Marist 100

Marist 100 is a plan developed at an exciting time in the College’s history. We approach our centennial in 2029 from a position of incredible strength, reflecting upon and celebrating Marist’s remarkable growth and development over its first 100 years; reaffirming our commitment to the ongoing relevance and distinctiveness of our mission, values, and model of higher education; and thinking boldly about the years that lie ahead.

Our Strategic Plan will help make a Marist education accessible to a broader range of talented students and will help us carry out our ambitious vision of improving the world through education.

Strategic Plan Pillars:

Academic Vibrancy

Marist will emerge as a leader in its student-centered approach to teaching and learning. Our students will benefit from the best of the liberal arts and pre-professional training through an education that is relevant, innovative, experiential, interdisciplinary, globally connected, and larger than the sum of its parts. Marist will empower its students, faculty, and staff to change the world through the generation of knowledge and societal impact.

Core Strategies

1. Enrich student learning and faculty engagement by making Marist College a higher-education leader in experiential learning and student-focused educational practices.

2. Foster and sustain a vibrant intellectual community of teacher-scholars and practitioners eager to experiment inside and outside of the classroom, who are deeply committed to the academic and professional success of our students, and who produce ground-breaking scholarly, professional, and creative work.

3. Create pathways for student success by adapting how and what we teach, and through the development of programs that match student interest, societal need, and market demand.

4. Ensure that Marist undergraduates make interdisciplinary connections, solve complex problems, collaborate, and develop leadership capabilities by investing in the relevance and distinctiveness of the Marist Core.

5. Enrich the educational experience through a curriculum and classroom experience that reflects and embraces the diversity of our society and our world.

Student Centrality

Marist will emerge as a leader in its student-centered approach to teaching and learning. Our students will benefit from the best of the liberal arts and pre-professional training through an education that is relevant, innovative, experiential, interdisciplinary, globally connected, and larger than the sum of its parts. Marist will empower its students, faculty, and staff to change the world through the generation of knowledge and societal impact.

Core Strategies

1. Empower students to explore, learn, find and pursue their passions, develop their voices, and lead through the creation of a dynamic campus culture offering a rich array of co-curricular and recreational activities.

2. Enable all Marist students to meet their full potential through the delivery of best-in-class academic- and student-support services that are personalized, impactful, and easy to access and navigate.

3. Create an environment that allows students to thrive through a holistic approach to health and the many dimensions of well-being.

4. Ensure that all students have equal access to every benefit Marist offers by integrating principles of equity across the student experience.

5. Amplify the transformative power of an in-person educational experience through investments in student-centered spaces and resources.

Expansive Community

We will bring Marist to the world and the world to Marist, building a broader community and richer learning environment for all. Marist will foster a deep sense of connection and belonging among its internal, local, and global communities, one which will span generations of students and foster lifelong connection and engagement. Marist’s reputation as a welcoming and inclusive community will allow the College to introduce itself to new audiences, attracting talent from an increasingly diverse range of geographies and backgrounds.

Core Strategies

1. Expand the Marist community through the recruitment, retention, and support of an increasingly talented and diverse faculty, staff, and student body.

2. Foster and sustain a strong sense of belonging and inclusion so that every member of the Marist community feels welcome, supported, and valued.

3. Build upon Marist’s strong international foundations to deepen our institution’s connection with the world and to empower members of our community to succeed in and contribute to a society that is globally interconnected and interdependent.

4. Enhance the academic experience as well as the College’s reputation and reach through new and deepened connections with signature industry, academic, and community partners.

5. Ensure that our growing alumni population feels a deep and lifelong sense of belonging through the creation of new and the strengthening of existing opportunities for academic, professional, and personal connections with Marist.

Our People

People are at the heart of Marist’s distinctive and relationship-rich educational experience, and we recognize that an investment in our faculty and staff is an investment in our future. To accomplish the ambitious vision set out in this plan, Marist will provide a vibrant, supportive, and inclusive work environment that fosters the growth, development, and well-being of all faculty and staff.

Our Finances

We enter Marist 100 in an enviable financial position for a college of our size: substantial and liquid resources, manageable debt and additional capacity for borrowing, strong bond ratings, and a long history of positive operating results. As such, we will take a holistic approach towards resourcing Marist 100: inspire a greater degree of philanthropic support from our alumni, parents, friends, and grant-funding agencies; reallocate existing resources to emergent priorities; and derive additional revenues by launching new programs and ancillary businesses.

Our Natural Environment

As an institution of higher education, Marist College has a moral obligation to responsibly steward its natural environment; to adopt sustainable practices wherever possible across its operations; and to meaningfully integrate a sustainability mindset across its curriculum, co-curriculum, and research and recreational activities. We are proud of the actions the College has taken to promote environmental sustainability to date but recognize that the scope of the challenge facing our world requires us to do much more, and to do so in a manner that is more intentional and better coordinated than past efforts.

Our Built Environment

Marist is fortunate to have one of the most beautiful and functional learning environments of any college or university, with superior academic and residential facilities and a world-class technological platform that allow members of our community to learn, connect, engage, and thrive. Throughout the period covered by Marist 100, we will continue to invest in Marist’s physical plant and technological infrastructure, ensuring that they support our broader vision and goals.