The Board of Trustees gathered on the Wooster campus for their fall meeting last weekend.
ìIt was packed,” said President Grant Cornwell.† The Trustees met on Friday and Saturday to discuss a large amount of issues concerning Wooster.† ìThe meeting has become jammed with important issues because Wooster is moving Ö weíre making progress on a lot of fronts,” said Cornwell.
Cornwell offered comments in the Presidentís Report detailing progress on the provost search and academic rankings as well as information on WooCorps, the Forum series and the new turf field.
The Board then discussed ongoing plans to construct a campus center.† Cornwell said the planning and fundraising for the Center are moving ìmore quickly than anticipated.”† At the meeting last weekend, Trustees authorized the architects to produce construction documents for the building.
The project now has complete schematic designs, which, according to Cornwell, offer a ìcomplete vision of the space and its use.”† Plans for the Campus Center will go to bid around March of next year if all goes as planned.
The Trustees also discussed budgetary progress made under the direction of the economic contingency plan.† ìWe had to do some things that were difficult,” says Cornwell, but the Collegeís budget is expected to be balanced for the 2009-2010 fiscal year.† The College is not expected to make any further budget cuts this year.† Plans for next yearís budget have begun, but it is too early to discuss any concrete details.
The Collegeís strategic planning was also discussed.† Nine revisions have been made to the Collegeís ìstrategic documents,” which include the mission statement, core values and the vision.
The Board of Trustees ratified the final versions of the strategic documents, and the updated versions of each can be found on the ìOn Purpose: Strategic Planning @ Wooster” ScotBlog.† After approving the final documents, the Board completed a brainstorming exercise on the second phase of the project.† Cornwell said the second phase includes determining ìhow we know weíre making progress” on our strategic goals.† Trustees brainstormed various indicators that would signify progress on strategic goals.† In the coming months, various campus constituent groups will be led through a similar exercise.† Cornwell states the final stage of the process will determine what to do differently in order to move Wooster from ìwhere it is now to where we want it to be.”
Trustees also participated in various activities around campus.† Babcock Hall was officially dedicated as the Center for Diversity and Global Engagement Friday evening, and a discussion was led on Omnibus, the new sculpture installed on Kauke lawn.
In addition, trustee Lynne McCreight donated a quilt she had created to decorate the second floor common area in Kauke.
A ceremony was also held before the football game to dedicate Andrew Turf Field, donated by trustee Ed and his wife Edie Andrew.† To commemorate the new field and the football teamís first night game, Cornwell hosted a tailgate party for the Trustees and town officials at his house.