June 12, 2008

Dear Members of the College of Computing Community,

I have sent a letter to Provost Gary Schuster informing him of my desire to step down as Dean of the college next semester and in a very gracious response he has accepted my resignation effective no later than November 1, 2008.  An Interim Dean will be named as soon as practicable and together we will begin what I hope is a smooth transition process.  My intention is to turn as many internal administrative duties over to the Interim Dean as possible in the next few weeks to allow me to concentrate my efforts on the many external and international projects that now have to be concluded by November 1.

I leave the Dean’s office at a high point in the college’s history having achieved all of the goals that were set when I was named Dean in 2002.  We are a financially and administratively sound college with the best finance, HR and communications organizations on campus.  We have grown dramatically while many other top computing programs around the country have experienced steep declines and cut-backs.  Our faculty headcount is up 40 percent, our operating budget has grown even more rapidly (allowing us to pursue new initiatives) and our research has grown 60 percent.  We have hired well at all ranks.  Our junior faculty are among the best in the world and we continue to lead in such areas as NSF CAREER awards.  Most importantly, we are now ranked in the top ten and are poised to climb even higher.

We have formed three new schools and gained worldwide attention for our leadership in defining the discipline of computing, a goal that was set for the college when it was formed in 1990.  We have launched in total seven new degree programs.  Furthermore, we will continue to set the agenda for computing with our exciting plans to form two additional schools over the next few months, the School of BioMedical Informatics and the School of Information Science.

We have invested wisely in areas like robotics, algorithms, theory, and high performance computing and hired the best senior people in the world to lead those efforts.  Signature centers like GVU and GTISC have been renewed under great new leadership and we have partnered well in cross-campus initiatives like the Health Systems Institute.

As you know we focused much attention on a dramatic turn-around in undergraduate education. I am happy to report today that our educational programs have never been better.  We have become an international leader in undergraduate education.  I hear from hundreds of faculty and students from around the world who are grateful that Georgia Tech took on the challenge of renewing how we teach computing.  Our enrollments continue to rise and this year we will enroll the largest number of women and minorities in the College’s history.  Our incredible instructors continue to be among the best on campus.  Our international presence is strong and growing, fueled in part by our reputation as a leader in education.

As many of you know, I do not believe it is possible to be a great college without also influencing the computing industry.  We are now among the top university collaborators for the IT industry.  Our commercialization efforts have been aimed at helping us achieve greatness in this area as well.  We have spun out four companies and in the process created an investor ecosystem that will allow faculty and student entrepreneurs to be successful.  We have established the idea firmly that commercial success will be rewarded by the college.

Our community is also the strongest (and largest) it has ever been.  The Tech Square Research Building, The Klaus Building, our growing presence in Metz and Oak Ridge National Labs, and our current College of Computing Building – which is undergoing a major renovation – give our community unparalleled campus-wide scope and geographic breadth.  We now have an active alumni association, an incredible Advisory Board, and thriving student communities.  We have kept our ties to the origins of the College with a network of emeritus advisors, including Peter Freeman, the founding dean and constant friend of the college.  Our award-winning web presence ties all of our constituents together and our high visibility in the local and national media lets everyone know of our accomplishments.

The path forward is more challenging than the path we’ve traveled. We are now in competition and cooperation with the best programs in the world.  The expectations are high and the next dean will be called upon to provide exceptional leadership.

My plan is to return to the faculty (something I tried to do in 2002) as a Distinguished Professor of Computing and Management.  I will be taking a leave for a couple of semesters to complete some long-delayed writing projects and to restart my research agenda, a subject I will be talking to some of you about in more detail over the coming months.

I am proud of all that we have accomplished and I am in particular proud of all of you for your hard work and dedication to our shared vision of Computing at Georgia Tech.  I look forward to working with you in my new role.

With Best Wishes,

Richard A. DeMillo
The John P. Imlay Dean and
Distinguished Professor of Computing