Tangible Resources

Summary of Primary Recommendations

  • Provide competitive salary and benefits based on an agreed-upon peer group for faculty/employees
  • Expedite the funding and construction of the “new academic building”
  • Expand and renovate Nobel Hall of Science into a premier facility for learning and research collaboration
  • Build the financial resources necessary to attract and retain top students
  • Increase the Gustavus endowment by $150 million
  • Significantly increase support from alumni and friends as well as government, corporate, and foundation sources
  • Develop and fund a concrete plan to address appropriate levels of computer and equipment technical support and infrastructure across the campus
  • Establish at least ten fully funded endowed department or program chairs
  • Increase resources and staff to support the current and future general education program
  • Secure permanent funding for the Center for Vocational Reflection
  • Continue to explore and develop ways to increase auxiliary operations, including Summer Programs, to provide outstanding customer service and products without compromising current programs
  • Renovate and expand the Anderson Social Science Center
  • Expand and renovate the Schaefer Fine Arts buildings, for visual arts, music, theatre, and dance
  • Expand and remodel Lund Center to meet teaching/learning, health, wellness, and fitness needs
  • Conduct a full assessment of needed upgrades to Christ Chapel
  • Develop benchmarks and planning for the refurbishing and maintenance of buildings and their systems within a 40-year renewal cycle that maximize flexibility within each building and long-range flexibility among buildings
  • Review and update the residence hall master plan, addressing new construction and renovation

Tier 1

Employee Compensation

Fund and maintain faculty compensation that is within the upper 20 percent nationally based on an agreed-upon peer group and provide additional compensation for faculty in disciplines in which the market among baccalaureate institutions demands more than the Gustavus base salaries. (3)

Maintain administrative and support staff compensation at levels competitive with an agreed-upon peer group. (3)

Provide competitive benefits based on an agreed-upon peer group for employees, especially as related to health care. (3)

Academics/Program Support

Increase funding to improve the Library collection and enhance electronic access. (1)

Provide support for First Term Seminar programming. (1)

Raise the funds to match the Howard Hughes Medical Initiative $1 million grant for the Visualization Center in Nobel. (1)

Create the means to effectively support the increasing demand for disability services. (1)

Support the core components of Gustavus Technology Services to address appropriate levels of computer and equipment technical support, infrastructure, and security across the curriculum and campus. (1)

Provide resources to electronically deliver, receive, and archive student records and transcripts. (1)

Increase the endowment and funding for the Nobel Conference. (1)

Physical Plant

Meet the needs of rapidly changing disciplines by maximizing long-range flexibility among buildings and short-range nimbleness within a building. (1)

Fund the campus framework plan and subsequent South Mall and West Mall, intentionally maintaining a predominately pedestrian campus while responding to parking needs. (3)

Build the financial base and endowment for funding the refreshment and maintenance of building systems within a 40-year renewal cycle, affirming the practice that it is preferable to re-purpose old buildings to new uses. (3)

Transform academic buildings with the furniture, equipment, instruments, and technology needed to become state-of-the art student learning and teaching spaces. (1)

Expedite the funding and construction of the “New Academic Building.“ (1)

Expand and renovate Nobel Hall of Science into a premier facility for learning and research collaboration. (1)

Conduct a full assessment of needed upgrades to Christ Chapel. (3)

Update the residence hall master plan to ensure design flexibility that accommodates diverse student needs, fluctuating student enrollment, and the capacity for utilization to meet other non-student housing needs (staff, alumni, visiting professors). (6)

Relocate the Office of Human Resources. (3)

Recruitment

Prepare financial modeling for enrollments of 2,200, 2,400, and 2,600, to determine the desired size of the student population. (3)

Build the financial resources necessary to attract and retain top students, including dramatically increasing underrepresented student populations. (4)

Continue to create compelling admission materials, maximizing traditional and emerging delivery technologies. (2)

Philanthropy

Develop the next comprehensive campaign case statement, timeline, and staff structure. (4)

Commit no less than 50 percent of future fundraising campaign goals to endowment growth and increase the Gustavus endowment by $150 million. (4)

Clearly define the basic facts about, and the case for giving to, Gustavus, which every alum and student should know. (4)

Consistently meet or exceed the ELCA and Minnesota Private College Council peer group for total private gifting per student each year. (4)

Significantly increase restricted support from government, corporate, and foundation sources, including matching gift opportunities. (4)

Auxiliary Operations

Continue to explore and develop ways for auxiliary operations (e.g., Postal Services, Printing Service, Book Mark, Dining Service) to provide outstanding customer service and products, improve operating efficiencies, and meet the needs of students. (3)

Optimize, prioritize, and increase Summer Programs to maximize revenue and minimize expense, while maintaining an atmosphere of campus hospitality during the summer months. (3)

Tier 2

Employee Compensation

Show annual progress in faculty salaries, reaching and maintaining the top quintile of the established peer group; provide competitive relocation expenses, start-up costs for new faculty, and spousal support; and explore the feasibility of an incentive plan to reward faculty, staff, and administrators for superior performance. (3)

