The liberal arts have been part of Georgia Tech since it opened its doors in 1888 with English as one of the original six subjects taught. Though there have been many iterations for our disciplines and inter-disciplines since then, we have remained constant in playing critical roles across the decades in shaping and influencing the multiple ways in which science, technology, and the liberal arts converge to deliver the highest quality of research and teaching.

During the tenure of my predecessor, Dean Sue Rosser, the Ivan Allen College in its current form gained solid footing and reached new heights in academic accomplishments. Distinctive among these accomplishments, we developed a research profile commensurate with a world-class research university and built collaborative programs at the intersections of technology and the liberal arts that, today, define the college as a leader in interdisciplinary research, scholarship, and teaching. Because of these accomplishments, I believe that the Ivan Allen College stands in the vanguard for the future. We are poised to proclaim Georgia Tech as a locus for 21st century liberal arts research, teaching, and learning, and we stand ready, willing, and able to accentuate to remarkable effect the capacity of Georgia Tech to fulfill its innovative, interdisciplinary, entrepreneurial mission as a top tier research university, dedicated to using its knowledge creation in service of public interests locally and globally.

Toward these ambitious ends, I have drafted two working documents for the IAC. One articulates a vision, mission, and strategic priorities for 2010-2011. The second lays out a basic framework for aligning the IAC with the new and exciting strategic plan for the Institute presented to the campus by President Peterson in his opening address to the campus. Together, they form a basic springboard from which the IAC will conduct its own strategic assessment and establish an agenda going forward that complements the Georgia Tech plan in a robust way.

Most certainly, an IAC strategic planning process will draw attention: to our collective strength as a driver for interdisciplinarity in research, teaching, and learning; to an ever-growing internal and external awareness of our excellence in research and scholarship; and to the depth of our commitment to providing our students—whether undergraduate or graduate—with top tier classroom and extra-classroom experiences. At the same time, the process will be directed also toward strengthening our fiscal capacity and enhancing operational efficiency and effectiveness in support of the broad and dynamic array of our enterprises.

Engaging in this type of process affirms that we remain on a path that continues to embrace and grow the Allen legacy. Ivan Allen, Jr. was a leader of great vision for his city and country who demonstrated remarkable courage in the face of crisis. Our mission as the Ivan Allen College is similarly cast: to lead with a clear sense of our distinctive history at Georgia Tech and with a robust vision of the values added to the world by the liberal arts; to advance the extraordinarily innovative interdisciplinary and collaborative research and teaching that we do; and to bring our strengths in the liberal arts boldly into the present and the future as we collaborate with others to create knowledge and to prepare new generations of students.

At this point in time, we face a new horizon filled with both challenges and opportunities, and I look forward to our working together to bring honor to this great institution and to do all that we can to make the world a better place.

Dean Royster is a professor of English with interests related to rhetorical studies, women’s studies, and literacy. She holds the Ivan Allen Jr. Dean's Chair in Liberal Arts and Technology and is professor in the School of Literature, Communication and Culture.