Monday, Nov. 13, College of William and Mary President Katherine Rowe hosted a campus forum on the College’s Vision 2026 strategic plan in Brinkley Commons at Alan B. Miller Hall.
The event was centered around Vision 2026’s four main pillars: data, water, democracy and careers. In an email to the campus community on Thursday, Nov. 9, Rowe detailed how these individual elements tie into the College’s existing goals as an institution.
“Each of our four Vision 2026 cornerstones – data, water, democracy and careers – builds on the institution’s strengths in the liberal arts, sciences and professional education,” Rowe wrote in the email. “They expand our reach, deepen the impact of the education we offer and meet the evolving demands of excellence in the 21st century.”
Since Oct. 2022, Rowe has discussed Vision 2026 at every College board of visitors meeting.
Monday’s panel featured College Provost Peggy Agouris, Dean of the School of Marine Science and Director of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science Derek Aday, College Vice President for Student Affairs Virginia M. Ambler ’88 Ph.D. ’06 and Chief Career Officer and College Associate Vice President for Advancement Kathleen Powell.
College Vice President for Strategy and Innovation Jeremy P. Martin Ph.D.’12, M.B.A. ’17 welcomed Rowe to the stage. Rowe first acknowledged the temporary interruption that COVID-19 brought to Vision 2026, and celebrated how the College can now move forward with its long-term development goals.
“What’s nice about being able to look longer-term, thinking about overarching strategy, 10, 20 years out, is that it really accommodates the different rhythms and different parts of the institution,” Rowe said.
“What’s nice about being able to look longer-term, thinking about overarching strategy, 10, 20 years out, is that it really accommodates the different rhythms and different parts of the institution,” Rowe said.
Agouris began the presentation with a discussion on the “data” portion of the initiative. She highlighted the ongoing construction of the new Integrated Science Center IV, the College’s plans to establish a new school of computing, data science, applied science and physics and recent funding that will support new research initiatives and networking opportunities.
“Applied science and data science fields are really prominent and they are very much in line with student demand,” Agouris said. “We really wanted to create a very interdisciplinary, multi-perspective hub in the area of data science so that it becomes part of our community.”
On Friday, Nov. 17 the BOV voted to approve the establishment of the new school housing the computing, data science, applied science and physics departments.
Aday then presented on the “water” section of Vision 2026 in addition to the College’s partnerships dedicated to monitoring water quality and collaborating with indigenous groups, he discussed the College’s commitment to developing innovative solutions to the challenges impacting Virginia’s coastal waters. Aday shared how the College’s long-term plan to offer an undergraduate major in the school of marine sciences will support these objectives.
“We’re working with partners in Arts and Sciences and the Provost’s office to develop an undergraduate major in the school of Marine Science, and that’s a fairly lengthy process, as you know, that has to go through SCHEV,” Aday said. “But we’ve continued to work on that and we’re getting close to the point that we’ll be ready to submit for approval internally before we move on from there.”
Aday also highlighted that the Virginia Institute for Marine Science increased its operating budget by approximately 20% through state initiatives and increased federal funding for research.
Ambler, who spoke on the “democracy” part of the plan, detailed at the College to promote free speech and civil discussion.
“Some of the key actions associated with the initiative, we really want to make sure that William and Mary’s voice is elevated in the national global conversations around democracy,” Ambler said. “Our provost mentioned [Taylor Reveley Research Professor and Professor of Law Margaret Hu], who was actually part of the Senate hearing on artificial intelligence.”
Ambler also highlighted collaborations with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. She then invited the College community members to contact her if they want to be involved with the democracy initiative.
“We also launched a Democracy Vision 2026 podcast this semester where we could bring our faculty, our researchers, our staff and our alumni together to talk about issues related to democracy and all of the pillars,” Ambler said. “ That has been really exciting for us. The work of the Office of Strategic and Cultural Partnerships is doing fantastic work around the Bray School, around their partnership with Colonial Williamsburg.”
Powell, speaking on the “careers” aspect, highlighted the recently-launched One Network. According to a university-wide email from Director of Alumni Career Management and Professional Networks and Senior Assistant Director of Alumni Career and Professional Engagement Michael Steelman, One Network is an application similar to LinkedIn, but solely for use by the College.
“Through technology, we have the opportunity to actually call in all of our alumni, our parents, our faculty and staff,” Powell said. “If you haven’t joined One Network, I encourage you to do that, then you can actually raise your hand and say, ‘I want to help with presentation, I want to help with programming, I want to help with a variety of things.’ If we’re going to scale up, the best we can do that is by calling in all of our partners.”
Powell also cited other initiatives, such as summer internship programs, intern grants and alumni donor campaigns facilitated by the Roy R. Charles Center for Academic Excellence.
After the discussion, the panel opened up to questions. Director of Latin American Studies and associate professor of Hispanic Studies John Riofrio raised concerns about pushback against the liberal arts and the wellbeing of students.
“We are not just our career, you know, not just the majors,” Riofrio said. “I was wondering if anyone can speak to the centrality of the liberal arts as we continue to move forward with all of these pillars, which I think are really worth having.”
“We are not just our career, you know, not just the majors,” Riofrio said. “I was wondering if anyone can speak to the centrality of the liberal arts as we continue to move forward with all of these pillars, which I think are really worth having.”
Agouris addressed the question first.
“The distinct advantage of having an approach like ours is that everything we do is unique,” Agouris said. “What I mean by that is we offer education to our students that prepare them not for the first job after they graduate, but for everything that is to come, including their own role as they become citizens and make as they become leaders.”
Ambler also offered her thoughts.
“As the senior student affairs officer, I couldn’t be more thrilled to hear our provost speak to where she is, because we are also really committed to the education of the whole student at William and Mary,” Ambler said. “When we talk about being the most personal educational experience, it’s because our students and faculty know one another, it’s because we’re committed to the residential experience for undergraduates, our investment in the comprehensive Housing and Dining master plan is affirmation of that.”
Powell also added that, through internships, the College encourages students to explore and make themselves more attractive to employers.
Martin said he wanted to offer a fun fact on the matter.
“If you go back to the Royal Charter of William and Mary by writ,” Martin said. “One of the more interesting things about the document, it never uses the phrase exclusively ‘liberal arts,’ that document [in] 1693 uses the phrase, every single time, it’s four times as used in the document, the liberal arts and sciences.’”
Attendee William Henderson ’26 shared his appreciation for the updates and expressed his excitement about the continuation of the College’s liberal arts values and research under these new frameworks.
“I think a lot of students do a lot of hard work here at the college, especially at the undergraduate and graduate levels,” Henderson said. “Sometimes you don’t hear about that research. But I think to be able to hear it, see it actively happening and being used at the university level, globally, and in many different facets, I think will be really exciting to see in the next few years.”
