什么品质决定了W&J graduates apart in today’s competitive market for talent? This question was at the center of our recent strategic planning process, for we knew that decisions about our future must begin with a clear understanding about what the College does best.
Our highly personalized approach to education ensures that each of our undergraduates benefits from a unique experience designed to meet individual needs. Yet all share a four-year journey designed to develop maturity, 良好的价值观, 领导潜力.
Because of this longstanding commitment to the holistic development of students, 华盛顿 & 澳门葡京博彩软件 is known around the world for producing respected leaders in every field of endeavor. Our graduates are sought by leading employers and graduate schools for their professional readiness, 领导能力, 和非凡的正直. This combination also ensures that they are often the first among their peers to be promoted.
Developing exceptional leaders has been W&J的使命. As the American Revolution drew to a close, our founders foresaw the need for an educated citizenry to help lead a newly independent nation. The charters of the two predecessor schools spoke of a mission to “promote the public good” and to ensure the “good government of states, 以及社会的和平与福利.”
Consider how this larger sense of purpose contrasts with the rhetoric of today’s politicians and media pundits that tends to reduce a college degree to a ticket to a trade – a private good measured solely in terms of its benefit to the individual graduate. W&J’s founders had no doubt that their students would be well prepared for professional success, but they insisted that they also commit themselves to serving the good of others. This vision was reiterated after the Civil War when Jonathan Edwards, 合并学院的校长, 宣布W&J’s highest aim was “to secure and to hold forth the true principles of national liberty, 稳定与进步.” It would do so by equipping graduates to lead and serve.
Our new strategic plan carries this mission forward with a commitment to ensure every student gains the leadership skills, 知识, and values necessary to tackle complex problems, 达成共识, 解决冲突, and effect positive change for the common good. We believe it is our responsibility to prepare leaders to meet ethical challenges in every sector of 21st century society.
A new Center for Leadership and Ethics is now being designed, and with it the curricular and co-curricular resources to even more intentionally form W&J students as leaders of exceptional competence and character. We welcome your ideas and look forward to keeping you apprised of our progress with this exciting new initiative.
带着我的感激，
约翰·C. 克纳普,Ph值.D.
校长兼教授
