Dean's Desk - July 6, 2021

Dear GT Computing community,

It’s a beautiful day here in Atlanta, and the birds are out singing to celebrate a new fiscal year and the great renewal that comes with it. I’m going to join our avian colleagues and talk today about some changes we are making in the College in order to build on our past successes and set us up for the future. In short, we are expanding and restructuring our Office of Outreach, Enrollment, and Community.

As you know, one of the key strengths of the College is its community. Our community is broad: it includes students, faculty, staff, and alumni, but also those who are joining the field of computing through our outreach efforts. For more than a decade, OEC has spearheaded and supported many of these community efforts. Sometimes quite visibly, sometimes quietly, but always with energy and passion.

OEC has grown dramatically just as our community has grown, and just as the importance of computing has grown. To manage this growth and to increase our impact, we are strengthening all parts of OEC: 

  • Our corporate and alumni support operations will join the Office of Development. We have partnered with the GT Alumni Association to focus on our young alumni especially and to formalize the pilot programs we have started in the last two years.
  • Many of our various internal community, wellness, and enrichment programs will come together in an organization that will report up through Irfan Essa, our Senior Associate Dean. 
  • Similarly, our many outreach programs in OEC and Constellations will also come together. This restructuring will consolidate the logistical and organizational support that touches so many of our efforts across the College. One important consequence is that the event coordinators from OEC and Communications will come together into a college-level event management group.

All in all, these developments are good for the College and the amazing folks who have worked on these efforts. They will set up for our next wave of growth (I say next but it’s already here) and support our strategic goals, including our focus on increasing the diversity of and access to the field of computing at every stage in the pipeline. The new outreach group will strengthen and add to our existing programs for diversifying the field, which is good for us and for the larger community.

While we’re on the subject of renewal, I have another somewhat mixed announcement to make: Brad Hastings, our exceptional Senior Director of Development, has agreed to serve as the Executive Director of Development for the College of Engineering going forward. That’s good news for CoE but, well, let’s just say I have a few other feelings as well. Having said that, Brad has graciously agreed to continue in his role with CoC for the foreseeable future while we transition to the upcoming campaign. 

So there you go. Please enjoy the week ahead. Take some time to sing a song, to dance like no one’s watching (because as I cannot emphasize enough no one is), or just to enjoy the morning sun. I’ll see you again soon, maybe even in person.

 

Peace.
--
Charles L. Isbell, Jr.

John P. Imlay, Jr. Dean

College of Computing

Georgia Tech

 

EA: Alicia Richhart, alicia@cc.gatech.edu, 404-894-8357

 

Don't just adopt opinions,  develop them 

Set us up for the future: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvZwSPhvjts

A few other feelings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZt1xKtPbUQ

Sing a song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtUQImH26Bw

Dance like no one’s watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P7JoQxEmE4

Enjoy the morning sun https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoI1XPqXQ90