CTB Hosts Design Grant ‘Site Visit’ at Dougherty Family College

Pictured: a reflection notecard from an attendee at CTB’s site visit to Dougherty Family College of the University of St. Thomas (MN)

“There is no substitute for IRL.”

There are many defining elements of CTB’s work, but our belief in the power of community and belonging—powered by spending time together in person—might sit alone at the top of the list. This belief, which influences every aspect of the CTB model, from instructional practices to student activities to the physical location of CTB colleges, also applies to our work with colleges and universities themselves. Over time, CTB’s design grant program—our primary vehicle to engage with potential host institutions for the CTB model—has evolved to place greater and greater emphasis on spending time in person with leaders from participating colleges and universities.

Perhaps the most important example of this is our annual site visit, in which members of our design grant cohort get to visit an existing CTB model college in person to experience the model in action. Every year the site visit receives the highest rating on our feedback surveys, and universities that have gone on to launch their own CTB model colleges often point to the site visit as key turning point in the process of exploration and discernment.

This year, for the first time, we visited Dougherty Family College of the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis Minnesota. DFC is led by its visionary dean, Dr. Buffy Smith. She generously opened DFC’s campus to CTB’s design grant cohort on October 20-22, 2025.

Site Visit Components

Day 1

The site visit begins every year with a dinner for all design grant participants. CTB also hosts its fall board meeting every year on the first day of the site visit, to allow board members to attend the dinner. Breaking bread with members of each institution’s design team—the group of leaders dedicated to exploring the CTB model at each campus'—is a great way to start the visit off with a focus on community and belonging.

Day 2

The next day is spent on site at the existing CTB college. This year, we spent all day learning from and engaging with a variety of leaders, faculty, staff, and alumni of DFC. Ultimately, the objective is to provide a comprehensive view of the college’s unique, holistic approach to education and student support. Programming included:

• Leadership Panel

• Academic Affairs Panel

• Alumni Panel

• Admissions & Financial Aid Panel

• Student Success Panel

• Campus Tour

The day concluded with another group dinner, allowing for participants to digest their lessons from the day’s activities in dialogue with one another.

Day 3

The final day of the site visit included virtual programming to complement the in-person activities from the day before. This year, it featured leaders and alumni from Arrupe College as well as philanthropic supporters of existing CTB model colleges.

Summing It Up

This year’s site visit was a resounding success. It was hard not to depart from DFC without feeling energized and enthusiastic about the future of higher education based on the example set by Dean Smith and the DFC team. One participant summed it up best during a reflection activity following the day spent at DFC (pictured above):

“Why is this not way higher ed is carried out across the country? The data speaks volumes as do the personal experiences of the participants.”

We’re (admittedly) biased, but we couldn’t have said it better ourselves!