Vision

To foster a culture at Peabody fully consistent with our core values of Learning, Impact, Respect, Innovation, Equity, and Entrepreneurship.

Goals and Progress

Goal: Continue to build a culture among students that is highly competitive, compassionate, secure, inclusive, and holistic; encourages adaptability, innovation, and resilience as measured by selectivity, student success, and career path.

July 2025 Updates:

• Student Affairs enhanced and promoted the use of its Nest site, which connects students efficiently and easily to resources that support student success. There have been 8,000 visits to the Nest as of June 2025.
• Education about effective communication, relationship-building, and creative problem solving is being offered to instill a culture of greater resilience and proactivity and a more solution-oriented mindset among students.
• A student concern tracker to identify, assess, and address climate and culture concerns that may adversely affect the student experience was developed and implemented.

Goal: Double down on Peabody’s commitment to attract and retain an increasingly diverse student cohort through strategic recruitment efforts, to positively impact future diversity across the professional performing arts world.

July 2025 Updates:

• A recruitment outreach program was piloted, targeting high schools (nationally and locally) with high percentages of socioeconomically underserved populations to promote early engagement and awareness of Peabody’s academic and career pathways and promote Peabody’s new financial aid program to reduce economic barriers to enrollment.
• The entering class in 2024-25 was comprised of 18% underrepresented students, while the total student cohort comprised 18% underrepresented students.

Goal: Ensure the recruitment and retention of an outstanding and diverse faculty that is fully supported in the development of their professional lives and through competitive compensation that places Peabody at the upper end of its peer set within five years with an initial focus on assembling reliable compensation comparative data, and successful completion of Faculty Excellence Funds and Endowed Chairs match opportunity to augment resources.

July 2025 Updates:

• A completed Faculty Compensation Survey showed that Conservatory faculty compensation is, overall, competitive and provided additional insights and peer data to drive future decision making around areas for continued improvement.
• The Faculty Excellence Fund was utilized to supplement Peabody resources to retain key faculty and provide professional development opportunities.

Goal: Make Peabody the place to work at JHU in part measured through employee retention and engagement surveys, while continuing to pilot newly developed university programs that support the professional development opportunities and career aspirations, and that fosters inclusivity and a diverse, talented and committed staff focused on excellence and the student experience.

July 2025 Updates:

• New professional development, engagement, and recognition activities have been launched, including piloted implementation of the Career Architecture Initiative, monthly HR activities, quarterly work anniversary luncheon, and skip-level conversations with the Dean.
• Working with university partners, ongoing regular written communications and town halls are being provided to keep employees abreast of changes in the external environment impacting JHU and other universities.
• The work of Peabody’s Staff Council is advancing, including the development of professional development grant opportunities.
• Workshops on conflict resolution, coaching, and feedback have been facilitated for Preparatory faculty.