Campus successes realized through strategic planning

Pitt-Bradford spent a good part of 2013-2014 reflecting on its history during its 50th anniversary year, but not without keeping an eye on the future.

As 2014 came to a close, the campus was not only wrapping up its half-century commemoration celebration, but also putting the finishing touches on its most recent five-year strategic plan, a living planning document that provides a roadmap for decision making at Pitt-Bradford.

“Without a guiding document, it would be easy to get lost in the many requests we receive from within,” explained Dr. Livingston Alexander, president, who shepherded the development of the last two five-year plans for the campus and is working with various stakeholders to create campus priorities for the next five years.

Pitt-Bradford uses its five-year strategic plans in order to make consistent, measured progress toward long-term goals. For example, progress made in the last five years is immediately evident just by driving or walking onto the 317-acre campus, which has undergone several capital projects in that time.

“One of our goals in 2009 was to develop a showcase campus featuring newly constructed or renovated academic buildings, residence halls and athletic facilities,” Alexander said.

While work remains to be done that will continue in the next plan, in the last five years, the campus has built the Sarah B. Dorn House (2010) and Lester and Barbara Rice House (2014) residence halls, bringing the campus’s housing capacity to 1,047 beds.

Also, the Harriett B. Wick Chapel opened in 2010, which was the same year Pitt-Bradford completed a $6 million renovation of Fisher Hall and its science labs.

In addition, the university secured a $3 million grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to renovate its downtown Seneca Building property and create the Marilyn Horne Museum and Exhibit Center.

An earlier, $2.5 million state grant secured by Pitt-Bradford and the city of Bradford from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program allowed for the complete renovation of the Kessel Athletic Complex, including the additional parking, concession stands, new lighting and a rebuilt softball field.

And, of course, there was the addition of a new bronze panther statue by Bradford native David Hodges as part of the campus’s 50th anniversary celebration.

Other accomplishments from the last five years are reflected on the Pitt-Bradford web site (new in 2014) and include a new virtual tour, as well as a long page of bragging rights that are one way to measure the university’s academic reputation.

The Princeton Review named Pitt-Bradford to its list of “Best Colleges in the Northeast” for the 11th year in a row for 2015. In 2013, Pitt-Bradford was recognized as one of the 10 best regional campuses in the United States by thebestcolleges.org. The year before, The Princeton Review named Pitt-Bradford one of the 150 Best Value Colleges in the United States.

“We’re of course very pleased to be so consistently recognized as one of the best baccalaureate colleges in this part of the country,” Alexander said.  “Such national recognition of our quality is yet another indication of the successful impact of our long-term strategic planning efforts.”

The university has also taken steps to give students more academic support outside of the classroom, adding an advising center, a writing center, a mathematics center to an academic support complex that also includes a an academic coaching and tutoring center, disability support services and TRiO, a federal grant-funded program that helps students at-risk for not completing a degree with all facets of college life.

“These new programs are part of our effort to promote academic success,” Alexander said. The effort is paying off in important gains in retention that are helping the university maintain its enrollment. From 2009 to 2014, Pitt-Bradford’s four-year graduation rate rose 37 percent and its six-year rate rose 17 percent.

Another marker of the university’s improving academic reputation has been an increase in certification test pass rates for one of its most popular programs, nursing. For the last four years, the program’s associate of science in nursing students have had an average 96 percent pass rate on the National Council Licensure Exam. In 2014, the program’s 90 percent pass rate was eight points higher than the national average and seven points higher than the pass rate at other programs in Pennsylvania.

“Nursing, biology and criminal justice have emerged as outstanding programs,” Alexander said. “Accounting has also emerged as a more popular program. As we move forward, our intent is to continue to add resources to these highly popular programs, even as we work to strengthen and support each of our academic programs.”

That support for the last five years has been built up through the completion of the $17.5 million “50 and Beyond Campaign,” which sought to add $6.5 million in in scholarships, $6.5 million for capital projects and $2.6 million for academic enhancements.

One of those capital projects, the construction of the Harriett B. Wick Chapel, created a home base for the campus’s new Office of Community Engagement, which serves as a support center and a clearinghouse for campus-community service work. Tonya Ackley, who serves in the newly created position of coordinator of community engagement, tracked nearly 8,000 hours of student service to the community during the 2011-12 academic year alone.

Community engagement, academic programs and the needs of a growing on-campus student population will all be in consideration as the university continues work on its next five-year plan to keep it strong for years to come.

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