Sweet Briar celebrates and cherishes its heritage as a small, residential, liberal arts college for women, preparing students to fulfill their academic, professional and personal aspirations by providing excellent academic and co-curricular programs on an expansive and inspiring campus. This has been our strength since the founding of the College more than a century ago. It remains our pride, our strength and our excellence today.

In the second decade of the 21st century, we dedicate ourselves to increasing the currency and sustainability of this tradition. Sweet Briar seeks to be the example that proves that “small” can be dynamic and vital, that “rural” can be sophisticated and connected, and that the “ivory-tower” liberal arts gain meaning when they engage reflectively with practical experience. Sweet Briar seeks to be the example that proves that “institutional” and “entrepreneurial” thinking add value to each other: that innovation keeps tradition vital while tradition keeps innovation grounded.

We also dedicate ourselves to putting Sweet Briar on a more sustainable financial footing. Increased enrollment, expense curtailment, preservation of the endowment, productive fundraising and new revenue streams must all play a role in bringing the College into a state of financial equilibrium. Because enrollment growth extends the impact of our mission while advancing our financial sustainability, it is a primary focus of the current strategy.

In short, our strategy is to make sure that Sweet Briar becomes, in the coming decade, the most dynamic, focused and effective possible version of itself – larger than at present but still among the nation’s smallest and most personal campus communities; streamlined but still offering an appealing range of academic and co-curricular programs; “both market-smart and mission-centered."