Dear brilliant colleagues,
The fall semester is quickly moving along. The trees have gone from green to crimson and gold. It’s Big Ten football season, somewhere. I am pleased to learn that the tailgate culture in Bloomington is strong, even if the team is not. There’s always basketball!
Strategic plan
I am so grateful to our entire Strategic Vision Committee members. The committee met regularly from January to October this year to work on our first-ever school-wide strategic vision. We completed Phase I, the landscape study, this summer and just wrapped Phase II, which focused on authoring the plan. As I said in the September State of the School address , the primary vision for Luddy is to be the force for socially responsible scientific and technological innovation.
We are finetuning the final version as we speak. We are excited to share the final product widely—stay tuned for that announcement later this month.
We now kick off Phase III of the strategic vision process: implementation. In many ways, this is the most diOcult and exciting phase, as it requires us to set goals and think creatively about the work needed to achieve those outcomes. I’ll announce the creation of task forces soon around all four pillars of the strategic plan: Student Success and Opportunity, Transformation Research and Creativity, Service to Our State and Beyond, and School Culture and Operations.
New student applications
We have started the fall 2024 application season strong across both campuses! Point in time to last year, Bloomington is up 50% to 1,235 in undergraduate and up 28% to 172 in graduate. Indianapolis is up 246% to 578 in undergraduate and up 275% to 68 in graduate.
Undergraduate applications at Indy are the highest on that campus and are on the path to convert into the largest first-year class there! We are still very early in the cycle for graduate applications, so we could still see significant differences with the final count of applicants.
EDGE Consortium
President Whitten and I are among a select group of higher education leaders that have founded the EDGE Consortium. Its goal is to make semiconductor-related education more accessible and aligned with workforce needs.
Read a Science article about this work
I recently traveled to Washington, D.C., for the EDGE Consortium’s inaugural Fall Summitt, where university, government, and industry leaders met to discuss a national strategy to expand opportunities for all students. While this specific consortium concentrates on semiconductors, an urgent national need right now, the inroads we make in providing more educational access for this program will benefit all students in STEM and related fields.
Together, we can open new educational pathways for women and underrepresented groups in all fields represented at Luddy, and fulfill one aspect of being a force for socially responsible scientific and technological innovation.
Faculty dinner dance
The faculty dinner dance will take place on Saturday, March 23, 6-9 p.m. This year’s event will be hosted at the Indiana Roof Ballroom in Indianapolis. Keep your eyes peeled for an invitation coming soon.
As we enter November, when many focus on giving thanks, I want to thank every community member. I appreciate your dedication and service to our students and one another.
World events are causing many of us anxiety and fear. At Luddy, our utmost priority is to foster a caring and inclusive environment for all. Please take advantage of the Thanksgiving events planned on each campus this month, so that we can continue to strengthen our ties to one another. Indianapolis has a Friendsgiving party for staff on Wednesday, November 15 and Bloomington has a lunch potluck for faculty and staff on Thursday, November 16. And if you are struggling or need more support, remember you have access to the Employee Assistance Program.
With gratitude,
Joanna Millunchick
Dean Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering