Campus-Wide Transformation: An Overview

Bloomfield College sees its entire mission -- to prepare students to function at the peak of their potential in a multiracial, multicultural society -- in terms of multicultural transformation. Beginning in 1987, this transformation was orchestrated by a new president, John F. Noonan, who saw the College's multicultural identity as a unique resource and gave crucial support and leadership from the top. He led the trustees and faculty to refocus the mission on students' potential and the diversity of the College and society. The distinctive mission helped to secure and direct resources for college-wide change.

From 1989 to 1991, a major, competitive Excellence Initiative Grant from the New Jersey Department of Higher Education helped Bloomfield to expand key programs, create new ones, and link these in a unified project. "Toward a Multiracial, Multicultural Society" was Bloomfield College's Excellence Initiative for the Independents Project. It supported programs that reached every sector of the campus: students, faculty, administration, and staff. It supported programs for faculty and curriculum development, human relations, leadership and mentoring, honors, information technology, the Arts-as-Catalyst, and visiting minority scholars. The programs were dynamic, and still are, as they have been mainstreamed into the College, and phased into institutional and new outside funding, rather than phased out. College, foundation and corporate funds now support these programs as well as retention programs that target at-risk populations. The faculty has continued its focus on diversity and has added new professors with expertise in pluralism.

Practical Examples and Working Documents related to this topic

Mission Statement and Support for the Mission

...The curriculum is designed to provide students with the expertise they will need in their careers. The mission of Bloomfield College is to prepare students to function at the peak of their potential in a multiracial, multicultural society.

The College is committed to enabling students, particularly those who have traditionally been excluded from higher education, to realize their intellectual and personal goals. Programs of study are rooted in the liberal arts and assist students in obtaining the skills, knowledge, and values they need to become empowered, active individuals engaged in renewing themselves, their relationships, their workplaces, and their communities.

Programs are designed to help students think critically and quantitatively, speak effectively, write clearly, develop aesthetic appreciation, and integrate feelings and values. We believe students must gain a greater understanding of and appreciation for other cultures and for the unique racial and cultural diversity of the United States.

One of the strengths of the College is the rich diversity of its students. The College is committed to this richness because it provides an ideal context for personal growth and a basis for a better society. In joining Bloomfield College, each person assumes a personal responsibility to strive to achieve academic excellence, to take full advantage of the resources offered, and to contribute to the quality of the College community.

Approved by the Board of Trustees - June 27, 1991.

Support for the Mission

The power of any mission lies in the extent to which it can be a force for altering an institution's "design for living." Clearly, without strong support from the faculty, administration and board, the mission would have remained little more than rhetoric. The coherence and reality of the mission have been facilitated by strong leadership starting with the President, and effective communication among and involvement of all constituencies. The Board of Trustees is actively involved in the life of the College, and is itself diverse (30% minority).

Summary Evaluation*

Evaluation of all components and of the Excellence Initiative Grant was ongoing throughout the three-year period. Program Coordinators used work plans, interviews, questionnaires, attendance reports, focus groups, and consultants. Overall assessment was accomplished by a self-study questionnaire of students (answered by over 1100 of the then 1600 students) and by annual external review panels. The final external review was made by Dr. Donald Stewart, President, The College Board. He praised the achievements of the Excellence Initiative Programs and their effect on all constituencies of the campus. He evaluated positively the revision and strengthening of the curriculum, the focus on pedagogy and student learning outcomes, and the importance of the arts in realizing the College's mission. He encouraged the faculty and administration to continue the emphasis on quality and to develop an academic honors program. Most importantly, he concluded that academic values and standards have been strengthened in pursuit of meaningful multiculturalism, and that the College has gone beyond the plan in integrating the best of the project.

Excerpted with minor alteration from: Martha LaBare, "Bloomfield College Excellence Initiative, Final Report."

See also Martha J. LaBare and Stuart G. Lang, "Institutional Transformation for Multicultural Education: Bloomfield College and St. Norbert College." In Maurianne Adams (ed.) Promoting Diversity in College Classrooms: Innovative Responses for the Curriculum, Faculty, and Institutions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1992, pp. 127-137.