Building Great Lives

A Strategic Plan for Huntingdon College

We build great lives!

For 164 years, Huntingdon College has produced men and women who are difference-makers in communities across Alabama and around the world. Our loyal and servant-spirited alumni are making important contributions to medicine and science, education, law and public service, business and industry, the arts and humanities, and the Church.

Today, Huntingdon College is the home of a vibrant, dynamic, and diverse student body poised to make their own mark on their career fields and in the communities where they will live. During the last 15 years, Huntingdon has experienced dramatic enrollment growth in large part due to the creation of new enrollment pipelines and new facilities to support additional programs. The College has a deeply devoted teaching faculty and a staff who genuinely care about the success of each student. While there are many colleges and universities in America, we believe that Huntingdon is a rare and unique institution. 

“Building Great Lives” has been developed to position Huntingdon to deliver our exceptional value to a broader range of students by further developing areas where the College already enjoys a sustainable competitive advantage. The themes and strategies identified in the plan will help Huntingdon grow to 1,000 students in our traditional day program by 2023.

This is an exciting era in the life of Huntingdon College. Join me in helping Huntingdon advance to the next level of excellence and build the next generation of great lives.

For Huntingdon,

J. Cameron West
President of the College

 

 

Theme 1:  Experiential Enrollment Initiatives

Huntingdon’s growth during the last decade has been the result primarily of additional cohorts of students participating in NCAA Division III athletics and the Huntingdon Bands program. Today, the College proudly sponsors 18 NCAA athletic teams and affirms our active participation in NCAA Division III. The College plans to achieve additional growth by focusing on specific experiential learning programs.

Financial aid awards and new academic-oriented initiatives will be established to attract prospective students to these program

Presidential Fellows

In fall 2018, Huntingdon will begin recruiting a new cohort of Presidential Fellows who will participate in one of six experiential learning teams in lieu of participation in intercollegiate athletics. These students will enter Huntingdon with a minimum ACT score of 23 and will commit 10 hours per week to participation in one of the six initial experiential learning teams:

• Academic Peer Coaching Team
• Forensics/Debate Team
• Media Production /Social Media Team
• Student Technology Support Team
• Undergraduate Science Research Team

Presidential Fellows will have numerous opportunities for engagement with their cohort throughout their four-year experience. These students will receive stackable scholarship aid on top of selected institutional awards, significantly enhancing Huntingdon’s ability to compete for students in higher ACT brackets.

Work Grant Program

Another unique financial aid/service-learning initiative is the creation of the Huntingdon College Work Grant Program. Numerous campus departments are in need of part-time student labor to meet the growing demands of our vibrant campus life. Students participating in one of these campus jobs will commit a minimum of 10 hours per week to their assigned campus department and will receive work grant benefits over and above financial aid otherwise awarded.

Summer Academies

Additionally, the College will continue to invest in growing summer academic recruitment programs. These summer academies bring prospective students to campus and increase the overall awareness among high school students of the many academic and co-curricular opportunities at Huntingdon College. Initial offerings of the Huntingdon Health Sciences Academy and Huntingdon Economic and Community Development Scholars Program have already proven successful in both expanding students’ career mindsets and recruiting higher-achieving students to Huntingdon.

Expanding Non-Athletic Participation Opportunities

In addition to the Presidential Fellows, the College will utilize a team model to attract students to participate in the Huntingdon Ensemble, Huntingdon Ministry Fellowship, and the Economic and Community Development Leadership Program. Students participating in these programs will have expanded opportunities for engaging in fields of interest.

Graduate Programs

Huntingdon will pursue the implementation of selected graduate programs at a time appropriate to the overall SACSCOC accreditation process.

Theme 2: Strengthening the Physical Facilities

Facility renewal and enhancement have been College priorities for the last 15 years. Huntingdon will continue to strengthen its physical environment through careful planning; identifying projects that have the greatest impact for the recruitment and retention of students. Included are:

• Constructing or enhancing athletic and/or related facilities to generate specific cohort growth. The stand-alone soccer and softball fields at the newly created W. James Samford, Jr. Soccer and Softball Complex, the sand volleyball courts at the Alice D. Reynolds Outdoor Volleyball Center, and the completed Huntingdon Bands Rehearsal Hall are new and renovated facilities which have driven increased enrollments in these programs.
• Enhancing the College’s technological infrastructure to improve residence hall connectivity, administrative networks, and classroom technology, and to provide for a content management system for online learning.
• Programming and constructing a campus wellness center to include a competition-size indoor pool, an outdoor recreation pool, 24-hour available cardio equipment, an indoor walking track, and an indoor climbing wall. This facility will provide a unique internship environment for students majoring in sport management, as well as providing a wellness center for use by our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and neighbors.
• Establishing the Caroline Slawson Campus Commons by converting the original section of the Houghton Memorial Library into a 24-hour student center for study and meeting space.

• Expanding the campus community to further students’ Journey to Independence. As enrollment continues to expand, the College will continue to identify and secure alternative housing options near the main campus to provide a low cost and more flexible alternative to traditional residence hall construction.

• Utilizing newly acquired properties for retail. The purchase of neighborhood stalwarts Capitol Book and News and Richardson’s Pharmacy allow for the College to begin the process of relocating its retail merchandise sales from the campus interior to a location more conducive to retail sales and community awareness, as well as to consider new programs that serve the community.

Theme 3:  Placing Service to Students at the Center of Everything We Do

“The success of every student is the focus of everything we do” is the mindset of every member of the Huntingdon faculty and staff. The College will continue to place emphasis on the retention of students by providing programming to meet students where they are and to serve them with quality learning experiences. Included are:

• Early intervention for students identified as “at risk.”
• Increased student participation in tutoring, advising, and mentoring services.
• Development of strategic courses to support student success.
• Expanded vocational discernment programming.
• Implementation of a Second Year Experience Program.

Theme 4:  Strengthening our Financial Resources

Tuition alone does not provide all of the resources necessary for operating any college or university. Since the founding of Huntingdon College in 1854, friends of the College have made investments in programs and facilities to provide the transformational experience our students have enjoyed for more than 164 years. During the next five years, Huntingdon will continue to strengthen financial resources in order to achieve the established goals of “Building Great Lives.”

The College will seek to raise $11.1 million in capital gifts to support the facilities identified in Theme 2. As of July 2018, $2.7 million has been raised or pledged to support these facility enhancements. Numerous naming opportunities have been identified for friends and alumni who are interested in having a space named in their honor or in memory of a loved one.

Huntingdon will finance specific projects that will produce additional tuition revenue in order to offset the debt generated.

The College will continue to encourage all friends and alumni to consider gifts to Huntingdon as part of their estate planning.

Contact

For more information about giving to Huntingdon College, please contact Senior Vice President Anthony Leigh at (334) 833-4528 or aleigh@hawks.applegatearchitects.com.