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September 26 , 2005
School Aspirations & Academic, Research and Major Operating Unit Goals

Emory’s strategic plan is built upon the aspirations and achievements of its individual schools and academic, research and major operating units. Each conducted its own strategic planning process, and the courses they set for themselves collectively represent the soul of Emory’s vision. A review of the plans identified many common aspirations, including:

• distinguished faculty
• principled leaders
• destination for students, faculty and staff
• strong community engagement
• impact on the world
• peer recognition
• groundbreaking scholarship that addresses society’s problems

These common aspirations provide the foundation for development of the first three strategic goals, themes and University-wide initiatives of the plan. These areas also reflect some of the basic foundational elements that make a university a strong and vibrant place.

Emory College
Emory College combines the best qualities of both a traditional liberal arts college and a major research university. But it aspires to be more than simply elite. With targeted investments and strategic growth, we are poised to provide a learning experience like no other—one that is distinctive in its offerings and lasting in its effects. The College’s vision calls for increasing merit scholarships and need-based support for the nation’s top students; hiring 100 new faculty and building a commensurate staff; creating an outstanding social and physical environment; sharpening the intellectual focus of undergraduate life; and investing in infrastructure that supports the teaching and research mission of the College. In addition, the College will strengthen those disciplines at the heart of the liberal arts curriculum and advance interdisciplinary programs to the point of genuine distinction.

Oxford College
Oxford College aspires to become the national exemplar of a liberal arts-intensive undergraduate institution. Focused on the first two years of the Emory baccalaureate degree, Oxford will become increasingly intentional in achieving those educational outcomes that distinguish liberal learning. Innovation and scholarship in the pedagogies of inquiry and engagement will continue with enhanced support from the new Center for Academic Excellence. The center’s work will have impact throughout the University and the nation. This will establish Oxford as an invaluable complement to Emory College with its distinctive advantages within one of the nation’s top research universities, and thereby promote Emory’s emergence as a national leader in undergraduate education by 2015.

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
The goal of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is to develop graduate programs that are recognized nationally to be among the top ranked programs in creating new knowledge and in training the next generation of leading researchers, scholars and teachers. We will do this through developing programs that attract the best faculty and students, developing and enhancing practices that ensure student success, and building upon our successes in developing the teaching skills of our students. Because the GSAS is the only school with programs in all schools of the University, it is in a unique position to develop new programs and reshape existing programs in ways that foster interdisciplinary and interschool research and scholarship. Additionally, in support of Emory’s commitment to building a stronger and more diverse university community, the GSAS will create professional-development and career-service programs that will promote the stature of its faculty, students and staff, and nurture the growth of a University community more diverse in its representation of socioeconomic class, race, ethnicity, gender and intellectual pursuits.

Goizueta Business School
By 2015, the Goizueta Business School and its academic programs will be branded and internationally recognized for producing principled leaders for a global enterprise. Goizueta will be a model community and will be well known for the distinctive strength of its talented, team-oriented and diverse graduates. Additionally, Goizueta’s preeminent research and scholarship will be relevant to both the academic disciplines and business community, and build bridges within and across the University.

Emory Law School
The Emory Law School will be nationally and internationally recognized for its commitment to the legal profession as a service profession, for its emphasis on teaching the practice of law as well as the study of law, and for its premier centers of excellence. This essential role of service will be reflected in a program that offers every student the opportunity to work in the public sector or private nonprofit sectors, a substantially expanded loan repayment assistance program, and greater scholarship assistance. The school will teach the practice of law by building upon outstanding programs—in trial techniques, intellectual property, child advocacy, and environmental law—by adding clinical programs in criminal defense and juvenile justice, and through expanded emphasis on transactional skills. Each of our centers of excellence will be interdisciplinary, integrative and international in approach, and will include law and religion, international law, feminist jurisprudence and legal theory, and health law.

Candler School of Theology
By 2015, Candler will be the world leader in theological education and religious studies. Candler will have secured this leadership position through the renewal of its instructional, administrative and library facilities. Candler also will be known as a leader in shaping the community’s conscience for the positive transformation of church and the world. Candler’s aspirations for itself are enhanced and supported by the University’s distinctive intellectual and programmatic profile. At Emory, the study of theology, of religion and of religious practice have found themselves in a place that is religiously pluralistic and intellectually complex, with many ties to specific religious communities in Atlanta and beyond.

