Strategic Plan
College Park Scholars Strategic Plan Update
In an effort to align the goals of College Park Scholars with those of the University of Maryland , College Park Scholars (Scholars) updated its strategic plan in 2001. The University will engage in a campus-wide strategic planning process during the 2007-2008 academic year.
Scholars serves 20-25 percent of the University of Maryland 's incoming freshmen. During the students' first two years, Scholars prepares them for competitive research opportunities and challenging internships. Through civic engagement, team projects and other activities, students examine and develop their personal character.
Housing for resident Scholars, and some classes, are provided within the Cambridge residence community comprised of Cumberland , Centerville , Cambridge , Chestertown, and Bel Air Halls and the Cambridge Community Center . Students live on floors that correspond to 12 thematically-linked academic programs: Advocates for Children; American Cultures; Arts; Business, Society and the Economy; Earth, Life, and Time; Environmental Studies; International Studies; Life Sciences; Media, Self, and Society; Public Leadership; Science, Discovery and the Universe; and Science, Technology and Society.
Over its ten-year existence, College Park Scholars has provided many benefits to individual students and to the campus. These benefits include, but are not limited to, improved recruitment and retention of talented undergraduates, along with continual innovation in teaching and learning for campus freshmen and sophomores.
The University of Maryland has followed its original Strategic Plan (1996) with five broad areas, as the framework for initiatives in the units, departments, and divisions of the University. These initiatives present an ambitious plan that touches every area of the University and that, when implemented, will accelerate our rapid movement forward. The plan envisions a broad effort to spread excellence across the campus through actions that will engage the entire community.
Maryland 's five initiatives follow:
- Continue to elevate the quality of undergraduate education in order to provide all students an enriched and challenging educational experience.
- Build a strong, university-wide culture of excellence in graduate and professional education, research, scholarship, and the creative and performing arts.
- Ensure a university environment that is inclusive as well as diverse and that fosters a spirit of community among faculty, staff, and students.
- Engage the University more fully in outreach and collaborative partnerships with the greater community.
- Ensure an administrative, operational, and physical infrastructure that fully supports a first-class university.
In line with these initiatives, the faculty and staff of College Park Scholars, wishing to continue a record of accomplishment and distinction, proposed the following three goals for the five-year period spanning from 2000 to 2005:
Goal 1 : To continue to serve as an exemplary living-learning community for freshmen and sophomores. In this role, Scholars will function to take in and nurture a critical number of talented, promising undergraduate students. In addition, the Scholars community will serve as a model for other learning communities on campus and at other universities.
Goal 2 : To complete construction and renovation to expand the College Park Scholars community, bringing Cambridge Community Center , Cambridge , Bel Air and Chestertown Halls into the family of improved residential facilities. Adding these four buildings will complete the physical living and learning environments, allowing for residency by more than 1,400 students and a variety of classroom, office and meeting spaces within the community.
Goal 3 : To enhance student and faculty development, raising the quality of undergraduate teaching and learning here and elsewhere. College Park Scholars programs will continue to provide superior conditions for undergraduate education and to conduct and disseminate research on improved methods and approaches.
