Hanna Aggen
On January 25, 2024, President Timothy Trainor gave the State of the Mount Address, a ritual he has performed many times during his presidency.
He began his speech by speaking on the re-accreditation of the university. There is a group of over 70 faculty, administrators, staff and students contributing to the Self-Study Report. This is a process the university goes through every 10 years.
The university needs to stay accredited for students to be able to use federal funding. “I am very confident we will get reaccredited,” said Trainor.
The president then moved on to talk about the student population growth and changes over the past few years. The Mount’s student population is very diverse and is becoming even more so. The class of 2027 brought a rise in diversity, in several areas.
Moving on to look at the future of the student population, Trainor stated, “Things are looking good for next year’s freshman class.” There are already many applications submitted, with several students committed for the fall.
The Mount’s admissions team is expanding their recruiting though, as Trainor then went on to speak about the new initiatives they are pushing. Not only adding to the Founder’s Scholarship competition but to several grants, which Trainor believes will drive more students to apply and commit. The university’s student-athlete recruiting is also a part of the growth plan.
As of now, there are over 100 verbal commitments for the class of 2028, with more to come. The Mount has plans to add new academic programs, but in doing so, they also must consider which programs are not getting attention, and possibly need to be cut.
Looking to the future Trainor said that his first strategic priority is student success. As Trainor was wrapping up the address, he said, “When I look at a strategic plan, we have three priorities.
Student success, having a faith and values-based campus environment, and financial sustainability and stewardship.”
He spoke about the expansion of the science building and the plans to renovate the ARCC.
In closing, Trainor ended with this quote, guiding us to be mindful of how we became successful as a university, “As we think about the future, the reason we have been successful in growing our enrollment is we focused on growth.”
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