Overview
As we prepare to enter a third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, we remain committed to the values and principles we in the College of Arts & Letters articulated in our 2020 Contingency Plan. The core College values of equity, openness, and community were there combined with the principles to 1) put people first; 2) enact our commitment to equity; 3) advance our core academic mission; 4) lead transformative change. While this document continues to orient our responses to the pandemic, it is vital here to turn in earnest to the transformative change we promised ourselves to lead.
In what follows, we outline how we hope to create the infrastructure for a more humane and purposeful post-COVID era of higher education. Our efforts are shaped by the MSU Strategic Plan, and particularly its commitment, first and foremost, to student, staff, and faculty success, its intersectional approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and its articulation of transdisciplinary excellence oriented toward global impact and well-being. Our commitment to the College community has led us to embrace an Appreciative Inquiry process to help democratize our culture, as we build our strategic vision for the future. The College of Arts & Letters has a vital and irreducible role to play in putting the core commitments of the MSU Strategic Plan into concrete practice, and this planning letter will outline the structural transformations required to enact the vision to:
- Advance Student, Staff, and Faculty Success,
- Enact an Intersectional Approach to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and
- Elevate Transdisciplinary Excellence for Global Impact and well-being