Bethany College Seeks Input for New Campus Master Plan

LINDSBORG, KAN., January 7, 2022- Announced nearly one year ago, Bethany has been working with Credo, higher education consultants, on the newest strategic plan centered around the Path to Your Purpose initiative. Now, Bethany is announcing the start of a new campus master planning process. The timing of both the strategic and campus master plan is intentionally tandem as one plan will inform the other. 

Although Bethany and our local community have traditionally fostered relationships with students in unique ways, Path to Your Purpose expands these relationships, and centralizes campus efforts under a programmatic umbrella to attract students to Bethany, help them find their Bethany community, grow into leaders, and live their purpose as a Swede beyond Bethany. While Bethany’s strategic plan addresses programmatic and curricular ways the college can best help students discover and navigate their path to purpose, the college’s new campus master plan will evaluate how Bethany’s physical campus spaces and systems impact students' opportunities and experiences. The new campus master plan will ultimately advise the college on how best to utilize our campus to support, challenge, and inspire students on their journeys toward lives of purpose and careers of consequence.  Like the strategic plan process, the campus master plan also represents the various campus counterparts such as registrar, academics, facilities, campus security, athletics, student life and more. 

The first stage of the campus master plan—fact finding and assessments of current space — is almost complete. Next, future campus needs, and space requirements will be identified through campus groups to be established by Credo soon. Campus needs will be identified in relation to demand, curriculum, projects, and challenges. Simultaneously, Path to Your Purpose programming is progressing through the work of Chad Moore, Director. Alumni, local businesses, and employers across the nation were recently encouraged to join Handshake, an innovative online platform matching future employees and employers. Read more here: (Bethany invites employers to join Handshake) In this vein, the campus master plan team will consider how to incorporate the many ideas of Director Moore– such as creating campus spaces to serve as remote workspaces and other opportunities unique to Path to Your Purpose. 

From a list of identified needs, concept strategies will be developed as the third stage of the campus master plan. Concept strategies explore the organization, connection, access, and efficiency of campus spaces, and will come to life in a three-dimension model to be created by Credo. From the three-dimension model, campus, alumni, friends, donors, and the larger community will be asked for feedback as they visualize the possibilities. 

By the end of the 22-23 academic year, each part of the process will come together for a preliminary campus master plan including a range of cost and sequencing for consideration by the Bethany Board of Directors. The campus master plan will only be as successful as the level of mindful participation, and intentional collaboration that is rooted in future oriented and broad-minded thinking. With that said, if you live nearby or have recently visited Bethany’s campus, we’d love to hear your feedback on the look, feel, and function of campus as you experienced it. Please share your perceptions of our campus in this survey. 

Bethany College, established by Swedish Lutheran immigrants in 1881, is a college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The mission of Bethany College is to educate, develop, and challenge individuals to reach for truth and excellence as they lead lives of faith, learning, and service. At Bethany, students join a community of dedicated educators and caring mentors who walk alongside them as they discover, explore, and navigate the path to their purpose. Bethany College is on the Web at www.bethanylb.edu and is in Lindsborg, Kansas, the fine arts and crafts capital of the state.