Editor's Note: The following is a partial reprint from the "Proposed Strategic Plan Implementation" report, Submitted by the WPI Strategic Plan Implementation Committee on November 2, 1998. This selection highlights the five goals of the Proposed strategic plan. Complete text of the report can be found at the following web address: http://www.WPI.EDU/Stratplan/Phase2/Report/
WPI has reached a pivotal point in its development as one of America's most creative technological universities. For over a century as a highly respected regional institution WPI made a steady stream of important educational contributions producing renowned leaders in every field of science, engineering and management, from Robert Goddard, father of the space age, to Harold Black, father of modern communications. Then, during the past quarter century, WPI blossomed! It has implemented a most creative and coherent approach to technological education which combines a strong but flexible course structure with required qualifying projects in the major field (MQP - Major Qualifying Project), the humanities and arts (Sufficiency), and in socio-technical interaction (IQP - Interactive Qualifying Project). WPI has moved from the status of regional college to that of national university, has fostered innovations in global technological education, has enhanced its facilities many fold, and has developed a faculty and student body of outstanding quality.
Where lies the future for WPI? As is said in the world of finance, "Past performance does not guarantee future success." Thus, WPI through its past accomplishments, by its very success has now raised the stakes for its future in an environment of dramatic change, of powerful competition, and of fiscal challenge.
To address the future of WPI, many members of the faculty, administration, and student body have been working for almost two years on development of a strategic plan, beginning with the work of the Strategic Plan Steering Committee (SPSC 1996-97). In April 1997 the WPI faculty, staff and students each endorsed the following vision statement proposed by the SPSC: "The Strategic Plan Steering Committee envisions WPI, in 2010, as a world leader among small, private technological universities focused on engineering, science and management. Offering integrated theory and practice through a project-based curriculum and global opportunities in all levels of study, WPI will continue to build an environment that promotes innovative thinking, values mutual respect and diversity, highly regards scholarship and teaching, promotes ethical behavior and engenders life-long learning for the campus community." (From the Strategic Plan Steering Committee Final Report 4/27/97.) The Planning and Implementation Committee (PIC 1997-98) continued the work of the SPSC, functioning within the vision, guiding principles, and goals enunciated in the SPSC's final report. PIC culled through the 165 recommendations of the SPSC task forces in an effort to identify the aspirations of WPI and specific actions by which they would be reached. After incorporating substantial additional input and revision from subcommittees and the community at large, PIC has synthesized these actions into 21 initiatives grouped under five goals. The initiatives that support the goals either vector existing strengths of WPI to the next level of excellence or address current weaknesses that would limit our ability to attain our vision. The five goals are presented below, accompanied by rationale explaining why each is necessary if the totality of the above vision statement is to be achieved. The implementation initiatives proposed to support these goals are then briefly discussed at the beginning of the sections that detail each goal's initiatives. These introductions outline the ways in which each goal and the associated initiatives support and enhance the uniqueness of a WPI education.
Goal 1: Enhance the Quality of WPI's Academic Programs
Rationale: Some distinctive aspects of WPI's academic programs that are the essence of the high quality, value-added education we provide include: our projects-based, outcomes-oriented curriculum in which students "learn how to learn"; the intensity of student-faculty interactions both inside but especially outside the traditional classroom, and extending around the globe; and a culture and flexibility that allow interdisciplinary activities, teamwork, and integration of education and research at undergraduate and graduate levels to a much greater extent than our peers. These are the aspects of our academic programs that we must emphasize as we enter the 21st century to become a world leader among private technological institutions. The liberal arts education for this new age requires outcomes assessment of our students and attention to the increasing needs of a marketplace that demands that men and women be appropriately prepared to function in a world defined by constant change. A weak element in any of these aspects, however, whether graduate or undergraduate, demeans the quality of the whole. Some of the initiatives, proposed to support this goal, address current limitations in our academic programs. Other initiatives identify new opportunities to build upon existing successes to enhance further the quality of our academic programs.
