Success begins with a vision

Ralph Ford, Chancellor of Penn State Behrend

What personal and professional attributes, shaped by their student experience at Penn State Behrend, best position our graduates for lifelong success?

That’s a question we set out to answer last year in developing a statement we’ve titled “Vision of a Behrend Graduate.” Over the course of several months, a committee of faculty, staff, and students gathered input from their peers and others, including parents of current students, alumni, guidance counselors in the region, and employers of our graduates.

The vision statement you see here is a distillation of the perspectives of hundreds of the college’s constituents, gained through conversation, surveys, open forums, and individual responses. The committee gathered and assessed the input, weighed and ranked the responses, and considered numerous iterations of the statement to arrive at this vision.

Our next step is to integrate the philosophy and aspirations of this vision into the education of our students and the larger life of the college. We plan to use the Vision of a Behrend Graduate as a guidepost as we make decisions about academic planning, learning experiences, and student life—and the many things we can do to best support student success.

I am pleased to share this vision with you. As always, I welcome your thoughts and ideas.

Chancellor Ralph Ford
[email protected]