President Rebecca Chopp’s Comments on the Colgate Strategic Plan

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In a world where boundaries change by the hour, the new liberal arts must embrace the creation and discovery of knowledge. Colgate’s curriculum, residential life and campus culture will encourage the passion and adventure of working at the outer limits in all fields and across all disciplines, whether in advanced institutes on major topics of the day, or in integrative learning that brings the classroom, the studio and the laboratory together with residential education. As they study with faculty who are real-world scholars, Colgate students will learn to be makers and users of knowledge, not passive receivers of information.

Colgate’s size and tradition of scholarship combine in a rare environment where undergraduates learn not only the methods of research, but also the thrill and satisfaction of creating intellectual capital. Because Colgate is larger than almost all of its undergraduate liberal arts peers, the university supports the critical mass of faculty and students necessary for a rich intellectual community. By continuing to support and develop faculty scholars across the disciplines, and in doing so expanding opportunities for faculty and students to connect and collaborate, Colgate will become a model for integrating research and creativity in the liberal arts ‘ a liberal arts university.