The College of Charleston community is committed to becoming a nationally preeminent Public Liberal Arts and Sciences University for the twenty-first century. The Fourth Century Initiative, announced by President Leo I. Higdon in January 2002, addressed the first steps to be taken to achieve this vision, but many of the articulated goals of the Fourth Century Initiative will take at least five to ten years to complete.

The primary focus of the College in its fourth century will be the development of the student as a whole person through adherence to the principles of the liberal arts and sciences. The goals of strengthening student learning and assuring a well-prepared, diverse, and engaged student body will remain paramount. A high quality, diverse faculty and staff, an enhanced campus environment and technology infrastructure, increased financial resources, and a commitment to a well-conceived Strategic Plan will be required to support these institutional goals. The public element of the College's mission will necessitate enhanced relationships with its various constituents.

During its fourth century the College will endeavor to attract students who are well prepared academically and personally to meet the challenges of a nationally preeminent liberal arts and sciences curriculum and to make the commitment to learning as a life-long process. These students will bring to the College diverse backgrounds and perspectives. During their time at the College, they will develop habits of the mind and heart that will mold their thoughts and shape their actions. They will be expected to value the strong educational foundation obtained through general education course offerings in science and mathematics, humanities and social sciences, English composition and literature, history, and foreign languages. They will have many and varied opportunities to build upon this foundation in areas of particular interest to them through high quality departmental majors and other programs. The distinctiveness of professional and pre-professional programs grounded in the liberal arts and sciences will be apparent to them and should help them develop an appreciation for the breadth and depth of knowledge that a solid liberal arts and sciences background will afford them. As a consequence of the combined richness of curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular offerings, the students of the fourth century will be empowered, informed, and responsible learners, able to apply their knowledge beyond the walls of the classroom. They will be able to communicate effectively in diverse settings, using written, oral, and visual means. They will be able to communicate in at least one additional language besides English and should be familiar with diverse American and global cultures. They will have many opportunities to work closely with faculty and with community groups and institutions. Through these experiences, they will develop an appreciation for perspectives other than their own and a respect for democratic institutions and governance. College of Charleston graduates will be expected to exhibit a high level of social responsibility and a commitment to local, national, and global communities.

In order to reinforce the linkage between habits of the mind and habits of the heart, students will be fully engaged in an active learning environment where they learn by thinking critically and by applying theories and skills to complex issues. As a result of improvements in the quality of the incoming classes and in programming in residences and student life, the retention and graduation rates at the College will increase to levels appropriate for a nationally preeminent liberal arts and sciences institution. The College will continue to hire additional tenure and tenure-track faculty in order to offer a full and rich curriculum. These enhanced human resources will support increased faculty attention to student learning. In particular, the addition of small, seminar-style classes, an evolution toward an average class size and student-faculty ratio appropriate for a preeminent institution, and increased opportunities for student-faculty research projects, independent studies, and internships will ensure that students are provided a highly stimulating context for cognitive growth. Intellectually engaged and engaging faculty will require sabbatical leave support, grants for collaborative and individual research projects, pedagogical workshops to keep them abreast of current developments in university teaching, and travel grants to allow them and their students to attend conferences and to share their scholarship with others in their fields. The College will continue to strengthen the quality of its faculty, building on enhancements made through the Fourth Century Initiative. Thorough and competitive national searches will be conducted; active and well-planned recruiting will ensure diverse and deep applicant pools. Faculty will have terminal degrees from outstanding graduate programs. They will be intellectually engaged and engaging, holding themselves and their students to high standards. College of Charleston faculty will be known to be excellent teachers and scholars. Women and minority groups will be well represented. Competitive compensation packages and workloads will enable the College to recruit and retain a faculty appropriate for a preeminent institution. The proportion of roster faculty who are tenured or on tenure-track will also be appropriate for the College's aspiration of national preeminence. Tenure and promotion will be awarded through a rigorous and fair process of peer evaluation to those faculty demonstrating consistently high professional competence as well as the promise for continued performance at that level. Adjunct use will be reduced in the College as a whole, as well as within individual departments. To ensure that the very best individuals are hired and retained for these positions, chairs/personnel committees from each department will conduct careful searches and regularly assess the teaching performance of those hired. The average pay for adjunct faculty will be competitive in markets appropriate to a nationally preeminent liberal arts and sciences university. Staff at all levels will be highly competent and chosen from diverse applicant pools. Periodic reviews will ensure that staff numbers, workspaces, and qualifications are appropriate to a nationally preeminent liberal arts and sciences university. Staff compensation (by area and level) will be similarly competitive in markets appropriate to a nationally preeminent liberal arts and sciences university. The same hiring and compensation guidelines will apply for part-time as for full-time employees.

