Spring 2003

Salisbury Center Will Emphasize Outcomes

by Catherine Williams

The Salisbury Center is made possible through the generosity of Chair of the Board of Trustees Charles H. Salisbury Jr. '63, P'94.

As a result of key recommendations of the HWS 2005 strategic plan, the Colleges have embarked on a bold new mission through the creation of The Salisbury Center, named in honor of a lead gift from Chair of the Board of Trustees Charles H. Salisbury Jr. ’63, P ’94. The Salisbury Center will organize and augment student services focused on outcomes, such as career and pre-professional advising, global education and public service. As a conduit for outcomes services, The Center will enable students to transition, fully prepared, from the Colleges to graduate school, meaningful employment and productive citizenship.

Located in Trinity Hall, which will be renovated for occupancy next January, The Salisbury Center will be a place of possibility. Visitors will have access to career advising, internships, fellowships, service-learning, off-campus study, international education, pre-professional learning, leadership development and much more. By combining shared missions, integrating resources and streamlining processes, The Salisbury Center will imagine new ways to help students reach their potential. Every path a student takes will eventually lead to The Salisbury Center, and, once there, students will gather the tools, advice and experience necessary to become fully prepared for the “real world.”

As part of this commitment to excellence, the Colleges recognize that a liberal arts institution must vibrate with possibilities. The Salisbury Center will do that by challenging students to set themselves in motion, encouraging them to push the boundaries of the expected, and celebrating those who chart new courses. By encouraging students to broadly integrate their education into all aspects of their lives, The Salisbury Center will produce graduates better prepared for futures of purpose and meaning.

“Our goal with the Salisbury Center is to help students realize the scope and power of a Hobart and William Smith education,” says Dean of William Smith College Debra DeMeis. “The Colleges’ catalog of courses does a good job of explaining what happens on these 188 acres. The Center, however, will reveal the opportunities available for learning off-campus — the experiences that make a student unique to graduate schools and employers.”

“The focus is really going to be on student outcomes,” says Director of Career Services David Baumgartner. “We want to enhance the culture here by showing students all of the possibilities available to them.”

In order to lay the foundation for constructive outcomes, it is essential that the Colleges engage students early and often. “We need to begin working with students as soon as possible to have the kind of impact we want,” DeMeis says. “Right now, students have to wander all over campus for resources. The Salisbury Center centralizes those resources and gives them a unified mission within a student-friendly environment. I think we’re going to see more first-year and sophomore students taking advantage of resources in this very visible center.”

Currently located in the basement of Smith Hall, the public service office anticipates taking a more active role at the Colleges. “Literally and figuratively, this move will elevate the program by giving us a physical visibility that matches our programmatic importance,” says Ave Bauder ’81, the program’s director. “The shared mission with other student services committed to outcomes is going to increase traffic from students and community partners which in turn will allow us to expand.”

Caryl Dooley, pre-health adviser, also sees her program growing as a result of the move. “I’m looking forward to working more closely with career services to increase the number and placement of internship opportunities,” she says. Dooley also sees a benefit in the first-floor library that will be shared by all members of The Salisbury Center. “Students won’t have to go to two or three places to gather information or look for resources,” she explains. “The Salisbury Center will simplify the whole process for them.”

“We haven’t even scratched the surface of possibilities,” says Thomas D’Agostino, director of the Center for Global Education. “We want students to build on their abroad experiences in their classes, their activities, their volunteer choices, their selection of careers and ultimately, their lives. The Salisbury Center will allow that to happen.”

DeMeis notes that other programs have already shown an interest in joining with the Center. “Both pre-architecture and education have expressed a desire to be incorporated into The Salisbury Center,” she says. “This is just the beginning of the kind of synergy this Center will create. Many other groups will want to be a part of it as soon as they learn of the effectiveness natural to a program that is this coordinated and that shares this degree of institutional visibility.”

As a national model for outcomes-based learning, The Salisbury Center will create a collaborative environment in which new partnerships can emerge between the Colleges, the community and potential employers of Hobart and William Smith students.

Charles H. Salisbury Jr. ’63, P ’94 is pleased by the potential impact the Center will have on the Colleges and its students. “Hobart was a transformative and life enhancing experience for me,” he explains. “I wanted to do something that would differentiate Hobart and William Smith as an educational experience from the many other liberal arts institutions, while also preparing students for the future.”

“Charlie’s gift is a strong vote of confidence in the future of our students and the Colleges,” says President Mark D. Gearan. “The Center will be a pioneering showcase. Integrating these programs into an entity with a shared mission emphasizes our belief that the rigor of a liberal arts education, coupled with a strong outcomes-based approach to student services, is the best preparation for 21st century citizens.”