The 20/20 Project: A Vision for Gordon’s Future

Up Front with President Michael Lindsay

"Our vision is unabashedly bold: We aim to be the liberal arts college of choice worldwide for developing thoughtful Christian leaders."

We are nearing the finish line of our yearlong commemoration of Gordon’s 125th anniversary. We are celebrating our identity as a community fully committed to Jesus Christ, one crafting novel approaches to advancing his work in the world. Our focus on heroes and heroines of our history became especially poignant upon the passing in November of our seventh president, Jud Carlberg. We are so grateful to Jud for his faithful leadership of this place that he and Jan loved to call home.

We also have remembered where we are. Geographically that means Greater Boston, a world-class nexus of research, technology, the arts, and innovation of all kinds. Gordon faculty and students benefit from access to this vibrant metropolis. Our alumni are—and increasingly will be—making contributions in Boston and in other key places around the world.

But where is not just about map coordinates. We also occupy a position in the landscape of higher education—a unique, countercultural position. This year made it clear what a challenge it is to maintain our position as a faith-based college in the cosmopolitan Northeast. It made it clear, too, that our identity as a distinctively Christian community of learners needs to be staked on what we’re for, not what we’re against.

Reflecting on where we’ve been leads naturally to questions about where we are going. What will Gordon College look like in five years? Our new Strategic Plan, “The 20/20 Project,” provides a blueprint for the future that is both practical and aspirational. The plan is the fruit of intensive research, numerous conversations, and careful review, the collective effort of many during the College’s 125th anniversary year. It outlines initiatives Gordon will pursue from 2015 through 2020 to achieve its mission, in the context of this era’s particular challenges and opportunities in higher education. I invite you to read highlights of the plan at www.gordon.edu/2020project. 

Our vision is unabashedly bold: We aim to be the liberal arts college of choice worldwide for developing thoughtful Christian leaders. You will hear more from me in the coming months about the 20/20 Project, but let me leave you for now with the most important thing to know about the process: it was birthed in an extended time of prayer. Proverbs 16:3 became our theme verse for the strategic-planning process: “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”

It has been our prayer—and yours as well, I hope—that at the end of this dreaming and planning process we will be even closer to being the institution that the Lord wants Gordon College to be.

[email protected] | www.gordon.edu/president's page | twitter.com/GordonPres 

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