Graduate and professional programs will primarily meet the needs of the local community, the Lowcountry, and the State. All programs will be regularly assessed and the College will provide necessary resources for graduate facilities and equipment, student recruitment, and student financial support. Additional graduate and professional programs that respond to community needs and that build upon unique College of Charleston strengths and resources will be developed and implemented. Furthermore, graduate education will enhance the undergraduate educational experience through faculty-led collaborative graduate and undergraduate research and scholarship.

In its fourth century, the College must link its planning, assessment, and budgeting activities and allocate resources in a manner consistent with its commitment to quality. The College cannot compete at a national level unless the resources available for personnel, facilities, and programs are increased substantially. This will require strong support from the State as well as increasing significantly the amount of financial support provided by our alumni, parents, and friends. With the goal of providing the appropriate physical environment for the enhanced intellectual climate of the fourth century, the College will preserve and enhance its facilities and historic campus. New buildings will be designed and older structures renovated with respect for the College's location in an antebellum neighborhood. Buildings and grounds will be maintained at a level appropriate for a preeminent institution. Landscaping will complement the architecture, and open spaces will be provided for beauty and recreation. There will be new indoor and outdoor recreational facilities, a new Student Center, an expanded Center for Student Wellness, an expanded Career Services Office, and a centrally located Campus Information Center. Residence Halls will be learning communities not only where students eat, sleep, and study but also where they interact with their classmates, their professors, and the community. To ensure that faculty and staff have appropriate offices/workspace to facilitate student learning, the Campus Master Plan will provide for a continuous review of classrooms, offices, laboratories, residential halls, and other campus facilities. As a result of the study on class size called for in the Strategic Plan, the configuration of classroom sizes for new and refurbished academic buildings will be reassessed. The availability of classrooms that vary in size, layout, and furnishing will provide flexibility in classroom usage. Such flexibility will allow for a wide range of instructional techniques and formats.

As a public institution, the College will remain committed to elevating the educational level of South Carolina citizens. The campus will collaborate and engage in partnerships with PK-12 schools, government, business and industry, community agencies, post-secondary schools, and friends of the College to fulfill this commitment. To facilitate the establishment of effective learning communities, facilities and programs will be regularly evaluated to ascertain their efficacy in bringing together the various College constituencies. Students, faculty, staff, alumni, and government and business leaders will be surveyed, programs and individuals assessed, and multiple educational models studied to ensure that the College culture values civility, promotes collegiality, and embraces cultural, geographical and intellectual diversity. To promote the lifelong learning of graduates, alumni will be actively involved in the life of the College. They will be encouraged to share their intellectual, cultural, and professional experiences with current students to enhance the relationship they have with their alma mater.

Becoming a nationally preeminent public liberal arts and sciences university will require time, commitment, and resources. But it is not beyond the College's reach. The institution has been known for centuries for its development of the hearts and minds of students through its well-grounded liberal arts curriculum, its student-centered focus, its dedicated and demanding faculty, and its community-oriented alumni. The commitment exists to find the necessary human and material resources to accomplish these lofty goals. The time to begin is now, as the College of Charleston enters its fourth century of service to the community, State, and world.

Approved by the College of Charleston Board of Trustees, 8 April 2003