Presidential Initiatives & Commissions

Presidential Initiatives

Presidential Initiatives are formed based on President Berkey’s awareness of the need to address the issues of sustainability and diversity throughout the WPI community. Current initiatives include:

• The Presidential Committee on Efficiency & Effectiveness
• The President’s Task Force on Sustainability
• President's Council for the Support of Women and Minorities at WPI
• University Council

Presidential Commissions

In 2004-05 President Dennis Berkey proposed the creation of six Presidential Commissions to address issues and concerns brought forth by members of the WPI community since his appointment the previous spring.  President Berkey’s interest was in capitalizing on a newcomer’s “fresh eyes and open ears” to address issues that were on the minds of WPI’s community members. The seven Commissions President Berkey formed are as follows:

• General Education and the First Year Experience
  • This commission led to the development of WPI’s First Year Experience Program 
• The Fine and Liberal Arts and the Sufficiency Project
  • This commission led to the Humanities & Arts Requirement 
• The IQP and Global Studies 
• Research and Graduate Education
• Faculty Workloads 
• Shape and Size
• Rankings

Various Commission discussions also led to the Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Dean of Graduate Studies positions.