Dear Colleagues,

The College of Design task force report recommended that we embrace a common theme or issue each year, an idea that has value for several reasons. An annual theme would provide a focus for our community amidst the otherwise centrifugal nature of academic work, it would enable us to convey to colleagues in other places the concerns that most interest us and in which we most excel, and it would provide a means by which we could address some of the most important challenges facing our fields and the larger world. The Committee on Exhibitions, Lectures, and Publications (CELP) has recommended that we start this annual theme next academic year, with the first one to focus on sustainability. That subject has widespread political support (witness the governor's signing of a landmark renewable energy law on the St. Paul campus last Wednesday), it has become a focus of much of the work going on in the college, and it has risen as a global concern as we witness the climate changing all around us. I wholeheartedly endorse it.

An annual theme does not mean that everything has to fit it or that everyone has to take part. There will be many in the college whose work does not relate to the theme or who have other interests or priorities, which is perfectly fine. But the theme will enable those who do want to participate to contribute in a number of ways. The college will fund a group of lectures and exhibitions related to the theme, and will help produce an annual publication that summarizes relevant work that has gone on over the course of the year, ranging from student work to faculty and staff teaching, research, and outreach. Symposia or conferences connected to the theme are also possible. In the case of sustainability, John Koepke and I are co-chairing the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture Administrators' Conference, entitled "Preparing for the Inconvenient Truth," which will take place November 1-3, 2007 in Minneapolis. That event will enable us to bring in some of the leading thinkers about this subject, enhancing our efforts here. The college will also be talking to the University about moving forward in this area during our compact meeting, as we continue to "green" our own facilities and look for similar opportunities across the campus. I think we'll find more than enough work and significant opportunities to fill out the year.

Nor is this the only area with a great deal of faculty, staff, and student energy. This past month, the deans and chief of staff spent many hours listening to a broad spectrum of ideas in budget meetings and initiative presentations. In all of that, several areas of common interest emerged, ranging from housing, human factors, and human health to knowledge mapping, innovative materials, integrated practice, distance learning, and Pre-K-12 education. At the same time, we heard a great deal about needs at the core of the college in areas such as technology investment, faculty expansion, and student services and support. With this information in hand, the deans and chief of staff did a preliminary sort of all the requests according to possible revenue sources as well as according to the perceived importance and urgency of each.

We presented the first phase of that work -- a preliminary draft of the compact -- to the college's directors and department heads last Wednesday. That group gave us great feedback, which we have incorporated in a revision of the document in preparation for two college-wide forums to discuss the compact with you on Wednesday, February 28 at 4 p.m. in 33 McNeal Hall and on Thursday, March 1 also at 4 p.m. in 100 Rapson Hall. We will factor your comments and suggestions from those meetings into a final draft of the compact, due in Morrill Hall on March 7. This document provides us with the primary way of requesting investments from the University, and the more it reflects the priorities of the provost, the more likely we will succeed. At the same time, initiatives that connect with other disciplines and colleges or that advance other goals of the University have a better chance of receiving funding, which requires us to translate some of our core needs in terms of those broader efforts.

To give you a bit of a preview of what we will talk about on Wednesday and Thursday, we think that the primary goal to which we should commit over the next several years is to be among the top three design colleges at a public research university in the country -- a goal that aligns with that of the institution as a whole. To achieve this goal, we have proposed three strategies that should interest the University and that encompass a number of our core needs:

1. Promoting interdisciplinary work
2. Internationalizing the college
3. Modeling sustainability

In each of these areas, we will request faculty or staff hires and financial support of various kinds. We will also request new funding in two priority areas from last year's compact: the development of the new product design program and the investment in our technology infrastructure. When you see the details of the draft compact, some of you will recognize proposals you put forward and some will see your ideas cast in slightly different language in order to fit one of the strategic areas we think will have the greatest appeal to the University.

And some may not see your ideas in the compact at all, but not to worry; the compact offers just one source of funding. We thought that some of your ideas had stronger potential as fundraising ideas for private donors, as grant proposals for agencies or foundations, or as interdisciplinary initiatives for college support. That collegiate support might take a couple of forms, depending on the idea and its state of development. The college will provide seed funding in some cases, to help get conversations going and people working together on common projects. And the Design Institute plans to initiate "D Labs," to support interdisciplinary efforts that have real potential for outside funding. As we have a better sense of the collegiate budget later this semester, we will discuss these opportunities with you in greater detail.

The idea behind these strategies was reinforced by a talk that I heard at a luncheon on Monday, given by George Buckley, the CEO of 3M. He spoke of the need for organizations to do all they can to encourage innovation and creativity, an "inherently disorderly process," he admitted, but one essential to remaining competitive. He urged his audience to "hire the best and then liberate them," and to beware not to let "bureaucracy, turf protection, a lack of courage, conformity, and fear" get in the way. And he outlined four strategies for growing an organization: widening the base, connecting units internally, expanding on strengths, and starting new ventures.

Almost all of what he said pertains to us. We, too, hope to encourage creativity by investing in the most promising initiatives, to continue to hire the best people and support their work, and to make sure bureaucracy does not dampen our energy. Buckley's growth strategies also relate to what we hope to do, as we widen our base by increasing freshman admitting, connect our units through interdisciplinary efforts, build on our greatest strengths through core investments, and start new ventures such as the product design program. Buckley ended his talk with the observation that "great leaders are great teachers." I thought that great teachers also are great leaders, and that we are blessed with plenty of both.