Whitworth College enters 2005 with unprecedented momentum. Virtually all indices of strength record historic highs. As faithful stewards of this foundation, Whitworth must capture the moment. With this mandate, the summaries that follow focus not on what has been accomplished but on what will be required if we are to reach our goals.

Academic programs:
The academic part of this plan continues to build upon previous efforts to raise the quality and the profile of the educational experience for Whitworth students. The desire to be known for both academic excellence and the integration of faith and learning drives much of what is in the plan. Particular emphasis is placed on strengthening the visual and performing arts as well as the natural sciences. From more opportunities for undergraduate research and an honors program to greater efforts to facilitate the success of Whitworth students in their chosen fields, the plan focuses attention on the goal of increased academic quality. In addition, a major emphasis on internationalization of the curriculum, accompanied by efforts to establish an overseas site, mark this plan. Building on the Lilly and Murdock grants, students and faculty will be encouraged to connect their theological convictions with their understanding of calling, and vocation whether that calling is to the church, the classroom, the marketplace, the courtroom, the hospital, or the neighborhood. While focusing energy and resources on continuing to improve undergraduate education and the integration of faith and learning, this plan provides a framework for the development of new programs for nontraditional students at both the undergraduate and graduate level.

Student life:
This plan reflects Whitworth's commitment to both curricular and co-curricular education, and its strong history of collaboration between the Academic Affairs and Student Life divisions of the college. Specifically, the Student Life plan continues distinctive emphases on student responsibility, leadership opportunities, service and cultural engagement. In the facilities area it recognizes the pressure placed on residence halls by a student population that currently exceeds our capacity. It continues to extend outreach in areas of career and vocational preparation, where collaboration with Academic Affairs is particularly important, and to promote spiritual growth in a student culture that is diverse in interest and background.

Facilities:
This plan reflects a good news/ bad news assessment of Whitworth's facilities. On the positive side, Whitworth has witnessed the transformation of its campus. Once known primarily for its pine trees and camp-like setting, Whitworth now is known for its academic, student-life, and athletics complexes. However, the bad news is that in several areas of the campus, the growth of the student body as well as the academic program and administrative requirements continue to point to the necessity of infusing more capital into the physical plant. This plan proposes that additional residential, administrative, fine arts, sciences, and athletics facilities are all necessary for Whitworth to advance to the next level of excellence as well as to ensure its financial well-being by keeping the college competitive with its sister institutions.

Faculty and staff recruitment and retention:
This plan acknowledges that the long-term health of the institution is ensured not only by staying true to the mission but by the college's ability to recruit the best available talent in relation to the execution of that mission. Competitive compensation remains a key strategy in service of that objective. In fact Whitworth has made significant progress during the past ten years, but our goal continues to be to provide compensation for faculty that is at the median of our 30-member peer group. Similarly, the goal for our staff it is to provide compensation in the median of appropriate peer groups. In addition, the plan acknowledges that job satisfaction, the most important factor relative to retention, requires attention to the physical environment, the ability to participate in the larger mission, and adequate training to do one's job as well as one can.

Growth management:
This plan recognizes that managed growth of our student body is an important factor in achieving a level of excellence and service for our students as well as providing necessary revenues for the ongoing improvement of the institution. This plan recommends that the full-time undergraduate population grow at not more than two percent per year. The plan recommends growth of five percent per year at the nontraditional undergraduate and graduate level, where pressure on facilities is less acute. The plan attempts to explain why less aggressive or more aggressive approaches to growth are problematic.

Religious identity/mission:
Evidence suggests that Whitworth's religious identity and mission are critical elements in the decisions of most students, as well as faculty and staff, to come to the college. This plan reflects a vigorous commitment to uphold that mission by continuing to require that full-time employees express a belief in Jesus Christ as their personal savior and a belief in the authority of scripture. The commitment to what Bill Robinson describes as the "grand paradox" of Whitworth's mission, in which open intellectual inquiry is celebrated in a community committed to the truth of the gospel, is challenging to live out in practice; yet the plan reinforces ongoing efforts to do so authentically as well as to strengthen a campus ethos that is marked by grace in both attitude and behavior.

Talking points:
The following talking points are designed to assist all Whitworth employees as well as students, alums, and other friends of the institution to better understand the major emphases in the strategic plan. The underlying theme of these points is integration; we want the following relationships to be both descriptive of what we have achieved and perspective of what we want Whitworth to embody more fully.

The Integration of Mind, Heart, and Hands - Academic Excellence and Christian Commitment:

• Faith and Learning
• Teaching and Scholarship
• Academics and Student Life
• On and off-campus learning

Characteristics:

• Personal attention and intellectual rigor
• Beautiful campus and 21st century technology
• Christian community of students/staff/faculty shaped by truth and grace

Distinctives:

• Open to challenging questions and committed to the pursuit of truth
• Investing in student success and promoting student responsibility
• Living out one's faith and engaging the public square

Initiatives:

• Constructing new academic facilities in arts and sciences
• Building new residential and administrative space
• Strengthening our students' inter-cultural understanding
• Enhancing our service learning, community engagement, and vocational discernment