Approach to Institutional Improvement

Haverford's approach to institutional improvement is grounded in our vision as an institution founded to exist in perpetuity. Haverford is a distinctive institution with a specific heritage, culture, and character, and a national liberal arts institution which shares an educational philosophy and purpose with a group of peers. In order to achieve its goals, the college engages in comprehensive strategic planning and assessment.

Comprehensive planning

Planning at Haverford occurs at various levels

• Through Senior Staff, each division of the institution develops annual goals and operating plans to provide focus on key issues and assess progress toward objectives. These divisional plans help shape the President's annual Administrative Priorities for the College.
• Units and cross-divisional groups develop longer-range plans for specific focus areas (Campus Master Plan, Library Strategic Plan, Plan for the Arts).
• Strategic planning at the institutional level draws faculty, staff, students, alumni, and the board into broader conversation about the College's vision for itself. It produces a coherent, achievable set of priorities on which to focus institutional energies and resources. Strategic planning is derivative and recursive in that it both draws from the insights and work embedded in divisional and area planning, and it informs the shape of future plans at the operational level.

Assessment and Evaluation

• Assessment of academic and administrative programs
• Assessment of Student Learning: Provost and academic departments, supported by the IEC and Institutional Research Office
• Performance evaluation
• Faculty: Provost, Academic Council
• Staff: Senior Administrative Staff via Department Managers/Directors
• Senior Staff: President
• President: Board of Managers