Welcome and welcome back! Somehow those words don’t quite express the enormity of coming back to campus or coming to campus for the first time. Over the last year, there have been many changes both personally and professionally for all of us. COVID has taken its toll, but we are not defeated. Our Polytechnic and Purdue communities are emerging triumphant and poised to have the best academic year in history. We are welcoming our largest class, over 1,000 first-year students. Additionally, we are welcoming 37 new faculty members and five new staff members, our largest group on record. The construction of the Gateway Complex is on schedule and going extremely well. The facility will be home to new instructional labs, collaboration spaces and student support offices, and it will provide opportunities to engage with industry. All of this would not be possible without the exceptional work of our staff during a very challenging time. Our community is strong and growing, thanks to all of you.
Perhaps one of the biggest recent changes for our college is that Gary Bertoline stepped down from serving as dean of the Polytechnic. Gary served as dean for 10 years and led our college through a major transformation that began with a focus on our approach to teaching and learning and ultimately touched every aspect of the Polytechnic. During this time, we doubled the number of new admits into the college, resulting in at least four consecutive years of record enrollment. We also created the first-ever STEM high school in Indiana: the Purdue Polytechnic High School. Through his leadership we have been put on a course for greatness, but the work is not done. I am honored to serve as interim dean and work to ensure we continue on our positive trajectory.
My top priority is for every student, staff, and faculty member to feel that they belong here and are empowered to contribute to the greatness of the Polytechnic. I look forward to engaging with you to learn about your passions and personal ambitions, and to explore how they can advance our drive toward excellence. Our diversity will power our advancement because diversity is excellence. I invite you to join me in this pursuit by sharing with your peers and colleagues the actions you are taking to support diversity and inclusion every day, week, and month.