After a year of intense study and work among the faculty, staff and students of Calvin, has turned his attention to leading the college in the formation of a new strategic plan.

The president is also going to spend more time interacting with alumni and friends of the college as he travels around North America and beyond.

These two elements—strategic planning and alumni interaction—are linked. Now is the time for those who care about Calvin to enter into this very important dialogue on the college’s future.

As the plan is being developed this fall, the president will be sharing key components to alumni and friends as he traverses Calvin Nation. If you attend these events, you’ll have an opportunity to share your perspective directly with him.

He did this for the first time with a group of Calvin friends on Mercer Island, a Seattle suburb, in August.

The president mentioned six areas of focus: clarifying the college mission; renewing teaching and learning; reshaping the curriculum; emphasizing inter-cultural competency; continual assessment in the light of current realities; and diligent stewardship of campus resources. It was clear that his enthusiasm for Calvin and his vision for the college’s future was inspiring to those in attendance.

If you attend one of these events, we’ll keep you in touch with the plan as it makes its way through a variety of iterations. This process leads up to a meeting next February for final deliberation and passage.

And there will be two great chances for virtually all alumni to engage the plan: first, at this year as the president will be available at a town hall meeting on ; and second, during a fall “Telephone Town Hall” meeting when the college will simultaneously call all alumni who have accurate phone numbers in the college data base and allow grads to hear from and interact with the president. (IMPORTANT: Send your phone number to alumni@calvin.edu or parents@calvin.edu if you don’t think we have the correct one.)

We did an all-alumni telephone conversation with the president last spring and I am still getting positive alumni feedback on the quality of the information and the dialogue.

If the president happens to be coming your way after February, there is still much to discuss as the new plan is fleshed out and specifics emerge. From what I can tell, this president is intent on continuing open dialogue with alumni and friends of the college in whatever format available.

The folks in Seattle were impressed—and appreciative. Make sure you join them this year, a year that may be as formative as any in Calvin’s history.