The appointment of Jacqueline Jones Royster as the Dean of the Ivan Allen College validates Tech commitment toward enhancing the educational community through academic and social diversity. Her strengths will broaden the capabilities of not only the IAC faculty but the Tech faculty as a whole. Her prior experience with other Atlanta Universities should also help Tech better connect with more academic institutes.
With a new dean, the Ivan Allen College is also at a cross-roads, and should seek to enhance its role at Tech. Too long the college has played a supplementary role within the Institution and must exploit this opportunity to play an equal, complimentary role. It needs to lead the way in innovative learning techniques, since many of the other colleges seem to be lagging. All students would benefit from a stronger and more diverse liberal arts education, giving engineering and science majors a chance to better broaden their horizons, and allowing others to find educational pursuits more to their interests.
But in order to achieve these goals, the college must grow in all ways. Enrollment within the must increase, and active recruitment could go a far for such endeavors. Academically, the college should look to offer more majors within the different schools, especially Modern Languages. Many more masters and doctoral programs are also needed within the college.
Partnerships with other colleges within the Institute would also prove to be highly beneficial to achieving these goals. IAC could be the key to transforming the goal of Tech leading the way in interdisciplinary practices into a reality. Even as an engineering school, Tech must develop graduates that understand more than just textbooks; Tech must develop students with a true understanding of many facets.