Increase the College funding for employee pension with the goal of a ten percent contribution by 2015. (3)

Triple the travel allowance for faculty conference travel and endow the costs of publication and dissemination of faculty work. (1)

Faculty/Staff Positions

Increase the number of tenure-line faculty and establish at least ten additional fully funded endowed department or program chairs to meet student, curricular, and staffing needs. (1)

Create an additional tenure line in the Department of Religion for a World Religions position. (1)

Increase Human Resources staffing. (3)

Academic/Program Support

Fully fund and appropriately staff the General Education Program. (1)

Create a structure and funding model that will facilitate long-term sustainability for interdisciplinary majors and minors. (1)

Physical Plant

Fund a comprehensive facilities renewal plan that addresses the 30 major buildings, recognizing that facilities have an estimated life of 40 years. (3)

Create an endowment for environmental initiatives. (3)

Renovate and expand the Anderson Social Science Center and define its mission as a center of teaching and pedagogy. (1)

Expand and renovate the Folke Bernadotte Memorial Library to enable students to continue to engage with original research, have access to an in-depth collection, and have an optimum environment in which to study. (1)

Expand and renovate the Schaefer Fine Arts Buildings for Visual Arts, Music, Theatre, and Dance, including the addition of a performing arts venue with multimedia capabilities to be used for major concerts and lectures. (1)

Expand and remodel Lund Center in a manner driven by its mission of teaching/learning, health, wellness, and fitness. (6)

Launch a feasibility study to explore a physical location to meet the need for additional on-campus programming and staff office, retreat, and worship space. (3)

Expand private Registrar office space to accommodate the need for a location to conduct confidential conversations. (1)

Create or maintain student study spaces across the entire campus to meet the needs for individual and group study and be adaptable to changes in technology. (6)

Conduct a usability study to enhance alternative student social spaces, including the Dive. (6)

Establish an administrative office model that will respond to programmatic and strategic needs, enabling office space decisions over the next five to ten years to be based on aligning administrative office locations with the needs of their constituents. (3)

Student Support

Meet 100 percent of defined financial need for all students—including students from underrepresented communities—through scholarships and a reasonable amount of student employment and loans, including making study away need-blind. (2)

Increase staff in the Health Service to provide extended hours, regular follow up with students being treated with ongoing mental and physical health matters, prepackaged pharmaceuticals, collaborations with the Counseling Center on medications, and travel clinic services. (6)

Develop a plan to manage and fund the increasing demands of club sports, affiliated athletics teams, intramural sports, outdoor health and wellness activities, and intercollegiate athletics. (6)

Program Support

Secure permanent funding for the Center for Vocational Reflection to ensure the long-term viability of the vocation initiative. (4)

Create endowed funds to support global and multicultural initiatives. (1)

Fully endow the Johnson Center for Environmental Innovation to serve as a place for the community to come together around the topic of environmental innovation and sustainability. (1)

Secure an endowment of $1 million to support the comprehensive leadership initiatives. (6)

Invest in a market analysis for the development of signature summer programs at Gustavus. (3)

Technology

Substantially increase funding and staff support for equipment and hardware to implement a four-year replacement plan for all technology to meet the curricular and co-curricular needs of the campus. (1)

Improve the College’s ability to store, access, and display its growing archive of digital images, media and archival materials, and exhibits. (1)

Provide an allowance for acquiring a laptop computer or appropriate office support technology to all tenured and tenure-track faculty. (1)

Provide infrastructure and staffing to support appropriate technologies for disseminating campus lectures and signature programs to a broader off-campus audience. (5)

Finance

Aggressively pursue a course to substantially increase the endowment and properly manage the endowment-to-debt ratio and achieve an A1 Moody’s credit rating. (3)

Tier 3

Physical Plant

Remodel Olin Hall. (1)

Endow the Hillstrom Museum of Art and create a new space or increase and improve the current museum. (1)

Enlarge the Melva Lind Interpretive Center and continue work on the three meditation gardens. (1)

Build an alumni center that could serve as a community gathering location. (4)

Provide full access to the disabled in 100 percent of activity spaces. (3)

Identify space to conduct private group therapy sessions. (6)

Create a paved path around Campus Drive. (3)

Build an on-campus storage facility. (3)

Explore the opportunities and needs for future presidential families to provide for residential space and hosting/advancement functions. (3)

Department/Program Support

Develop Learning and Living Communities linking residence hall living and academic courses. (6)

Restructure the Athletics Department to create staffing, office space, and program support for both Intercollegiate Athletics and Fitness. (6)

Provide 24-hour technology support to students. (1)

Create institutional grants for faculty to develop or enhance community-based components to a course. (1)

Develop permanent funding for full-time positions of the Linnaeus Arboretum staff and secure continuing support for the Linnaeus Symposium. (1)