Student experience
Through experiential learning opportunities and amplified student support throughout their MHC experience, every learner will make the most of their education. MHC Forward’s student experience initiatives bring faculty, staff, students and alums together to reimagine what it means to sustain a vibrant learning community that is responsive to change in the student population, technology, communication, culture and more. From supporting students in their transition to college to teaching them how to engage in challenging conversations to developing a best-in-class career readiness program, we’re ensuring students thrive at MHC and graduate ready to shape the future.
Enhancing the student experience on and beyond campus
Strategic pathways and initiatives
○ Short-term (1-3 years) ◐ Medium-term (3-7 years) ● Longer-term (7+ years)
I. Bolster student success and enhance retention and graduation rates:
○ Improve student learning, academic success and persistence through a well-integrated network of support that encompasses existing strengths, such as the Speaking, Arguing and Writing (SAW) Center, and new initiatives around peer-led mentoring and quantitative reasoning.
○ Expand support for academic advising, including post graduation opportunities, and increase the legibility and navigability of the curriculum.
○ Invest in a new first-year living learning program and create a residential cocurriculum.
II. Deepen students’ engagement, affinity and well-being by fostering a healthy, inclusive and diverse community:
○ Enhance the vibrancy of the student social experience, including shared experiential events and better integration with Five College social life.
○ Encourage intergroup dialogue to teach students to learn across differences, prepare for a diverse world after graduation and form lifelong bonds with one another.
○ Promote holistic health by incorporating well-being learning objectives and goals for all students, including continuous exposure to the “Be Well” program for every student.
◐ Shape an athletics program to recruit first-rate, talented scholar-athletes with competitive programs and facilities; build an inclusive community on campus; and represent Mount Holyoke at a high level to the world.
III. Execute a best-in-class career exploration and readiness program that integrates curricular and co-curricular approaches:
○ Establish a distinctive and comprehensive career initiative — co-led by faculty — that supports students as they plan their next steps after graduation. The initiative will build on universal funding for internships (The Lynk initiative), pre-professional tracks (Nexus) and the Career Development Center (CDC).
○ Create a set of “Liberal Arts in Action” seminars distributed across the curriculum that ground career preparation in the liberal arts.
○ Guarantee all students access to liberal arts-based “experiential learning” (learning-by- doing) opportunities integrated deeply and purposefully with academic study.
○ Serve communities in western Massachusetts and beyond through an increased commitment to community-based learning.
○ Strengthen career coaching and advising, grounded in the diversity of student experiences and aspirations.
○ Expand mentoring and networking opportunities with alums by creating a strong triangular relationship between alums, the College’s development office and the CDC.