Woodruff Health Sciences Center
School of Medicine, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Rollins School of Public Health, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory Healthcare
By 2015, the Woodruff Health Sciences Center (WHSC) will be recognized as one of the country’s top 10 academic health sciences centers and will be leading change in health care through its education, research and patient care programs. Additionally, the WHSC will have created a new model of health and healing for the 21st century. The WHSC is a hybrid organization that has core missions of education, research and health care delivery. Emory has a strategic advantage in its integration of health sciences and health care delivery.

School of Medicine
By 2015, the School of Medicine will have an outstanding, innovative curriculum that is widely imitated by other medical schools. The School will continue to retain and recruit the most talented, world-class clinicians and scientists, maintaining its rapid rate of growth in sponsored research funding. Building on historic successes in the fields of neuroscience, cancer biology, transplantation, cardiovascular disease and infectious disease, the School of Medicine will emerge as a leader in new areas of emphasis, including nanotechnology, systems biology, health services research, predictive health and global health.

Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
The Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing will be one of the nation’s top three private schools of nursing and a leading global force in research, education and leadership that improves nursing care. Building on its characteristic values of social responsibility, scholarship and leadership, and its partnerships with The Carter Center, the World Health Organization and other key organizations, the School will continue its remarkable upward trajectory as a leading force for enhancing the health of vulnerable people in Georgia, the United States and around the world.

Rollins School of Public Health
The Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH) will be one of the top five schools of public health in the world and will be known for its excellence in global health and collaborative research, recognized for its unparalleled local partnerships, its capacity for global impact and its commitment to training the public health leaders of tomorrow. RSPH will serve as the catalyst to bring together key organizations such as The Carter Center, The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, the American Cancer Society, CARE, and state and local government, furthering Atlanta’s reputation as the public health capital of the world.

Yerkes National Primate Research Center
By 2015, Yerkes will have emerged as the only facility in the world where the fields of comparative behavior, genomics and imaging can all be combined with transgenic technology to study and clarify the biology of health and disease. Specific focus will be applied to the areas of neurosciences and vaccine development. The ability to compare the human genome with several nonhuman primate genomes, together with the oncoming technology for proteomics, uniquely positions Yerkes and Emory at the forefront of comparative medicine and predictive health.

Emory Healthcare
Emory Healthcare (EHC) has a great opportunity to contribute to the
community and region by delivering world-class health care, training and teaching health professionals for the 21st century, and developing new knowledge. By 2015, EHC aspires to build a premier health-care delivery system, designed from the ground up for health and healing in the 21st century. Emory’s unique opportunity is to become an unparalleled center of learning and discovery, community and care: the destination of choice for those seeking, and for those practicing, learning and pioneering health care at its best.

Emory Libraries
By 2015, the Emory Library will earn distinction through its outstanding digital library program and through its internationally renowned humanities center for manuscripts and archives, focusing on modern literature and African American culture. Emory is at the forefront of creating digital resources and services to build an open digital library. In the new Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library (MARBL) building, faculty, staff and students from throughout the University, and scholars from major national research institutions nationally and internationally, will carry out groundbreaking research in the humanities and use original materials in innovative teaching. These resources will attract the best faculty and students, making Emory one of the preeminent universities in the country for humanities scholars and for students seeking the finest liberal arts education.

Michael C. Carlos Museum
By 2015, the Carlos Museum will be an international destination for scholars, students and visitors seeking to study the art and history of world cultures. The Museum will hold signature collections led by world-renowned curators comparable to peer university museums, bolstering Emory’s teaching and research, and enriching the Atlanta and tourist communities. The Museum will stand as one of the region’s premier centers for the conservation and preservation of material culture. The Museum will continue inquiry-driven, ethically engaged collaborations, such as the Ramesses investigation and return in 2003, that will result in new scholarship and cultural enrichment for both the campus and the community.

Campus Life
By 2015, Campus Life will have created an exemplary learning community that combines classroom and residential life with experiential learning that prepares students for a life of ethical leadership and active engagement. Ethical leadership will be developed through increased career exploration programs, mentor programs and the Second Year at Emory program, as well as comprehensive living-learning experiences in the residence halls. Students will take advantage of the opportunities provided through Campus Life-based programs, including improved spaces for informal gatherings, the creation of a multipurpose center, and signature programs such as the Barkley Forum Debate Team, Volunteer Emory and varsity and club athletics.

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