How will we enhance our distinctive place of learning? To this question, the Strategic Planning subcommittee received hundreds of ideas from campus meetings and online communication. The suggestions were diverse and reached all aspects of CC life, from “a community garden for students, staff, and faculty,” to “high performance levels for college buildings over the next decade,” to “courses of studies linked to internships on global change and sustainability,” “showcase campus xeriscaping,” and whimsical suggestions such as “boulder in the quad for climbing!”

Equipped with the bumper crop of ideas, we got to work on synthesizing these suggestions into strategic initiatives. Our guiding principles were to focus on augmenting and enriching educational and holistic growth opportunities for students, to be forward thinking and grounded in our history and geography, and to celebrate our core identity.

With a great deal of enthusiasm, decked in Tiger colors, we recommended to President Tiefenthaler an initiative to propel CC to become a nationally recognized model of environmental stewardship and innovation. This is not the stock version of sustainability. It is sustainability with the hallmark of CC’s deliberate and intensive inquiry, entrepreneurship, and the mindset of responsibility.

Emily Chan is associate professor of psychology.