REQUEST FOR UNIVERSITY DESIGNATION
COLLEGE OF NOTRE DAME OF MARYLAND
College of Notre Dome of Maryland is entering on exciting and innovative period in its histary, inspiring
all the institution's constituencies to reflect on its current new reality and to envision the future. Notre
Dame's profile now includes undergraduate and graduate programs carefully constructed to meet
Maryland's needs, in addition to programs built on its rich liberal arts foundation. This sophistication of
academic offerings and noteworthy expansion to serve the state in many locations positians Callege of
Notre Dame ta become Maryland's newest university.
Institutional Background
Fo unded in 1895, t he Co llege was soon authorized by the Legislature of the State of Maryla nd on April 2,
1896, to offer degrees through t he Doctor of Phi losophy level. Since then, Notre Dame's miSSion, "to
ed ucate women as leaders to transform the world," has been rea lized daily through a focus on libe ral arts
and the Catho lic tradition, the College's legacy from its founders, the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) .
Today, t he Women's College continues to fu lfill the College's vital commitment to the education of women
and remai ns the histo ri c hub of the institution. Notre Dame takes great pride in claiming its ro le as
Maryland's on ly undergraduate co llege for women .
While t he College's commitment to its historic mission is expressed through the vitality of the Women's
Co llege, Notre Da me's mission recognizes t hat t he institution must be both t ime ly and time less in its
response to contempo rary student needs. The mission states: "Distinctive undergrad uate and gradua te
programs chall enge wome n and men to strive for int ellectual and professiona l exce llence, to build incl usive
communit ies, to engage in se rvice to others and to promote social responsibility." These co mpo nents of
t he mission are also rooted in t he St ate's first Weekend Co llege fo r part-time ad ult learners, esta blished in
1975, and t he Acce lerated Co llege, launched in 2003. Graduate programs, includ ing the Co llege's Ph.D. in
Instructional Leadership and the new Pharm.D. degree, provide important workforce preparation for
Maryland.
The institution's fo unders were recognized internationally as master educators. Their vision of education as
transformation presumes t hat the we ll-educated person can indeed change the world. This focus is
inte nt iona lly embedded in t he current institutiona l plan, which includes four strategic signatures: Be a
Global Citizen; Learn in Centers of Excellence; Engage in a Distinct ive Learning Enviro nme nt; and Drive
Growth through Innovation. The f irst three signatures are built on student-centered goa ls t hat include
initiatives such as strengthening the ties of the institution to SSND internationa l initiatives, deepe ni ng
experi entia l learning opportun it ies for students so that t hey see t he t ies between li bera l arts educat ion and
a we ll-lived professional life, and st ressing leadership deve lopme nt for wome n t hro ugh cu rri cular and co
cu rricu lar programs.
The campus co nve rsation about driving growt h through in novation led to t he com munity co nclusion t hat it
is indeed time fo r Not re Dame to seek un iversity designation. Many higher education institu tio ns do
describe themse lves as "complex." Howeve r, the recent lived experience of Notre Dame's constituencies
has ca lled students, facu lty, staff and graduates to reflect on how to manage growth t hrough nimb le
systems and structures that neverthe less foster community connections and wise planning. Notre Dame is
now organized into t hree Schoo ls: the School of Arts and Sciences, the Schoo l of Education, and the School
of Pharmacy. The School of Educatio n and the School of Arts and Sciences support degree programs in t he
Women's Co llege, the Acce lerated College, the Weekend Co llege and Graduate Studies. Even t he effort to
describe t he alignme nt of t hese admin istrative academic units suggest s university co mplexity.
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Academic Planning
Notre Dame offers 27 undergraduate majors. Within the part-time undergraduate Weekend College
program, eight majors are offered. The Accelerated College, also enrolling part-time undergraduate
students, holds classes on campus, at three regional higher education centers and at 15 hospitals
throughout the State of Maryland . The Accelerated College supports majors in education, nursing and
business. Master's degrees are offered in management, co ntemporary communication, liberal studies,
nursing and education. As noted earlier, the Co llege offers the Ph.D. and the Pharm.D. degrees. The many
add itiona l locations where Notre Dame faculty trave l to offer courses also suggests a level of service
characteristic of a university.
Future academic plans of the Co llege include deve loping the infrastructure to support the expanding School
of Pharmacy and School of Education (which enrolls the majority of Notre Dame students). The College will
also strengthen human and fiscal resources to support its business and management and leadership
programs, which are in high demand. In 2011, the College also plans to build on its successful RN to BSN
and master's in nursing programs by establishing a School of Nursing that will include a full-time, entry-level
baccalaureate program. The proposal for this expansion of Notre Dame's nursing offerings is currently
before the Commission. While the Schoo l of Nursing responds to critical needs and continues to prepare
highly-qualified nurse leaders for Maryland, this step also enables Notre Dame to plan and expand
academic offerings growing from current strengths in education in the health sciences. Proposals now
before the Commission evidence Notre Dame's innovation in bringing the liberal arts to life for current
students, including plans for multidisciplinary undergraduate programs stressing writing, marketing
communication, environmental sustainability, and international business.
A major point of pride for Notre Dame is that the institution's 109 College full -time faculty truly are
superior educators. Teaching continues to be the prima ry emphasis of faculty life. In add ition to their
disciplina ry specia lties, many faculty members are publishing in the area of the scho larship of teaching. A
workload realignment approved by the Board of Trustees several years ago also allows faculty to engage
more intentionally in research. At a recent annual symposium held jointly with Loyo la University to
recognize faculty research productivity, one-third of the faculty of Notre Dame were recognized for
pub lished wo rk in academ ic year 2008-2009.
