University President Shares Observations from Studying Small Independent Institutions

Mary Marcy, president of the Dominican University of California and the author of forthcoming book, The Small College Imperative: Models for Sustainable Futures, authored a post, "President Speaks: Don't sound the death knell for small liberal arts colleges just yet," on the Education Dive website.

Marcy shares insights she gained from a recent sabbatical studying the ways small institutions are changing as they face well documented challenges. She notes that the most successful institutions are "...are responding to the needs of current and emerging students, not the students that attended decades ago."

Highlighted strategies include institutions seeking to better meet needs of specific underserved groups, those focusing on student success through implementation of proven research based best practices, realigning locations and programs to more closely meet regional needs.

She concludes "...new ideas and creative approaches are fully into the implementation stage, enough so that we can learn from their development, and be encouraged that independent colleges, so crucial to the larger higher ed ecosystem, have the capacity to adapt and remain viable in this challenging era."