Dear Campus Community,
As we settle into a new academic year, I want to update you on
Project 2024 and share with you our plans for Year Three. In our first two years, groups across the college community discussed “what we hope to do,” and “how to do it.” We also addressed how challenges facing higher education, now and in the near future, will affect CC. You can find the summary reports from Years One and Two on the
Project 2024 website.
The Project 2024 Steering Committee, which consists of faculty, staff, students, alumni, and cabinet members, worked in Block 1 to finalize the plans for Year Three and to revisit other compelling ideas from Years One and Two. This year, groups led by Steering Committee members will focus on implementing proposals in two broad areas:
- Reinforcing liberal learning
- Valuing our people
In addition, three Big Idea coalitions will consider how CC can best prepare for the future we know and the one we can’t predict. These three groups are asked to
think way ahead, to
think big, and to work on communicating to the campus the gravity and urgency of these challenges and the need to act now. Read more about the Big Idea coalitions on the
Project 2024 website.
The college has already accomplished a great deal as it responds to conversations about how we can do what we do better. In response to what we have learned, our community has:
- found ways to save time and to collaborate with colleagues across the college,
- adopted the MIT standards for calculating a living wage and applied them to staff,
- started giving differential pay to employees working weekend and night shifts,
- raised the wages of student workers and visiting faculty,
- and adjusted faculty salaries to remain competitive with the market across all ranks while continuing to monitor internal equity within each rank by race, ethnicity, gender, and division.
In addition, the annual staff performance review process is being revamped for 2024, and the Office of Human Resources is working to revise the salary band structure and movement within the bands for staff.
Thank you to the entire CC community for getting us this far and continuing to engage in the work of Project 2024. We are committed to responding to the strong call for enhancing connection and to acting on the values we share. These include:
We are a place of learning.
We provide a liberal arts education in a residential setting using the Block Plan.
We value the health and wellbeing of the campus community, our work on antiracism, ensuring equity and access, protecting the environment, and providing clear, transparent, and effective communication.
Sincerely,
Susan Ashley
Professor of History and Project 2024 Coordinator
