Letter from the President
“Knowledge into Action” is a strategic plan that reaches into the wellspring of our strengths as an institution of educational excellence and a source of positive change to best position us for challenging futures. It champions Grinnell College as a community of inquiry with a legacy of moving knowledge into action. It prepares us for the work ahead by engaging our long tradition of being a catalyst for change; calling on the vital forces of belonging and connection; prompting action for collective equity; and building shared goals to further common ground.
Its competitive assertion is that the applied learning of a Grinnell education distinctly prepares students and constituents of the College for the grand challenges of a multi-racial democracy in a global society; and that doing so within the unique setting of Grinnell, Iowa positions us to address the tests and opportunities of being a global college in a rural setting with a national voice.
Through an iterative process, four themes have been articulated that will move the institution over the next seven years to both a more fulfilling experience for all of its constituencies and a resulting more competitive position within higher education: Catalyst for Educational Excellence; Belonging and Connection; Collective Equity; and Shared Goals and Common Ground.
The integrity of our institution is developed by our constituents’ experiences of it. As such, this is a plan designed to change the institution so that its opportunities and outcomes are equitably experienced for all of its constituents. It is a plan designed to create structures of striving so that we can live up to our professed values for all who learn at Grinnell College. Positioned at the vibrant intersections of knowledge and action, and of campus and community, its boldness is grounded in its assertion that a Grinnell education changes the world, starting with the individuals and communities creating and experiencing that education in the collective impact for the common good that we can create together.
Anne F. Harris
President