Members of the Saint Mary's Board of Trustees arrived on campus Tuesday for the first of four meetings this year.
This year, the board has two new members - student trustee Cate Setta, a senior, and Sister Michelle Germanson, the president of Trinity High School in River Forest, Ill. The Trustees will remain on campus until Friday.
Germanson and Setta, the 33rd and 34th board members, respectively, will participate in all of the group's meetings and activities, which will likely focus on a strategic plan for Saint Mary's.
While the details of the board's agenda for the meetings remains confidential prior to the hearings, College President Carol Ann Mooney confirmed the approval of the Strategic Plan would be one of the central items.
"Members of the community have heard about the plan previously and are aware that it will be discussed at the meetings," she said.
The Strategic Plan is Mooney's vision for the next five years, Executive Assistant to the President Susan Dampeer said, outlining "fundamental, principle goals and recommendations for the College."
"It is quite interesting," she said. "It sets out her goals and visions that she has been working on for the last year."
The goals of the Strategic Plan are outlined in the 26-page proposal distributed to members of the Board, Dampeer said. They include:
- Education excellence equal to that of the best colleges in the country.
- Sharpen the College's Catholic and women-centered identity.
- Diversify the campus.
- Stabilize and grow enrollment.
- Recruit and retain the best employees.
- Improve the physical campus and environmental impact.
- Increase financial resources.
"The Board had seen [the proposal] in its early stages, but now this is the final version," Dampeer said. "It is a fluid document and the main agenda item for the meetings."
The Board members will also propose and vote on individual own goals for the year.
All resolutions, such as the Strategic Plan, are approved through a majority vote of those in attendance, said Pam Putt, assistant secretary to the board and secretary to the president.
Board of Trustees Chair John O'Connor will formally announce any resolutions passed sometime next week.
The board meets every October, February, April and June.
