The Rhodes Edge will be achieved on a stable financial foundation. 罗兹取决于学费, 捐献给年度基金, 从我们的捐赠中提取, and major gifts and grants to provide scholarships, 奖学金, 出国留学, 老师的支持, and capital for new buildings and other projects. To accomplish our goals, each of these revenue streams must expand. We are committed to remaining an intimate campus of approximately 2,000 undergraduate students. The college’s financial health will depend on increasing the perceived value of the Rhodes experience among prospective families and a willingness among the Rhodes community to financially support the college to a far larger extent. Increasing philanthropic support of Rhodes is vital to our future success. New programs for post- baccalaureate learners will become a revenue opportunity for Rhodes. 另外, we must prepare for an uncertain future in which political, 经济, and technological change could radically disrupt the way Rhodes and its sister institutions function.
我们将投资于:
- Developing New Revenue Streams: We will adopt an entrepreneurial mindset toward the development of new revenue-generating programs. Already we have developed a post-baccalaureate certificate for aspiring medical professionals Health Equity that can serve as templates for other concepts. Both programs build on our institutional values, unique approach to the liberal arts, 我们在孟菲斯的位置, and afford Rhodes the opportunity to become the national leader in these respective areas. We will also pay special attention to other models, much like our successful Summer Writing Institute, that focus on high school age students to complement our undergraduate student recruitment efforts.
- Building and Sustaining an Outstanding Workforce: Our faculty and staff are at the core of how we carry out the mission of the college on a daily basis. To better support our existing staff, we will support faculty and staff development and will aim to bring salaries in line with appropriate benchmarks where needed. We will also identify strategic staffing opportunities that allow the college to better serve students as we implement the Rhodes Edge.
- 讲述我们的故事: We will increase demand for a Rhodes education and invite new philanthropic investment through enhanced marketing and 通信. The lifeblood of Rhodes is the new generation of talented, diverse students who choose to join this community each fall. The competition for these students intensifies each year as college costs grow, real family income remains stagnant, colleges become more aggressive in recruitment, and net student revenues continue to be flat to declining. 在这种环境下, telling our story more clearly and telling it better than our competitors becomes a necessity.
- 规划校园未来: A new campus master plan will envision a campus and surrounding neighborhood where the students of tomorrow will learn and live. The plan will build on our architectural distinctiveness, 我们的居住性质, and our academic program as well as principles of environmental sustainability. We will address key facility enhancements as identified in campus space studies regarding academic, 运动, 学生生活需求. These include enhanced environments for the arts, 心理学, 业务, 科学实验室, 职业服务, 体育运动, multicultural and interfaith space, and the development of additional space for student interaction. We will improve the physical connection between West Campus and the traditional campus. Master planning will guide us to imagine a more welcoming, “Memphis- facing” campus.
- Cultivating Community Partnerships: Our location in the heart of Memphis offers both strategic advantages and special responsibilities. Our vibrant setting provides new opportunities to expand our mission cooperatively with interested non-profits, 企业, 地方政府. We will collaborate with our neighbors to enhance the areas surrounding campus and seek opportunities for engagement.
- 提高效率: We have committed to implementing Workday, a 21st-century administrative computing platform. Workday provides an opportunity to refine our 业务 processes, improve efficiencies and effectiveness for all students and faculty, 加强员工的工作, improve the student-faculty advising practices, and facilitate better communication across the community. Such a commitment will allow the college to further develop efforts in sophisticated data analytics, 通信, 支持服务.
- 为不确定性做准备: There will be a committee of the Board, chaired by the President or her designee to identify and investigate the “big unanswered questions” facing the college. We must keep our eye on broader trends that could upend that market and require the college to change in more radical ways and take bigger risks.