Voiland College > Employee Resources > Dean's Letters > Drive to 25

Drive to 25

Dear Colleagues,

Thanks to all of you who attended last week’s town hall meeting with President Schulz. I am keenly aware of how you are faced with pressing deadlines and demanding work, so I appreciate all of you who took your valuable time to make this important event a priority.

Especially with new leadership both at the university and at the college level, it is critical that we literally put down our pens (or mouse) for a moment, stop what we’re doing, join our community, and consider new ideas and directions.

At the event, President Schulz gave us an overview of the Drive to 25, which aims to have WSU among the top 25 public universities in the U.S. by 2030. The Drive to 25 comes out of and builds on the university’s strategic plan efforts, adding focus by providing a measurable goal.

Many of you asked challenging questions, and there was healthy discussion about where we are now, how to build trust and community, and how we can help each other reach our goals.

It’s an exciting time in the Voiland College. Our research expenditures have increased dramatically during the past few years. We have successfully grown our faculty and our student enrollments. Our college is full of talented, hard-working people who are committed to reaching our goals.

I believe that now is a critical and opportune time to consider new mission-oriented possibilities for building our programs. Building upon our land-grant heritage, which calls on us to educate students with practical skills, to conduct research that will meet the needs of our state and nation, and to bring our work to our communities through outreach, can make a difference and have an impact on the lives of the community we serve.

I believe it’s time to take a new look at what our stakeholders want and where we can help. In the Voiland College, we already have some good examples of such successful public-private partnerships that are leading to strong program support.

  • Looking at its historical strengths, industry needs, and potential partnerships, the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering developed a successful vision to be a top program in catalysis and collaborated with their stakeholders to accomplish their goal.
  • Our power engineering program is working with public and private partners to address industry challenges, national security and workforce needs.
  • Our construction engineering degree program came about through the efforts of faculty members who saw an industry need and sought to address it. Their collaboration with construction industry leaders was integral to the effort’s success.

I believe that pulling together, being more mission-oriented, and thinking more strategically will not only bring in more research funding but will make our work more meaningful and impactful. It’s amazing how relevant you can feel when you meet with someone in need, look them in the eye, learn what they care about, and come up with great ideas to help.

I look forward to working with you and providing support in these efforts.

Interim Dean Don Bender signature

Don Bender,
Interim Dean
Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture

Congratulations!

  • WSU researchers received a $1.1 million U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative cooperative award to improve the performance and lower the cost of solar materials for the multibillion dollar industry. [Kelvin Lynn]
  • A new study co-led by WSU researchers aims to understand why significantly more women study engineering in some predominantly Muslim countries than in the United States. Funded by a two-year, $589,200 NSF grant, the study seeks to identify the mechanisms that motivate women to pursue engineering in Jordan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia, where participation rates by women are as high as 50 percent. [Nehal Abu-Lail, Ashley Ater Kranov]
  • A WSU School of EECS commitment to annually bring 150 high school girls to campus to learn about computer science was featured as part of the White House Computer Science for All initiative. [Shira Broschat]

Learn more about what’s happening at Voiland College: vcea.wsu.edu.

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