Aspirational Universities and Planned Visits

Selecting our Aspirational Universities

In April 2022, the Strategic Planning Steering Committee circulated a message to the campus community with a proposed list of aspirational universities and an invitation to recommend additional institutions that we might study. The steering committee then revised the list of 10 aspirational institutions and intend to send a university delegation to select institutions.

Aspirant University List

• Bradley University
• Christopher Newport University
• Elon University
• Emerson College
• James Madison University
• SUNY College at Geneseo
• The College of New Jersey
• Truman State University
• College of Charleston
• Miami University of Ohio

Planned Visits

A delegation of Georgia College campus members will be visiting select universities from our aspirational list in September and October. The intention is to study and document approaches, ideas, and strategies on themes that are strategic to University and its success.

Specific areas of emphasis include:

• student success and retention strategies
• transformative experiences for students
• institutional branding and enrollment management
• diversity and inclusion
• community engagement
• innovation in academic programming and pedagogy
• graduate education and continuous learning
• research in a liberal arts context

This is an ongoing learning process. Although the Georgia College delegates cannot conduct site visits for all universities, the steering committee intends to learn from many of them and adapt best practices to our own campus operations.  We will continue to learn from other universities throughout this process. 

There will be multiple opportunities for continued stakeholder participation. If you have ideas about additional universities from which we can learn, please email the strategic planning committee at: strategic.planning@gcsu.edu.