The Cockrell School of Engineering expresses its deep appreciation and gratitude to Conoco, Inc. for assistance in developing this Strategic Plan.
The Core Purpose of this University is “To Transform Lives for the Benefit of Society,” and The University embraces the Core Values of Learning, Discovery, Freedom, Leadership, Individual Opportunity, and Responsibility.
The Mission of The University is to achieve excellence in the interrelated areas of undergraduate education, graduate education, research, and public service. In pursuit of this mission. The University has established several goals, including the following: to educate students to their highest potential of intellectual achievement and personal growth; to develop scholars, professionals, artists, and scientists who contribute to the advancement of society, nationally and internationally; to conduct research that advances the frontiers of knowledge; to engage in public service; and to support equal opportunity and develop programs that reflect the diversity of American culture in all activities of The University and to support the principle of equal opportunity in society as a whole.
The Mission of the Cockrell School of Engineering is to achieve excellence in undergraduate and graduate education, research, and public service. We strive to:
- provide an educational experience that inspires students to reach for the highest levels of intellectual attainment and personal growth throughout their lives,
- to provide a scholarly and professional environment that enables students and faculty to make lasting contributions to the advancement of knowledge and the creative practice of engineering,
- to engage in service that enhances the public's understanding of technology and facilitates its use for the betterment of society,
- and to lead the nation in providing equality of opportunity for engineering education.
Preface to Strategic Planning Report
In 1997, a task force comprised of faculty, staff and administrative leaders from across the campus, with strong representation from the Cockrell School of Engineering, met over a period of several months to discuss and define the core purpose and values of The University of Texas at Austin. The outcome of their deliberations was summarized in a succinct statement that elegantly captures the spirit of The University. The College of Engineering Strategic Planning Committee unanimously endorses this statement; its interpretation in the special context of the Cockrell School of Engineering forms an excellent basis for formation of a roadmap for planning our future.
Our Core Purpose: Transform lives for the benefit of society.
Transformation is the heart and soul of engineering. Our efforts must be directed at positively transforming the lives of our students and the societal beneficiaries of our research.
Our Core Values:
Learning: A caring community, all of us students, helping one another grow.
Maintaining the ideal of a “community of scholars” is a challenge as our College continues to grow in size and diversity (both human and technical). Yet this ideal is what differentiates a great university from a training school. Building a sense of community, with the central purpose of learning and personal growth, is crucial to meeting our goal of greatness.
Discovery: Expanding knowledge and human understanding.
As our profession becomes ever more deeply rooted in science, mathematics and computation, it is increasingly important that the spirit of discovery form the foundation of all our educational and research enterprises. We must create and maintain an environment that fosters this spirit.
Freedom: To seek the truth and express it.
The advancement of technology depends on openness to new and unconventional ideas, and a climate in which we can pursue and test those ideas without fear of failure. Work on the cutting edge of current knowledge and practice is fraught with risk, yet great breakthroughs will only occur if we take those risks. For us, the only valid definition of failure must be failure to learn from our attempts and failure to share what we learn with the rest of the world.
Leadership: The will to excel with integrity and the spirit that nothing is impossible.
Engineering is, by its nature, an optimistic profession. If our goal as a College is to be a leader among engineering colleges, we must ourselves carry this sense of optimism and the vision it engenders into leadership in research, in teaching, in professional activity, in public service, and in fostering the vision and leadership skills of our students.
Individual opportunity: Many options, diverse people and ideas, one University.
No profession has more enthusiastically embraced the American ideal of opportunity based on merit and dedication, not on ethnicity or social standing or nationality, than has engineering. Our College has, for many years, been a leader in the pursuit of this ideal and we must redouble our efforts if we aspire to national leadership as an institution.
Responsibility: To serve as a catalyst for positive change in Texas and beyond.
If our efforts in research and education are to achieve the fundamental purpose of positive change in society, we cannot be content with merely teaching classes and publishing papers, but must actively engage in the continuing development of people and ideas as they emerge into “the real world.” We must endow a strong and lasting sense of social responsibility in our students and demonstrate that same sense of responsibility in our own professional and personal pursuits.
We, as a committee, have kept this purpose and these values strongly in mind as we formulated our recommended goals, strategies, and actions for future growth and development of the Cockrell School of Engineering.
Dr. Howell was appointed Chairman by the Dean. The committee was formed by asking each of the six department chairmen to nominate two members of their faculty to serve. We also asked for an EFAC and an alumni representative to make up the remainder of the committee.
- Joseph Beaman
- Roger Bonnecaze
- Graham Carey
- Keys Curry (representing EFAC)
- Adam Heller
- John Howell (Chairman)
- Russell Johns
- Desmond Lawler
- Jack Lee
- James O'Connor
- Tony Podio
- Ed Powers
- Tom Moser (representing the Cockrell School of Engineering alumni)
- Philip Schmidt
- Philip Varghese
Within the context of the Mission, Core Purpose and Core Values of The University, the Cockrell School of Engineering strives toward this strategic objective:
“To be, and to be recognized as, the best public engineering college”
To attain this objective, the College must achieve certain goals. These are:
- Goal 1
Recruit, nurture and retain outstanding students - Goal 2
Recruit, nurture and retain outstanding faculty. - Goal 3
Foster innovation in engineering research and practice, encourage entrepreneurship and promote leadership in engineering's service to society. - Goal 4
Promote a strong sense of community and collegiality among the students, faculty, staff and FOA/alumnae. - Goal 5
Communicate the outstanding technological and social contributions of our faculty, staff and students to all the various constituencies of the College and to the world at large. - Goal 6
Develop and maintain an infrastructure commensurate with achieving our academic and research goals.
On the following pages, strategies and actions for attaining these goals are given. The responsible person, committee or group; the necessary resources; a timeline for implementation; and a metric for determining success are given for each action. Progress reports have been added in blue text. It is hoped that the actions recommended in this plan can be completed or put into place within a five-year period. It is also assumed that continual modification of the plan is expected and encouraged as we strive to meet the goals and new challenges are encountered.