A quiet campus and a few loud thunderstorms—summer has arrived! As we ease into the months ahead, I want to take this opportunity to reflect on the Spring 2024 term and the many achievements of our employees and students across OUE.
There was a lot to celebrate this spring, starting with the Clough Learning Commons renovation completion and open house. An immense thank you to Jo Beth Cup and everyone who served on the project team for seeing this endeavor through to a successful end. We’re making excellent use of this space with the many events and meetings we have already held here, and the OUE offices are brighter and more welcoming than ever.
In January, the Career Center hosted its Spring All-Majors Career Fair which welcomed 147 employers and more than 3,500 students in Exhibition Hall. In February, we released the 2022-2023 Impact Report (if you haven’t perused this report yet, please take a moment to do so). A big thanks to Lacy Hodges for her work on this report. In March, the Office of Experiential and Engaged Learning (E2L) organized the InVenture Prize finals which were televised live on GPB and brought an innovative solution in women’s health one step closer to success. In April, Pre-Graduate and Pre-Professional Advising celebrated all students who applied for prestigious fellowships under their guidance at the Spring Fellowships Reception. Several of their students successfully received fellowships including Georgia Tech’s first recipient of the Luce Scholarship. The Love Family Foundation Award and Provost’s Academic Excellence Awards were also given to outstanding student recipients at the Spring Honors Celebration on April 10. The Undergraduate Research Spring Symposium saw over 150 students present their projects on topics covering everything from energy and space to medicine and immunology.
Our strategic alignment planning work continues, having recently completed a round of employee input sessions as well as unit-level workplans. Opportunities for input continue through May and June with the sharing of unit-level workplans. We expect to receive the first draft of the Strategic Alignment Plan in June and to step into the Fall 2024 term ready to launch our plan.
Our staff accomplishments have soared this semester as well with three of OUE’s employees joining the Inclusive Leaders Academy, two OUE faculty members named in the CIOS Honor Roll, two more completing the ASPIRE program, one selected for the inaugural cohort of Ascend, and another earning France’s highest civilian honor. The Career Center has been recognized for several awards including three national awards, and the 2024 All Voices Award. We also have several staff who have completed educational accomplishments including Susan Belmonte who received an Outstanding Ph.D. in Teaching and Teacher Education Award from GSU and Stefan Smith who was recently accepted into Georgia Tech’s Online Master of Science in Analytics program, as well as Monique Morris, Josh Parsons, and Kristi Hesse who have completed degrees—well done to you all. I also want to give a huge congratulations to Amy D’Unger, Interim Director of the Honors Program, for being promoted to Principal Academic Professional. I am incredibly proud of you all and thrilled to see so many members of OUE achieving their academic and professional goals.
We’ve welcomed 11 new staff to OUE since January and are pleased to say we are 84% staffed with six open positions in final interviewing and hiring stages as of today.
FASET has begun with the first two transfer student sessions on May 9 and 10, and we look forward to the beginning of iGniTe, and First-Year FASETs in June. We are projected to welcome 3,900 first-year students—including 98 First-Year Semester Abroad (FYSA) students and 440 students in iGniTe—and 1,400 transfer students this summer.
Thank you all of you for your hard work and dedication to our programs and student success. In the midst of welcoming new students and planning for the next academic year, I hope everyone makes plans to take some well-earned time off this summer. I will be venturing down to the beach with my 7-year-old daughter in July.
I am looking forward to a great summer. Please don’t hesitate to reach out anytime if you want to connect. I would love to catch up.
Warmly,
Steven