New Vision Will Keep
Marylhurst Mission on Track
Excerpt from an article by Cliff Newell in The Lake Oswego Review,
February 19, 2009.
University president Judith Johansen believes Marylhurst’s grasp of the future is firm after a marathon planning session held the weekend of Jan. 30 to Feb. 1.
"We reaffirmed our mission, yet charted changes," said Johansen. "What we didn't change was the original values and principles of the Sisters of the Holy Names — responding to individuals, educating the whole person, serving the under-served."
Seventy-five people participated, including just about every stakeholder group affected by Marylhurst University — faculty, students, alumni, trustees, Mary's Woods and citizens of the surrounding community.
"We talked about trends that affect Marylhurst University, and we divined our seven themes," Johansen said.
Some of them are:
• Positioning the university to be the "living room" of Lake Oswego and West Linn.
"We want to make this a place to learn, enjoy programs and gather," Johansen said. "We want to be much more community focused."
• Globalizing the education received by students.
"We won't change what we teach, but it will have a much more global feel," Johansen said. "The world is so interconnected through technology and travel that it's inevitable that our students will have the opportunity to interface with other cultures."
• Bolster Marylhurst's leadership in online learning.
"We have the biggest MBA program in Oregon because we pioneered and perfected the online experience," Johansen said. "We still must be more proactive in using technology to carry our programs around the globe."
Johansen was happy to point out that Marylhurst has been a past master of surviving and thriving, even when many schools of its era were forced to shut their doors.
"Our mission has survived through the years," Johansen said. "Marylhurst has reinvented itself many times."