Engagement. Belonging. Wellness. Purpose.

 

These are the key elements of the Bellarmine IMPACT, a new initiative that shares universal language to describe the Bellarmine experience. We launched this initiative at a Student Success Summit with faculty and staff in August just before classes started.

You have probably heard references to “the Bellarmine difference” in the past. But if you asked 10 different people what that difference was, you might get 10 different answers. IMPACT explains, in clearer and more concrete terms, how we are different and why that difference makes us such an appealing choice for prospective students and their families.    

 

The Bellarmine IMPACT is twofold: It’s Bellarmine’s impact on students while they are here, and it’s the impact that they will have in the world after they graduate, ready for fulfilling lives and careers. It builds on our mission as an inclusive Catholic university and our institutional strengths, such as academic excellence, while expanding the high-impact wraparound supports available to students that ensure their overall success. 

 

We guarantee a four-year, student-centered educational experience that provides:

 

Engagement. A highly personalized pathway and intentional success plan for every student begins with application for admission and carries through career attainment or post-graduate study, with highly engaged learning, one-on-one attention from excellent faculty and seamless transitions in advising and other areas of student support. Our faculty’s commitment to students results in benefits such as the opportunity to do undergraduate research that would ordinarily be conducted only at the graduate level elsewhere. 

 

Belonging. Issues of belonging and finding one’s true self are foregrounded in the new Core Curriculum designed by faculty, which will be released next year. In addition, vibrant campus life and an inclusive and welcoming community for all students are ensured by such initiatives as our First 50 Days campaign, which provides outreach programming for all students in the first six weeks of the fall semester. 

 

Wellness. We are committed to educating students in mind, body and spirit. Coordinated health and wellness services support, facilitate and educate the Bellarmine community about lifelong health and wellness, while courses ranging from Exercise Science to Psychology and Theology and Financial Literacy imbue holistic wellness in their curriculum. 

 

Purpose. Galvanized in the classroom by questions of meaning and purpose and supported by mentors, hands-on experiential learning and the Career Center, students focus on their individual callings, as well as the lifelong value of an undergraduate liberal arts education.

 

For each of these areas, students are supported by faculty and professional advisors and career and peer coaches. Collectively, these are known as the IMPACT Network.

 

At Bellarmine, we are uniquely positioned in the higher education landscape. We are large enough to offer an excellent liberal arts education led by top faculty as well as a rich array of extracurricular activities. But we are also small enough to offer each student a personalized experience and the support to ensure their success.

 

I hope that the Bellarmine IMPACT helps you to describe what makes Bellarmine special when you are speaking with prospective students and their families. I’d also love to hear about the impact that Bellarmine has had on your life. Please share at  president@bellarmine.edu.