Triumph Through Service
Dear Georgia Tech Community:
Decades from now, the 2019-20 fiscal year will be remembered as one of the most tumultuous — yet fruitful — periods in the Institute’s history. And our situation is by no means unique. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced billions of people spanning the globe to completely redefine their daily lives.
Despite all the upheaval, however, Georgia Tech’s vital work hasn’t just continued; it has evolved to address the most critical challenges of our time. With everyone’s health and safety as our top priority, students, faculty, staff, and alumni have united to work together and press on in the name of Progress and Service.
To keep Tech moving forward safely, responsibly, and compassionately, we established a Covid-19 Response Task Force to oversee every aspect of the Institute’s modified operations and recommend best practices. For some of the spring and summer terms, we converted all classes to remote instruction. We have also leveraged the Institute’s potent research and manufacturing capacities to provide crucial solutions for patients, healthcare workers, and more. While some teams developed technology for automated contact tracing and comprehensively modeled the pandemic’s activity, others evaluated disinfectants and created a new hand sanitizer to prevent a national shortage. Our researchers have supported the state of Georgia’s expansion of coronavirus testing, assisted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with analytics techniques and antibody development, and leveraged gene-editing CRISPR tools in work that will create new therapeutic and prevention technologies. Meanwhile, our friends in the corporate world have contributed generously to these projects with advice, material donations, and financial support.
When I consider these achievements, I see two significant takeaways.
First, I believe higher education is being permanently transformed before our eyes — for the better. Like Tech, universities around the globe have shown us all they’re more essential than ever as they equip the world with the research and technology we need to understand and overcome the crises that threaten the lives of our fellow humans. Equally significant, when the pandemic forced educators to suspend traditional teaching methods, universities pivoted on a dime to extend unprecedented access and flexibility to their students and employees. As we all globalized our resources, we also applied our technology to facilitate novel forms of virtual interaction that personalize and scale online instruction.
Second, I see Georgia Tech’s new strategic plan in action. Soon after my investiture as Georgia Tech’s 12th president, I engaged the campus community to craft a new vision and mission that would together form the foundation of a strategic plan for the Institute’s next decade. In May, after months of work and interactions with thousands of members of our community, the Board of Regents approved our new mission statement: We are a public research university “committed to developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition.”
As the events of 2020 have shown, this new mission is more relevant than ever, and we’re committed to living up to these noble goals — especially when a pandemic has gripped the world, and our entire nation is forced to acknowledge the cost of systemic racism. We all share the responsibility to make sure our foundational beliefs — that all people are created equal and are endowed with the same fundamental rights — extend to everyone and reflect the reality around us. While we demand change from those with the power to enact it, we must also act as individuals and communities to do everything we can to empower anyone excluded from the promise of the American dream.
For Georgia Tech, that means dismantling any extant barriers of entry to people of underrepresented backgrounds. It means cultivating a culture of diversity, justice, and well-being — an inclusive learning environment where everyone can access the resources to grow, unlock potential, and lead an influential life. It means every single one of us must use our talents and positions to listen and work collectively to make our world a better place.
Indeed, as the crises of 2020 confirm, our new mission and vision, together with our revered motto of Progress and Service, have rarely been more important or so deeply needed. To be a great institute of technology, we must excel at much more than technology. It is for this very reason that Georgia Tech doesn’t just develop technology for technology’s sake. We advance technology that can help all of us live better lives, and we develop leaders who can boldly address the toughest challenges of our time and drive positive change — whether through design, innovation, and research or through business, education, and policy.
In spite of the challenges of this season, Georgia Tech continues its positive trajectory. New student applications continue to rise each year, with nearly 41,000 first-year candidates applying for 3,250 slots this fall semester. Of those candidates, 30% were valedictorians or salutatorians, and 88% represented the top 10% of their graduating class. Women are approaching 40% of our undergraduate enrollment, our six-year graduation rates are above 90%, and sponsored research awards have surpassed $1 billion. We’re continuing to build an innovation ecosystem in and around Tech Square, and our community engagement has never been stronger.
Ever since 1885, Georgia Tech has set itself apart through a trademark spirit of overcoming through innovation, resilience, and service. While 2020 poses some of the most formidable trials and challenges of our lifetimes, I know that, as always, we will learn, we will grow, we will triumph, and we will leave no one behind.
