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From the Winter 2000 edition of Prospect, the magazine of Elmhurst
College. Reprinted with permission of the president.
President's Message: What Kind of College?
From time to time, it's customary for college presidents to give an "institutional
update," to review key facts and figures and reassure alumni and
friends that their College still is very much in operation. I assure you
that Elmhurst is, indeed, in good health, with a large, bright entering
class, a remarkably dedicated faculty and staff and a balanced budget.
Moreover, it’s hard to miss the signs on campus that the College
is moving forward. On October 23, we dedicated North Hall, bringing our
residential capacity to about 750, a goal we'd been working toward for
years. Our new Fitness Center will help us to support our growing intercollegiate
athletic program and, more important, to more fully nurture the well-being
of all our students. Another vital student facility, the Frick Center,
is undergoing a major enlargement and renovation.
At the North Hall dedication, I spoke of our plans for the long-term
development of' the north side of campus. These plans represent our dream
of what we want our campus to be like, but they are only part of the picture.
As we build on our heritage and imagine our future, what goes on inside
our buildings is more important. With that in mind, I'd like to summarize
our current status and future goals around four key concepts.
First, we are an intimate college, and intend to remain one. Unlike many
of our sister institutions in the Chicago area, we have not changed our
name to "university," and I hope we will never feel pressure
to do so. This year, we have about 1,800 full-time students, and somewhere
around that number is about right for us. A relatively small scale helps
us to focus on the quality of our relationships. It also makes us distinctive.
The overwhelming majority of college students these days attend big universities
with large classes and relatively impersonal environments. Elmhurst is
built around a different model, with small classes that enable students
to establish close relationships with professors and fellow students.
Second, we are, and plan to remain, an interesting college. We are not
trying to be a big college but we are working very hard to be a better
one. An interesting college has strong academic programs that attract
engaged students and give them lots of room to exercise their minds. Such
a college retains a diverse, dedicated, student-centered faculty, and
has a compelling intellectual and cultural environment, where guest speakers
and cultural events keep everyone thinking, and growing. Such a college
gets students off campus and into the larger world, through vibrant international-study
and service-learning programs.
Our third key objective is to be a healthy college. That means stable
enrollments, steady finances, successful fund-raising and a growing endowment.
It also means exploring new ways to fulfill our educational mission. That
is one reason we instituted small, tightly focused graduate programs,
in fields where the master's degree is a natural completion of undergraduate
preparation. In also is why we offer complete degree programs on-site
at the USG Corporation and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. These
corporate-academic partnerships enable us to serve students who otherwise
might not be able to complete a degree program like ours.
In addition, being a healthy college in today's competitive environment
means being well-known and respected. I sometimes have heard Elmhurst
College referred to as "the best-kept secret" in our region.
We intend to become the worst-kept secret. When we see U. S. News &
World Report cite the College as "a great school at a great price,"
we know we've making progress.
Finally, we intend to continue to be a college where values are taken
seriously. This is not a surface thing; rather, our concern with issues
of ethics and personal responsiblity runs deep. It shows up in the classroom,
in the programs of the chaplaincy and the Center for Professional Excellence,
and in the daily life of the campus. We maintain an active association
with the United Church of Christ, and require in our curriculum that all
students have some exposure to our Judeo-Christian heritage.
Of course, we have no intention of becoming a sectarian institution,
serving only students who bring particular beliefs with them. Our students
represent a wide range of faith traditions, and we want to nurture thoughtfulness
and seriousness as they work through how their personal commitments will
play out in their lives. In the tradition of the UCC, this is a place
where ideas and assumptions are challenged, as an important element of
a willingness to tackle tough issues of purpose and meaning.
Seventy years ago, President H. Richard Niebuhr wrote that "the
most urgent need of the present generation ... is light and warmth, the
light of knowledge and the warmth of high ideals." It remains our
task on this campus to deal with both sides of this equation. Your loyalty
is an important part of how this happens. Thank you for all you do to
make a diffference in the world through Elmhurst College.
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