Georgian Court University: Centennial Success

Education

Written by Meghan Flynn

Thursday, 01 May 2008

Georgian Court University: Centennial Success - American Executive - RedCoat Publishing

After 100 years, this New Jersey institution is building a new foundation to carry it into the future.

Premier Business Partners:

CMX Engineering
Grant Thornton
Hunter Roberts Construction Group
SEI Investments

This year marks the centennial of Georgian Court University, a Catholic institution founded and sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy of New Jersey and located on the 155-acre estate that once belonged to railroad baron George Jay Gould.

“To do anything for 100 years and to do it successfully is a great testament to all the people that have led this institution and those who had the vision to found it,” said Sister Rosemary Jeffries, president.

Sister Rosemary Jeffries, President

In celebration, the university is honoring 100 distinguished alumni, has plans to hold a major women’s conference in the spring, and in September is dedicating a new, environmentally sustainable wellness center built from recycled materials. Jeffries said the center symbolizes the building Georgian Court is doing for the future.

Jeffries became president in 2001, and she said that as Georgian Court approached its centennial, it was necessary to revisit its mission and vision for its future. The university’s board of trustees, President Jeffries, and her management team developed a new vision and mission statement that included the goal to change the school from a college to a university.

They tested that idea at several campus-wide meetings where some members of the school community questioned the wisdom of such a change, citing the tradition of Georgian Court as a small school dedicated to teaching rather than research.

Jeffries’ administration more clearly defined what kind of university they wanted Georgian Court to become, one that valued research but focused on teaching the individual student, and set concrete steps to achieve that goal.

“I approached my role in this important process as one of encouraging input from a variety of voices, allowing those voices to hear one another, and then synthesizing all those ideas with my management team,” said Jeffries.

Building for the future
The result of all that interactive discussion was the official move to university status in 2004 and an extensive expansion of the campus. There is a new student resident hall, chapel, faculty residence, science wing in the main academic building, and dining facility attached to the library. The most expansive project of all is the new wellness center, which expands the school’s recreational offerings to include dance and exercise science.

Rather than a boxy field house, the new wellness center is three buildings in the Georgian architectural style of the rest of the campus, settled among gardens and outdoor gathering areas for students, faculty, and staff.

“We wanted to build a dedicated recreational facility for our athletes and the Georgian Court community, but we wanted to do so in a holistic way,” said Jeffries. “We built it with a respect for nature and designed it to bring the outdoors in and fit into the landscape.”

The university raised $16.2 million in the Campaign for Georgian Court, not only to fund the wellness center and the other construction projects, but also to create more scholarship opportunities. Of the incoming freshman class, 41% are Pell-grant eligible and receive federal financial aid; about half of Georgian Court undergraduate students are the first in their families to attend college.

Jeffries said that the growing cost of living and doing business has affected higher education, and that the school’s move toward institutional sustainability, while requiring a higher initial investment, shows it is using its resources wisely and responsibly.

Now that the buildings are up, the Georgian Court community is asking what the next step is, and Jeffries says it’s to become “a thriving, Mercy university.” Further discussions resulted in a refreshed mission statement that speaks to the institution’s dedication to improving the learning environment for its students and encouraging them to embrace the Sisters of Mercy’s core values: respect, integrity, justice, compassion, and service.

The recent changes to the infrastructure of the campus have not changed its central focus on these values, said Jeffries. “The most effective way we’ve found to keep these values at the forefront is to simply talk about them. We are all working hard to live these values every day.”

In 2006, Georgian Court created a fall semester focus week, a time each year dedicated to focusing on a critical concern of the Sisters of Mercy. In 2006 it was immigration, last year it was non-violence, and, fitting nicely with Georgian Court’s new wellness center, this year’s focus will be on sustainability and reverence for the Earth.

That forward-thinking attitude is the most important part of the university’s fundraising campaign, according to Jeffries. “People believe in what is going on here at Georgian Court and see that we have a bright future. They see we are an institution on the move, changing and growing with the times,” she said.

< Previous Story		Next Story >