{"id":126,"featured":0,"modified":"2025-05-28 18:12:28","latitude":30.635632405777844411431942717172205448150634765625,"longitude":-97.6660049007977022483828477561473846435546875,"title":"Remembering the process of establishing the Core Values","subtitle":"How a bold campus-wide initiative in the 1990s both coalesced and shaped SU’s mission, purpose, and identity.","fullsize":"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/fullsize/e003cf3ebfcc27ef433b18ba51444dec.jpg","address":"","all_locations":[],"zoom":17,"creator":["Abrianna Morales ‘25"],"description":"In a crucial moment of introspection and change, Southwestern University’s leadership asked the unthinkable: If a benefactor promised millions in support—but only if we dissolved SU—would we do it? That provocative question sparked a campus-wide effort to articulate what made SU unique, irreplaceable, and worthy of preservation. From 1997 to 1999, the university embarked on a multi-year initiative that produced the Core Values Program.
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\r\nThe effort was rooted in All-University Planning Retreats that brought together students, faculty, staff, trustees, and alumni to answer deep questions about Southwestern’s identity and future. These retreats were inspired by the book Built to Last: The Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (1994) by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, whose research showed that enduring companies share clearly articulated core values and a unifying purpose. Former Provost and Dean of Faculty Dale Knobel, the central organizer of the endeavor, led a team of six faculty and staff members to Boulder, Colorado, to meet with Collins and adapt the model for Southwestern.
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\r\nKnobel emphasized the importance of broad community involvement from the very beginning. “The Core Values became our touchstones because they defined what the university would base every decision on,” he explained. The planning process was highly inclusive, with ideas and feedback captured on butcher paper, covering the walls with community-driven insights. Knobel described it as "the wisdom of the community shaping up right from the beginning," highlighting how this collective input provided a sense of ownership and investment in the program’s outcomes. “It gave people an investment in the outcome because they wanted to see what came out of it,” he added.
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\r\nOut of these sessions emerged the Mars Team, a committee that symbolized the idea that these values were so central, we’d want to take them to another planet and found Southwestern all over again if it came to it. Their statement identified SU’s Core Purpose as: Fostering a liberal arts community whose values and actions encourage contributions toward the well-being of humanity.
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\r\nJim Kilfoyle, a recently retired professor in the English Department and a member of the original Mars Team, said, “The idea behind the Mars Team was grounded in the Core Values. The team was meant to serve as both inspiration and a kind of guardrail for the institution—to help answer the question of where the university ought to go.” For Kilfoyle, the Core Values remain crucial today, representing an important foundation for the university's commitment to diverse perspectives. “Even today, fostering diverse perspectives resonates most deeply with me. My hope is that Southwestern’s purpose, values, and liberal arts education will continue to inspire active listening, generous engagement with others, and a serious consideration of how those interactions relate to the general welfare.”
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\r\nThe process didn’t end there. A second planning event gave rise to the Everest Team, tasked with envisioning the future of SU by applying these values institutionally in a more concrete way. Their work called for bold reforms, including curricular redesigns, more interdisciplinary majors, expanded study abroad programs, and service-learning opportunities.
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\r\nThe team proposed that Southwestern should become the standard by which liberal arts colleges are measured because it has reinvented undergraduate education. Dr. Jim Hunt, who was appointed coordinator of the planning process in fall 1998, outlined the stakes of the project at the time: “Now that we have some idea of who we are, the next thing we have to decide is where we want to go.”
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\r\nThat ethos has continued to guide Southwestern’s academic planning, including its updated mission statement and profile. A decade later, in a process led by Professor of Psychology Jesse Purdy, the faculty and later the Board voted to add one final Core Value: "Cultivating Academic Excellence." If you look closely at the Core Values displayed outside the Comms today, you will see it at the top, in a slightly different color than the rest.
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\r\nToday, the Core Values values are embedded in Southwestern’s institutional identity. They are published on the University website, elaborated in the Pirate’s Credo, and integrated into campus life in various ways, most prominently by being delineated on the wall outside the Comms in the McCombs Campus Center. But they weren’t handed down—they were built through an intentional, collaborative process that engaged the whole campus in recognizing the kind of institution SU was and imagining the kind of college SU ought to be in the 21st century.
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\r\nJulie Cowley, who played a key role in logistical coordination and organizational support during the original Core Values initiative, and now serves as the Associate Vice President for Academic Success, reflects back today on the evolution of the Core Values, . She expressed a strong desire to see these values carried forward with even more purpose. “I’d love to see us bring more intentionality back to the Core Values,” she shared. “Being true to oneself and others—there’s power in that. It’s not just a phrase on a website or on a wall. I want to see our students embed these values in everything they do.”
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\r\nAs Knobel reflects about the legacy of this important venture today, he echoes this sentiment, emphasizing that “students need to demonstrate the Core Values in an active way rather than allowing them to become just words on a page.” He believes that living out these values is crucial for students to remain impactful and relevant.
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\r\n“These values were built by everyone—from students to dining hall workers. It was their collective vision for what SU should be,” Knobel remarked, underscoring that the values weren’t top-down decisions, but community-driven aspirations that still guide Southwestern today.
","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"In the late 1990s, Southwestern University paused its routines to reflect on a fundamental question: What values make SU what it is, and are those values worth preserving? The answer emerged through a campus-wide and inclusive planning process that ultimately defined the University’s enduring Core Purpose and Core Values, which continue to play a central role at Southwestern today, over 25 years later. This entry focuses on interviews with some of the key players in the process at the time, asking them to reflect on the experience and the legacy of the Core Purpose and Core Values today.","website":"","related_resources":[],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/fullsize/e003cf3ebfcc27ef433b18ba51444dec.jpg":{"id":609,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Core Values and Core Purpose displayed in McCombs Campus Center","description":"creator | May 2025 | Bob Bednar","thumbnail":"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/square_thumbnails/e003cf3ebfcc27ef433b18ba51444dec.jpg"},"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/fullsize/27c38486edd132657d88e330c9db6358.jpg":{"id":610,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Photo of Dr. Dale Knobel, Southwestern Provost and Dean of Faculty","description":"Megaphone | 1998 | Mary Fuller","thumbnail":"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/square_thumbnails/27c38486edd132657d88e330c9db6358.jpg"},"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/fullsize/f84e4366dab44a665f25bca24cf8e56d.jpg":{"id":611,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":""What Does Southwestern Stand For" Page 1 of 2","description":"Southwestern @ Georgetown Magazine, Vol 10, no. 1 | 1999 | Carrie Johnson","thumbnail":"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/square_thumbnails/f84e4366dab44a665f25bca24cf8e56d.jpg"},"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/fullsize/8f52c7307eb5e6f66a6da8a5379f5ef9.jpg":{"id":612,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":""What Does Southwestern Stand For" Page 2 of 2","description":"Southwestern @ Georgetown Magazine, Vol 10, no. 1 | 1999 | Carrie Johnson","thumbnail":"https://placingmemory.southwestern.edu/files/square_thumbnails/8f52c7307eb5e6f66a6da8a5379f5ef9.jpg"}}}