Tech erases boundaries, Clough says

Yesterday in the Student Center Ballroom, Institute President Wayne Clough delivered his annual State of the Institute address. In it, he described Tech as an environment where many boundaries are vanishing: boundaries between disciplines, boundaries around words like "engineering" and "technology," the boundaries of the traditional classroom, and boundaries between groups of people, whether cultural, economic, or national.

Clough was preceded on stage by Katie Dieterman, fourth-year Psychology major and president of Omicron Delta Kappa, the organization that hosts the event each year.

At the beginning of his speech he spoke of constraints that boundaries place on universities.

"I would argue the boundaries set by the perceptions of others are limits that we should not accept," Clough said. "[In the past,] those who had the strength to cross over those boundaries often had their sanity questioned."

According to Clough, Tech used to be no different from other universities in that respect.

"As we have matured as an institution, we have become more emboldened to question the status quo, and this is a good thing," Clough said.

He discussed the Institute's vision to define the technological research university of the 21st century, a process which he said requires Tech to seize opportunities that come from the boundaries disappearing as a consequence of society's needs and choices.

"We will have to be willing to provoke change and assume leadership to erase boundaries that would otherwise stand in our way," Clough said.

"A university that is collaborative, interdisciplinary, and global gives a student the opportunity... to become a citizen of the world as well as an architect, engineer, scientist, historian, or business leader," Clough said.

Clough said the learning environment of the 21st century university will also transcend boundaries through innovative new learning technologies. He cited the Horizon Wimba Live Classroom, a live and interactive approach to teaching modern leanguages online that grew from the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, as well as "halo" video technology developed by Tech researchers along with HP engineers. This system allows classes in two locations to see each other by projecting life-sized, high-definition images onto the walls of the classrooms, giving the apperance that they are all in the same room. Clough said this technology will soon be used for classes held both at Tech and at Georgia Tech-Savannah.

He also noted that Tech has crossed a more literal boundary in North Avenue, formerly the South boundary of campus, which was transcended by the acquisition of the North Avenue Apartments across the street.

"Not only can we house over 70% of our undergraduates on campus... but by gathering our sophomores in this apartment complex we will be able to create a learning community that reinforces their college experience," Clough said.

He then spoke about diversity, which he said means breaking down boundaries between cultures, races, and economic classes.

Economic diversity is being addressed through the new Tech Promise program, which allows Georgia students from households with under $30,000 in income to graduate from Tech debt-free.

Tech's commitment to cultural diversity is shown by its consistent ability to graduate large numbers of African-American engineers, well above the national average.

He cited the recent career fair as another example of vanishing boundaries. Employers came to recruit students for positions that reflected Tech's interdisciplinary excellence.

Tech far exceeds other universities in lowering disciplinary boundaries, he said, citing Tech's 125 interdisciplinary centers on subjects ranging from nanomedicine to digital media and that the majority of the dozens of new majors added over the past decade have been interdisciplinary.

After his speech he congratulated the women's tennis team for last year's national championship and took questions from the audience.

The first question related to Tech's ability to handle the growing number of students and the expansion of buildings and parking lots to accomodate the growth. In response to a question on campus sustainability he described how the Klaus building was designed to collect and reuse water so as not to require any from the municipal supply.