New Beginings: 2002 to the PresentA New Beginning Throughout all of Goddard's history, experimentation has continued. Transformative and transdisciplinary learning continues to have meaning for the institution as well as for the individuals who come to it.
In 2002, a difficult decision was made to end the residential undergraduate program and concentrate on expanding the adult, low residency degree programs. The economic viability of offering a student designed liberal arts program with fewer than 200 residential students proved to be financially impossible. There was even talk about selling the campus and moving. It was a very difficult time in Goddard's history.
Mark Schulman became Goddard's 9th President in 2002 and is currently leading the college in both spirit and solidarity. The decision was made to keep Goddard in its location on the Greatwood campus and devote a new energy and dedication to revitalizing the campus buildings and to increasing the low residency enrollment significantly. Enrollment has grown 35% since 2002, new programs have been added, including the MA in Socially Responsible Business and Sustainable Communities and the BFA in Creative Writing. Goddard has experienced four solid years of balanced budgets and retired all of its debt.
The college today is now strong enough to have expanded to offer alternative residency locations for two programs, the MFA in Creative Writing and the MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts in Port Townsend, Washington.
Goddard is proud of its history, despite the bumps and bruises along the way. It is a rare and truly unique institution of higher education, a historic practitioner of the educational theories and innovations that profoundly changed mainstream education in the 20th century and promises to do so in the 21st. At the same time, it continues to be a little college in Vermont that cares about its students, and is committed to providing a place where social activists, leaders and future pioneers will find a home. |