Hope College unveils 2025 plan

GROWING IN HOPE — Hope’s ten-year plan will pave the way for national recognition. (Photo: Hope College)

Hope College’s influence on us as students is significant and will be a constant mold that shapes us into the future leaders we are destined to become. Even though many of us will graduate in the next four years or so, we still should take the time to see what Hope has to offer in the future. One day, we will be alumni and it will be a blessing to watch how Hope transforms and grows as we do.

The mission of Hope is to educate students for lives of leadership through academic and co-curricular programs. These programs are to be a recognized excellence in the liberal arts and in the context of historic Christian faith. President John Knapp’s new strategic plan for the upcoming years at Hope College was released recently to faculty. But it can also be available to students. So take the time and see what Hope is not only doing for us now, but for the future. The introduction to the plan states, “The 2025 Hope College plan is anchored by the mission of Hope and guided by strategic planning to gain national and international stature as both a leading liberal arts college and a leader in a Christ-centered higher education.”

The Hope College Board of Trustees unanimously approved the strategic plan on April 30, 2015. This plan was released this September, 2016. These plans have been dutifully discussed and voted upon. Knapp states from the strategic plan blog, “the 2025 Hope College strategic plan represents nearly two years of dedication, hard work and collaboration by hundreds of people in the Hope community. I am grateful for the many contributions that added to the development of this road map for the coming decade.”

The strategic plan follows six goals with objectives under each goal that offer challenge and opportunity for Hope. The goals are to work together as a unit. Hope’s values, such as a working community coming together and growing collectively, are intertwined within the plan. This is what makes Hope’s culture, and what makes Hope College the individual and unique institution it is today. And it only can keep moving in that direction. Hope College has been viewed as an institute of excellence and rigor. Always following a dual path of academics and the Christian faith. But as the nation develops and changes, so must Hope’s goals and reflection.

The strategic plan is available online at hope.edu/strategicplan. The six goals touch on academics, Christian formation, global engagement, community, reputation and influence and value. You can follow the plan through the years as the website offers a track of progress in available charts and graphs. These visuals help us see how far we have come and how far we still have to go. Ultimately through this plan, the goal is to build Hope’s reputation on a national level. Hope’s recognition on a national level will benefit us in the future and alumni holding Hope degrees. It will not only increase of the value of the school, but of us as employees once we step off Hope’s campus.

Hope’s six strategic plan goals, each developed alongside the college’s stated mission and its founding principle “Spera in Deo” (Hope in God), will lead us to accomplish this bold and strategic vision. As a member of the Hope community, check into the strategic plan today. Follow and learn more about the destination we are traveling toward.