Of course, one of the distinctive characteristics of a university is a compre hensive library. Loyola-Notre
Dame Library supports Co llege of Notre Dame and Loyola University. Both institutions benefit from this
partnership, long held as an examp le of effective collaboration in higher education. The library collects
materials and provides an array of services at a scale larger than either institution cou ld offer through a
stand-a lone library . The library belongs to the Affinity Group, a national peer group of 33 academic
libraries from private, comprehensive universities, including Brad ley University, Butler University, Cre ighton
University, Drake University, Ithaca College, Loyola/Marymount University, Samford University, Seattle
University, University of Evansville, University of Portland, and Valparaiso University. The Affinity Group
shares statistics on an annual basis within the group. The Loyola -Notre Dame Library consistently ranks in
the top quartile in many important indicators of quality and size: total library expenditures
($4,158,341:2nd); acquisitions expenditures ($1,202,926); size of professional staff (15.5: 3rd) and overall
staff (36.5); number of on-line journal subscriptions (52,500); and number of hours open each week (107).
Most importantly, the library ranks first in the Affinity Group for the size of the tota l monographic
co llection available to facu lty and students: more than one million print titles can be borrowed through the
on-line catalog.
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Enrollment
The data provided below show that the College anticipates steady and sustainable growth in enrollment.
The anticipated growth area s in the Women' s College are nursing, biology, chemistry and business. For the
graduate areas and Weekend College and Accel erated College, Notre Dame is experiencing the greatest
interest in education and nursing, with interest in bu siness remaining stable. The request for university
designation does not anticipate a significant increase in enrollment. Notre Dame would continue to fit the
profile of a small university of moderate enrollment of approximately 3,000 students.
WOMEN'S COLLEGE
ENROLLMENT
Full- time students, fall 2006- 20 12
FT students
600 SSO SS6
519 .
soo 447 460
400
300
• FT students
200
100 • lIel l. ", ••dd,IIOM
of nunl "ll ,~u d" n ..
o
2006 200 7 2008 200 9 2010 2011 2012
GROWTH PROJECTED IN FTE ENROLLMENT
2500
2000
1500 • Graduate
1000 Enrollment
• Undergraduate
500 Enrollment
0
U"l U) r-- 00 (J) 0 M N ('Y')
0 0 0 0 0 M M M M
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
N N N N N N N N N
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Financiallmp!icatians
The College does not anticipate that there will be any need for expansion of its $44 million budget to
accommodate university designation and expects to retain its strong A- bond rating. Certainly there will
need to be adjustments to identity and branding elements for Notre Dame, including campus signage, Web
site redesign and reprinting of materials. However, the College will meet these needs through allocation of
existing resources and expects a modest expenditure of approximately $500,000 toward this initiative.
Communication Plan
While informal conversations were held with Trustees and campus groups during the past two years,
President Mary Pat Seurkamp began official communications about a potential designation change in
January 2010. During this initial session with senior campus leaders, unanimous support was gained for
moving forward with a thoughtful and engaging exploration of possible university designation for Notre
Dame. The leadership team outlined a preliminary process that framed the work through the Spring 2010
semester, engaging all stakeholder groups
As a result of careful planning, February and March 2010 discussions were held with faculty, staff and
students through campus-wide and small group conversations as well as e-mail surveys. Also during this
time, outreach began with other higher education institutions that had previously made the move to
university, (e.g., peer institution St. Catherine University in St Paul, MN; Loyola University Maryland; Mt. SI.
Mary's University; Elon University; NC), to learn best-practices from their experiences. Feedback from
discussions and surveys as well as outreach to other institutions demonstrated a clear readiness to move
forward with a full engagement with our entire constituency of graduates. At their March 8, 2010, meeting,
the Board of Trustees reviewed the research and results of the campus-wide discussions and surveys. The
Trustees endorsed continuation of this work and scheduled a special meeting of the Board with a single
focus on University Oesignation which took place on April 20, 2010.
Between the March and April special Trustee meeting, significant outreach to stakeholder groups was
undertaken to assure maximum input and participation. Therefore, in April 2010, graduates, current
students, School Sisters of Notre Dame, and donors were invited to participate in the process through a
variety of outreach efforts. The results of this outreach resulted in more than 800 people sharing their
opinions. Overall, research results showed that 86 percent of graduates and 74 percent of faculty, student
and staff respondents believed Notre Dame would benefit from a change in designation.
Notre Dame's Board of Trustees reviewed all results at the special meeting in April and, at its regularly
scheduled May 3, 2010, meeting, voted to endorse the move to university designation. The Board asked
the senior administrative leadership to continue research and prepare recommendations on how
"university" will be incorporated into the name and proposed implementation timeline for name change.
With the announcement of the Board's endorsement of university designation, communication continued
through the 2010 summer months with faculty, staff, students and graduates concerning the Board's
decision; research activity continued on university name options . A special letter from the President was
mailed in July, e-newsletters, postcards, surveys, and other methods of communication have assured
ongoing engagement throughout the process. In addition, the most up-to-date information is provided to
all interested parties on the university designation Web page on Notre Dame's Web site. Communication is
an integral part of the university designation activities and will be key factor to an efficient and smooth
implementation.
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Based on the continued successful communication strategy, Notre Dame can say confidently that support
for the change to university designation has been broad and strong. Consensus also seems to be bui lding
around possi ble naming options as well.
At this important juncture in its history, College of Notre Dame looks forward to a favorable response
from the Maryland Higher Education Commission to its request for university designation. Such a
decision would be a most welcome affirmation of Notre Dame's contribution to higher education
regionally and nationally.
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