Last fall, U.S. News & World Report named Denison the fourth most innovative liberal arts college in the country. This was the second year in a row that we had been identified as a top innovator in higher education.
What drives innovation at Denison? It’s simple. This is a college that is always focused on our students and finding new ways to build off what we do well to do it even better.
Our purpose is simple, straightforward, powerful, and important. We provide students with a life-shaping liberal arts experience that launches them quickly and successfully into lives and careers as affordably as possible.
There are three parts to our work:
First, provide students with a life-shaping liberal arts education.
This starts in the classroom with the work done by our faculty and extends to every corner of campus. We focus on helping students become critical thinkers and creative problem solvers who can effectively communicate with others and who have the intellectual humility to navigate and contribute to the world around them.
We also help students develop a set of values and habits, including an insatiable curiosity, empathy, and respect for others. This ethical core guides decision-making, fosters the ability to work with others, and instills a commitment to hard work and to things larger than ourselves.
Relationships and experiences are vital to this work. They happen as students interact with faculty who are world class educators and committed mentors. They happen as students study and live with diverse, high-achieving peers who bring out the best in one another. They happen as students immerse themselves across campus through athletics, the arts, student organizations, and other commitments that deepen liberal arts learning.
It also happens as students do things in unique combinations, what we often call the power of “and.” Students come to Denison because they have multiple passions that would be hard to pursue at colleges that force students to make false choices. You can come to Denison as an athlete and be heavily involved in the arts. You can come to Denison and major in both the humanities and sciences. You can come to Denison to pursue an interest and graduate with a passion you did not have when you arrived. You can (and will) make friends with people who are like you and not like you.
The second area of focus is a commitment to preparing students to launch successfully into their lives and careers.
That is why faculty are continually refining the curriculum. Over the past few years, our faculty have developed new programs, including data analytics, global commerce, journalism, applied math, legal studies, and music theatre.
This is also why we have invested so much time and resources into the Knowlton Center for Career Exploration, which Princeton Review ranked the fourth best career services program in the U.S. The Knowlton Center provides integrated programs on a wide range of topics from exploring career paths to resume writing and interview preparation. Students have access to a team of career coaches and career communities. They also benefit from a range of programs that close skill gaps through Denison Edge. And they can experience entrepreneurship and consulting through Red Frame Lab.
The Knowlton Center is also working with our Alumni & Family Engagement team to develop a series of new programs to support recent graduates as they make their initial career pivots.
The third is to work hard to keep the college as affordable as possible.
We are one of the few colleges in the country that meets the full demonstrated financial aid need of every student we accept. Financial aid has been, and will continue to be, our highest fundraising priority. Applications continue to be strong at Denison. We are able to accept only about 20% of the students who apply. When we accept a student, and they decide to come, they are a Denisonian. Our commitment is to keep a Denison education as affordable as we can.
The articles in this edition of Denison Magazine take a look at a wide range of things we are doing across the college to deepen our work with students and support the faculty and staff who make this work possible. I hope you enjoy it.