DePauw University’s Board of Trustees has asked for more time before a final vote is taken on a strategic plan that was formulated over the summer, according to Mary Dieter, university editorial director and director of media relations.
On October 12th, an email from Kathy Patterson Vrabeck, board chair, and President Lori S. White went out to faculty and staff announcing the board’s “great enthusiasm” to unanimously endorse the strategic plan for 2021-2025.
Dieter shared this new information in response to an inquiry from The DePauw.
One key element of the strategic plan includes restructuring the school. It would include a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, a School of Business and Leadership, and a reimagined School of Music which would become the School of Music, Media and Creative Arts.
According to the Strategic Planning Document of 2021 the point of the restructure is to “make students’ experiences richer and more connected.”
This month DePauw will implement teams to head and charge the strategic plan.
By December 2021, the university plans to collaborate with faculty to determine the structure of the two new schools. By the fall of 2021, they are going to begin developing marketing plans for the two schools and implementing those plans once the new schools and majors are approved.
The university also wants to build upon the 170-year history of fraternity and sorority life by developing “an inclusive, equitable, and value-centered 21st-century liberal arts college model for fraternities and sorority life.”
The main goal of the strategic plan is to “renew and revitalize its academic programs,” according to the document, which was sent to faculty and staff at the beginning of the school year.