Last September, Georgia Tech launched its 25-year Strategic Plan, “Designing the Future.” And less than a year later, many of its elements are already in play.
In late May, President G. P. “Bud” Peterson addressed a meeting of the Alumni Association Board of Trustees to offer a status update on the plan, which will guide Tech to 2035, its 150th anniversary.
The plan’s five goals are ambitious but focused: to be among the most highly respected technology-focused learning institutions in the world; to sustain and enhance excellence in scholarship and research; to ensure that innovation, entrepreneurship and public service are fundamental characteristics of Tech graduates; to expand the Institute’s global footprint; and to relentlessly pursue institutional effectiveness. Each goal includes several strategies.
In addition, more than 120 white papers have been submitted by colleges and research and academic units, and faculty and staff are exploring existing work and future opportunities.
In the first year, action has been taken on all fronts — despite a lagging economy that continues to affect resources both on campus and off.
“If there’s one good thing that came out of the economic challenges that we have, it’s a refocusing and a repurposing of some of the partnerships we have,” Peterson said.
That refocusing led to the realignment of some research support functions on campus, including the creation of the new Institute for People and Technology, or IPaT (see page 35 for more information). The plan has also spurred the creation of several new initiatives, including the X-College, a self-directed undergraduate learning program still in development. It would allow Tech students to design their own interdisciplinary courses of study.
“There’s places that I’ve been and places that I know about where that wouldn’t work,” Peterson said. “At Georgia Tech the students will challenge themselves — that has become apparent to me in the little over two years that I’ve been here.”
Peterson said he’s also become increasingly aware of Tech students’ interest in service learning opportunities, which is addressed by the plan’s third goal. “When the Japan crisis hit, our students were pressing us. When the disaster in Haiti occurred, our students were pressing us: ‘What is Georgia Tech going to do? How are we going to respond?’” he recalled. “Service learning is an area that’s increasing greatly.”
So, too, is the Institute’s commitment to fostering international experiences for all Tech students, Peterson said. That could include study abroad trips — more than 40 percent of undergraduate students already study, work or research overseas — or even just a walk down 10th Street.
“How can we expand the context of Tech Square and create this idea of a global village?” Peterson asked.
For starters, there’s the new Georgia Tech/Emory cross-enrollment program, debuting for a trial run this fall, which would make it easier for Tech students to identify courses that would not otherwise be available to them.
The plan’s fifth element, concerned with ever-increasing institutional effectiveness, has already ushered in changes such as the campus’s shift to BuzzMart, a highly-advanced eBusiness system that went live in February, eliminating transactional paperwork from desks campus-wide.
Though the Institute still faces a number of challenges, Peterson is hopeful.
“It would be easy to be discouraged,” he said, alluding to the financial woes afflicting Tech and most other universities. “But the thing the Strategic Plan has allowed us to do is keep focused on the future — to look ahead and understand that we are making progress.”
