Our strategic future starts from a strong foundation. Guided by the wisdom of our Benedictine mission and educational principles, Saint Anselm College has enjoyed remarkable growth and attained a reputation of excellence for its liberal arts and professional programs. With our enrollment of some 2,000 students, our campus is a dynamic community of talented students engaged by expert faculty and professional staff in learning, research, discovery, practice, and service. Our college is an essential economic and civic partner for our region and state.
In recognition of our impact, Saint Anselm College is consistently ranked by Forbes, US News & World Report, and other organizations in the top tiers of national and regional liberal arts colleges. Our outstanding value is clearly evidenced by our track record in student selectivity, retention, graduation, and placement into graduate studies and professional careers. Our 20,000 alumni achieve lives of consequence in their professions and communities.
From this outstanding position of strength, there is no better time for our Saint Anselm community to chart our college's next epoch of achievement. Our institutional strategies and goals are encompassed along five interrelated themes:
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Forge Liberal and Professional Learning
Anselmians achieve a full range of professional, civic, and personal endeavors because they are educated in the Benedictine tradition, one that integrates liberal learning with professional knowledge and mastery. Our Faith in the Future Strategic Plan strengthens our commitment to liberal and professional learning through initiatives that expand cross-disciplinary and special-interest learning and the application of that learning in professional settings. Significant investment in best-in-class teaching and learning will ensure the ongoing excellence of Anselmian education.
For more information about Theme 1: Forge Liberal and Professional Learning
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Encourage Discovery, Seek Understanding
Anselmian graduates, students, and faculty are driven by their persistent curiosity; their openness to new ideas, experiences, and cultures; and their willingness to tackle and master change. These are the same characteristics that distinguish the Benedictine principles of liberal learning and the Catholic intellectual tradition, which call Anselmians toward an ever-expanding investigation, discovery, and understanding of God, themselves, and the world around them. Faith in the Future applies these Benedictine principles to the contemporary world by enhancing opportunities for interdisciplinary and global discovery and elevating Saint Anselm as a leading Catholic liberal arts college for faculty-mentored undergraduate research. Under our plan, we will endow new academic chairs to attract world-class faculty who are committed to and excel in cross-disciplinary and student-directed learning and research.
For more information about Theme 2: Encourage Discovery, Seek Understanding
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Foster Hospitality and Cultivate Community
The importance of community is a central theme of the Rule of Saint Benedict and of the principles of Benedictine liberal learning. These traditions and teachings affirm that each of us grows intellectually and progresses spiritually in community with others. The stability found in community instills the confidence to explore, take risks, assimilate new knowledge, learn from failure, and collaborate meaningfully with others. Moreover, the Benedictine call for hospitality encourages us to invite into our Anselmian community students richly representative of diverse cultures, backgrounds, and demographics-in the words of the Rule, "Let everyone that comes be received as Christ." Community, hospitality, and diversity are central strategic themes of Faith in the Future to be pursued according to these initiatives.
For more information about Theme 3: Foster Hospitality and Cultivate Community
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Nourish Reflection and Inspire Action
Anselmians achieve lives of significance-in their professions, workplaces, communities, and families-because they are guided by the Benedictine admonition to balance Ora et Labora-prayer and labor, reflection and action. At a time when many of our business, civic, and professional institutions lack ethical orientation, Anselmians offer not only exceptional professional talents and expertise but also necessary moral direction and leadership. Our Faith in the Future Strategic Plan includes general initiatives to deepen our students' capabilities for reflection, self-understanding, and spirituality and to broaden their opportunities for worship and service. Moreover, initiatives specifically related to our preeminent New Hampshire Institute of Politics and a new Center for Ethics in Business and Governance will enable our students and faculty to study, research, and practice civic and ethical responsibility in politics, business, and the professions.
For more information about Theme 4: Nourish Reflection and Inspire Action
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Extend Anselmian Mission, Impact, and Identity
Anselmians are marked by the Benedictine call to openness to fully engaged living and by the mandate of stewardship of the resources entrusted to us. This call of openness and stewardship animates initiatives in Faith in the Future that will extend the impact of Benedictine liberal learning through new academic programs, new learning methods, and new populations of students.
For more information about Theme 5: Extend Anselmian Mission, Impact, and Identity