Goal 2: Develop WPI's Position as a National University
Rationale: Years ago WPI progressed from the status of a local institution to that of a regional college of engineering. Despite its persisting handicap of inadequate name recognition and prestige, WPI has now been granted the status of a doctoral-level, national university by external evaluators such as the Carnegie Corporation and US News and World Report. The criteria for such status encompasses items from the number of doctoral degrees awarded annually to the geographical distribution of its undergraduates and the diversity of its offerings. It would be unthinkable for WPI, having gained a status awarded to only 228 (only 81 of which are private universities) of more than 3,500 degree-granting institutions in the US, to allow now this recognition to slip away from us. We must take immediate actions to ensure that WPI remains within this elite group. Developing WPI's position as a national university also will benefit all students and alumni by making their degrees more valuable and by opening avenues to our faculty by providing new resources to deliver our unique and valuable education.
We anticipate that our past and current achievements, which focus on measuring and enhancing the quality of our projects-based, highly interactive approach to education and on further developing our position as a leader in global technological education, will continue to bring recognition at the national level since they are niches unique to WPI and we must maintain our strengths in these programs. However innovation in programs and pedagogical approaches alone is not enough keep our reputation as a first rate national university. We must also excel in the areas of scholarship and research to raise the nationwide profile of our faculty and students if we are to achieve recognition in circles where these activities are most valued. Thus, Goal 2 addresses advances in areas that by traditional measures will also enhance our overall national reputation. We have a rare opportunity to create a synergy between strong existing programs and high quality scholarship and research. The activities of research-active faculty and graduate students will support and enhance those programs where we have already built strengths. With a faculty focussed on high quality undergraduate and graduate education and conducting outstanding research, we will secure a reputation as an excellent University with innovative programs. Without the added strength in scholarship, we risk being viewed as a second tier university. We owe it to our faculty and students to present the best possible image of WPI to the world. Our achievements in the traditional measures of excellence will create a greater demand for our students and will attract a stronger and more diverse population to our University. These initiatives can and must be pursued without comprising the quality of the academic programs we now deliver. WPI is blessed with a highly qualified faculty with such a diversity of interests and talents that this multi-pronged approach for developing national recognition is realistic and inclusive, as long as additional resources are obtained and as long as there is a parallel, multi-pronged approach for faculty rewards and incentives.
Goal 3: Establish WPI as a Leader in Global Technological Education
Rationale: Starting with its Washington Project Center and its initial exchange programs with City University of London and ETH in Zurich over 25 years ago, WPI has now developed what is probably the most distinctive and extensive project-based system of global education in the world. No other institution can offer the majority of its students the opportunity to undertake the hands-on solutions of projects, locally-sponsored at sites distributed around the world. WPI has in place the three essential elements to make this program a success: (1) a project based curriculum, (2) a seven-week term and (3) a supportive faculty culture. The concept of education for a global society is growing in educational circles. At the moment WPI is ahead of the curve, but other institutions are rapidly organizing and implementing their own approaches to meet this need, thus placing our leadership status at risk.
Goal 4: Improve WPI's Campus Culture and Community Presence
Rationale: Elements of the SPSC vision statement clearly are in the realm of campus culture and community: "WPI will continue to build an environment that... values mutual respect and diversity,... promotes ethical behavior and engenders life-long learning for the campus community." The WPI community has a multitude of constituencies, both internal and external; the diversity of initiatives grouped under this goal reflects our corresponding multitude of responsibilities. The initiatives that support this goal have been developed directly from assessments within WPI key constituencies of what they will need to get to the next level of excellence.
No constituency deserves more consideration and urgent attention than the student community. With 85% of the all-male student body as members, a vibrant fraternity system provided both upper-class housing and social life for the campus for almost a century. Now, with only about 35% of students in Greek organizations, the majority of the campus has been left largely without a social focus - "without a living room", as one trustee stated. With a Campus Center now in view along with the programming opportunities it can inspire, WPI is on the threshold of providing its students with an all-campus facility where the social development of its students and their sense of community may grow to levels not seen before at WPI. WPI has already committed to key initiatives in this area: foremost, the construction of the Campus Center.
Goal 5: Expand WPI's Educational Resources
Rationale: The preceding goals address the core of the academic enterprise: the creation, application, and dissemination of knowledge, the preparation of the student for this process, and the attendant interactions among members of a learning community. Not to be forgotten in this education process, however, are the resources and means to retrieve and exchange information. The need for facilities to keep up with the ever-changing field of communication requires resources that extend from intra- to inter-campus communications. The central educational resource of any academic institution is its library, but presently our library is in dire need of an infusion of investments if we aspire to be a world leader among private technological universities