Emory Report
September 26, 2005
Volume 58, Number 5

 




   

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September 26 , 2005
Implementation Strategies and Methods

Strategic Alliances
In the modern world, alliances have become critical to solving societal problems of any significant scope. Emory is blessed with several such partnerships with some of the pre-eminent institutions in the world, leading to such notable accomplishments as:
one of the nation’s top programs in biomedical engineering, the result of an 8-year-old partnership with Georgia Tech;
a clinical and medical education partnership with the Morehouse School of Medicine that has helped Grady Hospital to become one of the country’s most vital health care providers for the underserved; and
wide-reaching public health programs undertaken in cooperation with The Carter Center, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CARE, the American Cancer Society and other organizations.

Emory must continue to foster innovative collaborations, reaching out through the Office of University-Community Partnerships to the Atlanta community and to the larger world, as exemplified by the recent formalization of ties between the University and the Dalai Lama’s Drepung Loseling Monastery in India. Emory’s President and the President’s Cabinet will lead the effort to augment and diversify the University’s strategic alliances, with particular attention paid to forging new ties with the business community.

Internationalization
Although internationalization first was considered as a possible strategic theme for Emory, and a Task Force on Internationalization was formed in spring 2004 to explore the issue as such, it soon became clear that this issue undergirds all themes, all activities—indeed, the very life of the University itself as it moves further into the 21st century. Emory is well positioned to promote international research, teaching and social action, both because of its own efforts and partnerships and because of its location in a burgeoning international city, home to several multinational corporations and a world center measured across several industries and indices.

Among the Task Force’s identified next steps are:
creating a comprehensive database to document Emory’s existing international activities, which will be used to develop an “Emory International” website in several languages and available for audiences all over the world;
increasing international enrollment to 12 percent of the student body;
forming international advisory boards, composed of leading alumni and influential leaders from various sectors;
building “points of presence” in major international cities, as well as forming alumni chapters and holding alumni events in those cities;
creating a University-wide faculty committee, under the provost’s direction, to internationalize Emory’s curricula; and
centralizing the infrastructure that facilitates international activities, and bringing it together under one roof.

Institute for Advanced Policy Solutions
In terms of its social contract, a university can be defined as a diverse group of thinkers from a multitude of disciplines, all approaching common questions from their individual points of intellectual origin. This approach has worked successfully in a number of technologically creative fields, from computer programming to advanced aeronautics. Such a concept will be formalized—and directed at one of the primary avenues for making a societal impact: public policy—through the proposed Institute for Advanced Policy Solutions. The Institute will:
• be composed of fellows from throughout Emory’s schools, as well as visiting scholars from other universities, think tanks and the private sector;
• involve multiple specialties working collaboratively to study and meet complex challenges; and
• be organized around two to four key policy areas, initially capitalizing on Emory’s existing faculty strengths but rotating its foci every two to five years.

Campus Master Plan
Due to roll out this fall is an updated Campus Master Plan, which identifies an additional 3.5 million gross square feet (GSF) of capacity on top of the remaining 1.2 million GSF identified during the initial 1998 plan, for a total of 4.7 million new GSF of capacity. The 2005 update was developed under four major themes:
strengthening on-campus living/learning communities;
integrating teaching and research to reflect Emory’s mission as a university;
allowing “silos” to thrive while bridging them together; and
planning comprehensively and in balance with the environment.

Comprehensive Campaign
Key to accomplishing the objectives of both the Campus Master Plan and the Strategic Plan will be an ambitious—and successful—comprehensive fund-raising campaign, planning for which has already begun. The University’s Office of Development and University Relations (DUR) has outlined the operational changes necessary to conduct such a campaign, and these include:
significantly increasing the number of face-to-face visits with potential donors;
exercising the full power of market research and analysis to target DUR activity; and
raising Emory’s national profile through a strategically focused external communications program.

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