cuts in administrative costs and reallocate funds to academic programs and support;
• invest in the support of the people -- faculty, staff, and students -- who comprise the campus community;
• take steps to diversify further the campus community and create an hospitable environment for all members of the community;
• invest in the information technology infrastructure to improve communications on and off campus, expand access to information and data, and stimulate curricular innovation; and
• make a commitment to service to the Commonwealth and the nation through involvement in public service, cooperation with the public schools, and contributions to economic development.

Together these recommendations are designed to help to realize the goal of making William and Mary, in its fourth century, the most distinguished small public university in the nation.