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Community Impact

• Relevant Initiatives from the current plan
• Strengths and Challenges
• Key Performance Indicators
• Current College Activities
• Best Practices
• What if...Where might Mount Mary be in 2020?
• Download complete PDF for Community Impact

Goal 1: Focus on mission, including women's leadership

• Develop communication vehicles on mission in preparation for 100th anniversary.
• Use current publications to communicate relevance of MMC to southeastern Wisconsin (women’s leadership, service learning, fieldwork/internships, our graduates’ contributions.)

Goal 2: Increase visibility of Mount Mary community at the local, regional, national and international levels

• Design “Word of Mouth” training for all employees, students, Board of Trustees and alumnae regarding a clear message to share with outside community.
• Develop, maintain and support proactive communication program with alumnae and friends.
• Develop a process that includes identifying and promoting individuals, programs, and departments of distinction for proactive engagement with external media sources.
• Develop consistent and comprehensive communication process to gather and share campus information with all audiences.

Goal 3: Continually seek to extend outreach in the greater Milwaukee community

• Enhance community-based research.
  

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Strengths

• Impressions of those who know of us are generally positive (lovely campus, great fashion program, etc.)
• Affiliation with the SSNDs, who have a well-deserved good reputation in the city
• Emerging interest in a new design-focused economic cluster fits with our academic strengths
• Although not graduating large numbers, our graduates are seen as “good human beings”
• Community members who know us see us as values-based and promoting accessibility
• Starving Artists Show has put us on the map for many in the community
  

Challenges

• Not well known (“light under a bushel” syndrome)
• Marketing budget insufficient to support significant visibility efforts
• Not seen as a “player” in the region’s economic development agenda
• Small number of graduates diminishes our impact on area employment (e.g. versus UWM)
• Due to the rapidly changing needs in the workplace (e.g., technology, more sophisticated skills), some of our professional programs are challenged to meet these needs

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• President’s external efforts
• Pubic academic lectures, forums, etc.
• Public campus events
• Community-based academic programs
• Women’s Leadership Institute
• Pre-college efforts
• Student outreach activities
• Faculty and staff community outreach activities
• Table sponsorships/representation at community events
• Employee charitable support to community efforts
• Facility usage by the community
• Continuing education
• College boards and advisory councils

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More than 700 community members packed the Alumnae Dining Room last February for a special evening presentation on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the featured exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum. Capitalizing on the public’s interest in this exhibit, Mount Mary faculty Don Rappe and Helga Kisler offered expert background and firsthand accounts of the archaeological artifacts and manuscripts included in the exhibit.

Why was this event so successful? Don and Helga conceived of the event and were involved throughout planning and implementation. Don was available for media interviews and followed up with blog posts and even personal responses to questions after the event. Importantly, the event was free (while similar events at the Museum carried a $25 registration fee), it leveraged the momentum of an immediate happening in the community, and it directly responded to community interests.

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Things to include in our vision might be:

• Mount Mary is no longer the “light under a bushel.” We are well known for both our programs of academic distinction and the transformational leadership experience that we offer to all students who have the dream of attending and the drive to complete college.
• We are a “player”—both within the educational landscape of the region and within the social and economic development power circles of the city. When community leaders mention the top five or six educational institutions in the region, Mount Mary is routinely included.
• Milwaukee area residents have taken note of our activist role in two prominent community initiatives. Thanks to our president’s early leadership, we have modeled—and enabled others to achieve—the Talent Dividend’s goals of increased college attainment within the region. And the Design cluster, led in part by our nationally regarded Art & Design programs, has surpassed even the success of the original Water cluster.
• While we produce a more modest number of graduates compared to larger institutions in the city, our graduates garner praise not only for their relevant workplace skills but for their ability to lead at many levels and in many different arenas.
• The local community has embraced the newly renovated campus. Residents enjoy coming to the college’s regularly scheduled lectures and public discussions. Many remark what a “gem” the college is within the region and wonder why they didn’t discover it years before.
• Other?

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