Where do you see yourself in five years?
We have all been asked this question at one time or another either by a job interviewer, a peer, our parents or even ourselves.
A similar question I often get is: Where do you see Tulane in the next five years?
In answering this question, I start with another question — where is Tulane today?
My five-year vision includes a Tulane where disciplines are so regularly and boldly crossed that the borders between them cease to exist.
The short answer is, in a very good place. We are currently one of the country’s most popular, highly ranked and innovative universities — a community of leading scholars and researchers that attracts the best students, faculty and staff — those most determined to bring about profound, positive and lasting change in our world.
We inspire our students to make a difference by being different, acting courageously and challenging conventional approaches to problems.
That’s where we are — so where do we go from here?
In five years, I see Tulane having increased its momentum toward becoming one of the world’s premier universities — an institution that leads the way in pioneering research that reshapes the treatment of diseases, the alleviation of poverty, the understanding of human behavior, the reclamation of coastal wetlands, the promotion of justice and the powering of our economy.
I see a Tulane that provides a distinctive educational experience, emphasizing innovation, firsthand research opportunities and learning through civic engagement.
I look forward to a Tulane that is more diverse and inclusive with increased scholarships and support for the best students from across the globe regardless of their background — inner city, rural, international.
My five-year vision includes a Tulane where disciplines are so regularly and boldly crossed that the borders between them cease to exist, giving way instead to collaborative spaces with scholars and researchers from multiple fields learning, discovering and working together to improve the human condition. More students with double and triple majors in fields as varied as neuroscience and dance, public health and mathematics, music and medicine will be another hallmark of the future Tulane.
We will grow and improve in every measurable way during the next five years — including physically. The Steven and Jann Paul Hall for Science and Engineering will be up and running by then. Located between Stanley Thomas Hall and Donna and Paul Flower Hall for Research and Innovation, its classrooms, labs and collaborative spaces will serve as the anchor of a flourishing uptown science district.
And when students need a break from studying at Paul Hall, they won’t head to Bruff, because Bruff will be no more. In its place will be a new unified residential quad filled with housing for first-year students in the form of academically themed Residential Learning Communities.
By this time The Commons, currently under construction in the heart of the uptown campus, will be a well-traveled hub of student dining and life and the bustling home of the Newcomb College Institute.
Our healthcare clinics and medical research space should also have greatly increased five years hence. This will, in part, be thanks to a potential partnership in revitalizing the iconic Charity Hospital building. We plan to be the anchor institution in this historic landmark, filling 300,000 square feet of the facility with laboratories, clinical space, classrooms, student housing and offices.
If you are like me, you can’t wait to experience Tulane five years from now. That’s why we are focusing all of our time, resources and passion on building the future. The Tulane of tomorrow starts today.
