The Baltimore Business Journal cover story about trends in senior living featured the Goucher College and Edenwald Senior Living university retirement community (URC) project as the story anchor. The Goucher and Edenwald URC is the first of its kind in Maryland and the piece explores why retirement communities partner with colleges and universities. The piece includes interviews with leaders from both Goucher and Edenwald, as well as other senior living representatives and residents at other area developments.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will speak at Goucher on November 20. The event, presented by the Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Visiting Professorship and now sold out, will be interviewed by NPR’s Scott Simon.

Thanks to the support from U.S. senators Ben Cardin
and Chris Van Hollen and U.S. Rep. Dutch
Ruppersberger, the Goucher Prison Education Partnership (GPEP) recently received a $355,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to upgrade and expand its offerings. GPEP offers a Goucher College bachelor’s degree to individuals incarcerated at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women (MCIW) and the Maryland Correctional Institution Jessup (MCIJ). The funding from this grant will enhance the computer technology available to Goucher College students in these two prisons, strengthening both their academic and workforce skills. The grant will also help create additional classroom space in trailers.

Building upon the original five-year strategic plan, “Cultivating Global Changemakers,” Goucher College has enhanced its focus and introduced a new name: Goucher Forward. Having completed more than 20 initiatives in the original plan and working with the Board of Trustees and incorporating feedback gleaned from the Goucher community, the college is now focusing efforts on innovating and strengthening three essential aspects of the college: enrollment, student success, and financial sustainability. The plan positions Goucher to deliver its transformative liberal arts education to a new generation of students and inspire many to become global changemakers.

For the fall semester, Goucher welcomed six faculty members to new positions in a broad range of academic disciplines. These faculty members bring academic research and teaching expertise in biology, business, data science, environmental science, history, and music and will teach a variety of courses.

In the 2024-25 academic year, Goucher will welcome eight new Board of Trustee members and a new board chair. The new members include leaders in architecture, business management, finance, higher education, nonprofits, and philanthropy. Cindy Plavier-Truitt ’86, M.A. ’88, will serve as the Goucher College Board of Trustees chair. Plavier-Truitt is currently the president and CEO of Humanim, a nonprofit human service organization.

Recognized for her leadership potential and commitment to creating positive community change, L’Oiseau has been named a Newman Civic Fellow for 2024-25 by Campus Compact, a coalition of colleges and universities advancing the public purposes of higher education. L’Oiseau majors in environmental studies and engineering science and minors in studio art. She works with Goucher’s Community-Based Learning Office, is a 2024-25 Arsht Presidential Diplomat, and a member of the equestrian team. L’Oiseau previously helped coordinate one of Goucher’s tutoring programs with a Baltimore County elementary school and participated in Goucher’s Summer Science Research Program.

A new collaborative degree partnership enables Goucher students to enroll in Notre Dame’s accelerated, second-degree Bachelor of Science in Nursing once they graduate with a bachelor’s degree in any of Goucher’s liberal arts majors. This fast-track program can be completed in as few as 15 months and the partnership will help address the ongoing nursing shortage in the state and nationwide.

Goucher College and Edenwald Senior Living have announced plans for the first university retirement community (URC) in Maryland. The URC will combine lifelong learning and programming from Goucher with the attractive residences, services, and amenities of Edenwald to create an intergenerational living and learning community. Goucher will offer Edenwald residents the ability to participate in select study abroad programs, audit classes, and collaborate with students in a cooperative community garden. Edenwald will add 127 new apartments, common spaces, indoor parking, and other amenities in three new 8- to 10-story towers, comprising more than 284,000 square feet of new construction, on three acres of land leased from Goucher.

Goucher College has announced a strategic partnership with the Maryland Clean Energy Center (MCEC) and NORESCO in a significant step towards advancing decarbonization and improving energy efficiency. This collaboration is a key component of the institution’s larger Campus Master Plan, which places sustainability and accessibility at the forefront. Through this partnership, Goucher intends to modernize an aging central utility plant with state-of-the-art equipment, more energy-efficient systems and explore opportunities to update lighting, windows, roofing, and other building elements that should drastically decrease energy usage. Work completed through an energy performance contract with NORESCO is anticipated to play an integral role in making needed campus improvements.