Sent to: Michigan Engineering faculty, staff and students on January 8, 2025
Happy New Year! Whether you used your season days to relax and disconnect, catch up on projects, or set goals for the year ahead, I hope you join me in returning to work with renewed energy to take on all that 2025 has to offer.
This month, we are kicking off a strategic planning exercise for the College. I look forward to bringing together ideas from across our community to form our strategic direction and goals. You’ll receive information about how to participate in this process later this month. We anticipate the planning process to span the first eight months of the year, so we are in a position to launch in the fall. I am excited about what lies ahead, and look forward to working with the community to establish the priorities that will propel Michigan Engineering forward.
Since August, I’ve had the opportunity to witness some of your tremendous impact through tours of more than 55 faculty labs in 28 buildings, and meetings with dozens of faculty, student and staff groups across 12 departments, divisions and institutes — with more visits planned in the new year. I deeply appreciate this window into your work and the ways in which Michigan Engineering is having a bold impact on our fields of research, education, and society at large, and I look forward to meeting even more of you through my continued visits and our strategic planning process in the year ahead.
In the meantime, I invite you to read the following stories about some of the exceptional activities taking place across our campus.
Go Blue!
Karen A. Thole, Ph.D.
Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering