MORAVIAN VISION - Moravian College

Embracing the Future
Lyn Trodahl
Chynoweth ’68
Lyn Trodahl Chynoweth has served as
a Moravian College trustee since 1991,
and was named chair in October 2007.
She served as chair of the board of the
Moravian Theological Seminary from
2000-2007, during which the Seminary
launched a strategic plan. Lyn received
the Medallion of Merit from the Alumni
Association in May 2007. Currently an
independent executive consultant, Lyn
is retired from IBM where she held a
range of executive and leadership
positions in sales and consulting,
advised business clients on organizational
transformation, and received
numerous leadership, management, and
performance awards.
PHOTO BY JOHN KISH IV
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One of the plan’s initiatives focuses on
the Comenius Center, which currently offers
many courses for adults to complete their
undergraduate degrees, as well as offering
a limited number of graduate degrees.
When we looked at the demographics to
understand what was needed for the Center
to thrive, we realized we should offer more
programs to meet the needs of the surrounding
community. As a result, we are directing
the Center to focus on graduate programs,
and we are looking at adding more degrees
that are in demand in this area.
Do you feel the new plan will set Moravian
apart from other colleges?
I do. I think higher education will see a lot
of churn in the next few years. We have a history
of preparing students to serve and lead
in many different ways. We have two gorgeous
and historic campuses. Our mission is unique
in that it builds on the Moravian traditions
of community, engagement in the world, and
balance of body, mind, and spirit. If we can
maintain our commitment to this mission, as
well as to our vision to serve a changing student
population, it will set us apart. We will
continue to maintain our low faculty to student
ratio. We have a very committed faculty,
administration, and staff, as well as a strong
student body. We have a lot of momentum, as
evidenced by our continued strong enrollment.
But we cannot rest on our laurels—we
have a lot of hard work ahead.
Which of the initiatives do you expect
to be most challenging to achieve?
Raising money is going to be a major challenge.
The turbulence in the financial markets
is sobering, and certainly poses uncertainty in
the near future. And, although we have sound
financial practices, I’d be lying if I said I was
unconcerned. That said, the only responsible
thing to do is to continue to put plans in place
to raise funds to support the strategic plan.
For example, a fairly low percentage of
Moravian alumni gives money to the school
[24% in 2008]. Whenever we talk to alums, almost
to a one, they talk about the wonderful
experience they had at Moravian. We’ve captured
their hearts. Now we must find a way to
reconnect them to the College, to make them
understand how important it is for them to
contribute their time, energy, and financial
support to the best of their ability. Many
alumni still are not aware that we need a
higher percentage of giving simply to qualify
for grants and funding from other sources.
Every alum can give something—that’s really
important.
How will we measure our success in
meeting the plan’s objectives?
We are working on this. We received a
very strong report from the Middle States Accreditation
last year, along with some suggestions
regarding assessment. The administration
is merging those recommendations with
our strategic initiatives and recommending
ways to measure success. We hope to have
some sort of scorecard or dashboard that
tracks progress toward achieving specific
goals—both institutional and within individual
disciplines. I suspect we’re farther ahead
than many schools; but we do recognize the
need for assessment, and we take it seriously.
What will the overall landscape be for
higher education in the coming years?
Higher education will undergo a lot of
change. We all will need to address issues of
affordability, loan availability, shifting demographics,
infusion of technologies, shifts
in government oversight—to name a few.
Only those schools that have a clear, focused
mission and that are well-run will survive.
I believe Moravian will be one that will not
just survive, but will thrive. It will require a
lot of focused effort and hard work from all
of us—but it is well worth it. Quite. �
12 MORAVIAN COLLEGE MAGAZINE FALL 2008