The below message was sent to faculty, staff, and students on April 27, 2026.
Dear Bryn Mawr Community,
I write today to share The Next Chapter, a ten-year strategic direction that will guide Bryn Mawr College's future. Our Board of Trustees voted last Saturday to endorse this direction, which our community created together over the last three and a half years. The plan connects the wisdom of earlier generations with the possibilities of future ones. It is focused on today's students and faculty and recognizes that the students who will join the class of 2035 — our sesquicentennial or 150th academic year — are today in fourth grade.
Bryn Mawr has always been the "Scholarly Sister" — a unique blend of rigorous research in a liberal arts setting and a premier college for women. We remain deeply committed to this identity, a radical act in a global environment actively questioning values — of critical analysis, truths, and a lifelong commitment to learning and growth — that we hold dear. With our mission statement as our sacred text and north star, we will remain a stronghold for those traditionally excluded from the halls of power, committed to creating mobility across all aspects of inequality. We will continue to stand firm in our values, committed to both our multi-generational communities and to enhancing our visibility in the world.
The Board's vote affirms our collective vision and charges us to work together with purpose in this strategic direction.
Our Key Commitments
These guiding pillars will drive our approach.
- Academic Excellence & Faculty Support: We are investing in the intellectual heart of the college. With the move to a reduced two-course teaching load each semester and our reaffirmed support for graduate education, we empower our faculty to lead in research and mentorship. We will also reimagine the "library of the future" as a beacon of digital and physical inquiry. Through these investments and others, we will pioneer new, interdisciplinary modes of learning that prepare students to navigate and lead in an increasingly complex global landscape.
- Holistic Student and Alumnae/i Success: From matriculation to commencement, we are prioritizing the experiences of students. We are aligning our success framework with the aspirations of the future, ensuring every student has the tools to thrive in a rapidly changing world. We know one is a Mawrter for life, and we are building new ways for this lifelong community to engage, connect, and transform our worldwide network into a powerful resource for all of us.
- Access, Inclusion, and Belonging: We will continue to dismantle barriers to ensure that people from a range of backgrounds can come to and thrive at the college. This includes continuing to move towards need-blind admissions, supporting our community college partnerships, and supporting the continued development of truly equitable institutional structures for all.
- Global Impact and Visibility: Acknowledging our history as a modest place, we will foster joyful pride in our remarkable accomplishments. We aim to amplify our voices better on local, state, national, and global stages to celebrate the scholarship and leadership of our faculty, staff, and student community. We will also establish Bryn Mawr as a vital global convener, partnering to advance progress on defining issues of our time.
- Modernizing Infrastructure, Facilities, and Systems: Finally, our goal of carbon neutrality by 2035 inspires us to ensure that our work and spaces will reflect our commitment to environmental justice, sustainability, and a world-class residential experience. We are investing in state-of-the-art facilities to create living and learning communities that strengthen the student experience.
This vision is more than a strategy; it is a commitment we make to one another and to the world. It is how we operationalize the college's mission as we prepare to celebrate 150 years with excitement and pride. It emerges from our history and charts our future in an era of increasing skepticism toward higher education and related headwinds.
The bright spark that has always characterized Bryn Mawr is about to shine even brighter — in our lanterns and beyond — broadening our impact and reach. You will notice our academics becoming even stronger, our physical campus being updated, and our voices and leadership in higher education becoming even more prominent as we enact our commitments to equity and inclusion as the engines of excellence and innovation.
Our community is already translating these pillars into action. You can view the full framework on our website.
Read "The Next Chapter"
Higher education is at a critical moment, and it will take all of us to write the next chapter. Whether you are a student (or parent) who will start your journey in the fall of 2026, a faculty member dedicated to discovery, or an alum in a new season of leadership, we have a place for you in this work. Your collaboration will be key to ensuring that today's students and faculty, and those fourth graders who will be members of the class of 2035, are equipped with the knowledge, the courage, and the relationships to lead in finding solutions for the challenges of our shared future.
In community,
Wendy Cadge
President and Professor of Sociology
Bryn Mawr College
101 N. Merion Ave., Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
Pronouns: she/her
brynmawr.edu
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