Michael S. Roth '78

Each year I write to the Wesleyan community with an update on the university’s progress in relation to our strategic framework, Wesleyan 2020. As you may recall, this document was approved by the Board of Trustees in 2010 and was the basis for a “strategy map.” We continue to use these guideposts to help us allocate … Read more

Just about a year ago, I wrote to update the Wesleyan community on the university’s progress in relation to our strategic framework, Wesleyan 2020. This document was approved by the Board of Trustees in 2010 and was the basis for a “strategy map.” We continue to use these guideposts to help us allocate our resources, … Read more

It’s been just about a year since I sent out an update on our work from the perspective of Wesleyan 2020, the framework for planning adopted by the Board of Trustees in 2010. That framework continues to be helpful as we think about the university’s future, how to best allocate our resources, and how to … Read more

Over the last several months we have been discussing ways to make our budgeting for financial aid more sustainable while also ensuring that our objective of creating a diverse campus experience is fulfilled. In fundraising we have made financial aid endowment (complemented by gifts to current scholarships through the Wesleyan Fund) our highest priority. Below … Read more

Wesleyan 2020 Update, Fall 2012 About a year has passed since I sent out an update concerning our work implementing the strategic initiatives described in Wesleyan 2020, a framework for planning passed by the Board of Trustees more than two years ago.  We have been using this framework to organize our thinking about the future, … Read more

Almost a year and a half has passed since the Board of Trustees adopted Wesleyan 2020 as a framework for strategic planning, and we have been using the document to organize our thinking about the future, allocate resources and assess our performance. Wesleyan 2020 emphasizes three overarching goals: to energize Wesleyan’s distinctive educational experience; to … Read more

In the spring of 2009 I had extensive discussions with faculty, students and staff about the distinctive aspects of the Wesleyan experience, and then I spent the summer developing a framework for strengthening these aspects. In the fall of 2009 we posted Wesleyan 2020: Preliminary Reflections on Planning. Since September, responses and suggestions have been … Read more

The following was sent to the Wesleyan community on February 18, 2010. Dear Friends: Since my return to Wesleyan in 2007, alumni have often asked me why our endowment no longer ranks among the largest of small liberal arts schools. In the early 1980s, our endowment was roughly equal to those of Amherst and Williams, … Read more

After the Thanksgiving break it will seem like a mad dash until the end of the semester. Suddenly those term papers loom large for students, while for faculty the grading that has piled up has to be completed before the final rush of exams and essays. It’s not the best time to think about long-term … Read more

I have been receiving much feedback on Wesleyan 2020, and I am grateful for it. Earlier this month the Wesleyan Board of Trustees met, and along with faculty, staff and student representatives, spent two days thinking about a strategy map for Wesleyan. It was an intense and engaging process, as we discussed values and attributes … Read more

Dear friends, What follows are my preliminary thoughts on planning, prepared this summer. This draft is my response to the discussions we have already had about possible initiatives at Wesleyan as well as to some of the achievements of my predecessors. Shortly after I began my presidency at Wesleyan in the summer of 2007, I … Read more