President Ángel Cabrera

Institute Address

Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023
Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons

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Good morning, Yellow Jackets! To everyone here today and watching online — welcome back and thank you for being here! And to our newest Yellow Jackets — students, faculty, and staff — welcome to Georgia Tech! 

Tomorrow will be my fourth anniversary in this job (an anniversary I share with GTRI chief Jim Hudgens and Dean Lozier, by the way). The significance isn’t lost on me that each time I’ve given this address (even during the pandemic), I have been able to celebrate another “banner year at Tech.”

That, I’m happy to report, won’t change today. We committed in our strategic plan to amplify our impact and I can proudly say that our impact has never been greater. And at a place like Tech, that’s really saying something

Record-breaking applications and enrollment. Top graduation rates. Historic research awards and sponsored activities. Best-in-class return on investment. And the highest economic impact for the state of Georgia. What we have been able to deliver is remarkable, and I thank each one of you for your role in those results.

But first, let me acknowledge the new members of our leadership team who have joined since my last Institute Address. If you would, please stand and be recognized.

• J Batt, Director of Athletics
• Shantay Bolton, Executive Vice President for Administration and Finance
• Jonathan Clarke, Interim Dean of the Scheller College of Business
• Alex Orso, Interim Dean of the College of Computing
• Abbigail Tumpey, Vice President of Institute Communications

Also joining us are:

• Dene Sheheane, president, Georgia Tech Alumni Association
• Al Trujillo, president, Georgia Tech Foundation
• Aanjan Sikal, president, Undergraduate Student Government Association.
• Harrison Baro, executive vice president, Undergraduate Student Government Association.
• Kiera Tran, executive vice president, Graduate Student Government Association.

I’ll also ask that all other members of the cabinet and deans please stand and be recognized. Thank you all for what you do and for being here.

In a minute I will share our recent accomplishments as well as how we are navigating the challenges we face. But since we’re in “back-to-school” mode, allow me first to share some of what I did this summer.

The highlight was the state dinner at the White House hosted by President Biden and the first lady in honor of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Beth and I were honored to represent Georgia Tech at this historic event and celebrate the immense contributions of Indians and Indian Americans to our country and to Tech.

I’m sure I violated black-tie etiquette by wearing my GT pin on the lapel of my tuxedo, but I’m glad I did! The pin prompted many of the American and Indian CEOs and government officials there to share their favorite Georgia Tech story: the talented employees they had hired, the inspiring bosses who had mentored them, the colleagues they had worked with, or the research collaborations they had with us. Beth and I spent the night beaming with Yellow Jacket pride.

Then we embarked on our traditional three-day Summer Tour around the state.

Thanks to the great teamwork of the Alumni Association, Institute Relations, Development, and Communications, we attended nearly 20 events from Savannah to Valdosta and Newnan and other cities in between.

We traveled 850 miles, and met students and families, alumni, and friends. We visited with local lawmakers and business leaders. We toured some of the many companies in our state powered by our alumni, including one of the biggest business jet factories in the world and one of the biggest alligator farms! What can alumni not do???

I know many of you also enjoy wearing your Georgia Tech swag when you travel. And you have your share of stories of spontaneous conversations about Tech. I hope you too get the opportunity to relish the profound impact that we have locally and abroad, the talent that we develop, and the solutions and innovations we produce. And that impact, I am delighted to report, keeps growing. Let me share some data.

According to the recent annual report produced by the University of Georgia for the Board of Regents, Georgia Tech had a statewide economic impact of about $4.5 billion. That is 22% of the impact of all public universities — the biggest share of any institution.

And these numbers only measure immediate economic impact: jobs, expenditures, and investments. They do not capture the value of the startups we incubate and the companies we help attract to the state, which have a far deeper and longer lasting impact on our state’s economy.

Key to that impact is the talent we produce. Just since I arrived back in 2019, our overall enrollment has increased by about 12,000 students according to our preliminary fall data (that’s about twice the size of the average college in America). Despite the pandemic and a nationwide decline in college enrollments, Georgia Tech was just listed in the Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac as the fastest growing public university in the country over the last decade. Much of that growth was driven by our groundbreaking online master’s.

But our campus-based undergraduate program alone added more than 2,800 students just in the last four years—most of them from right here in Georgia.

Very importantly, enrollment growth has not come at the expense of quality or student qualifications. Just the opposite. This year we were listed again in the Almanac as the third most selective public university in the nation and, for the first time, as having the highest yield of any public university.

So, not only are we serving more students, but we’re attracting some of the brightest and most talented students anywhere and helping them succeed. Growing in enrollment, selectivity, and outcomes all at the same time is quite extraordinary and I am deeply grateful for all each of you do to make it possible.

I realize that some of our systems and resources are overstretched, as are many staff and faculty members.

But I hope you take great pride in being part of an institution that is, year after year, finding ways to serve more students, change more lives, produce more innovations, power our economy, and serve our communities better.

This year, applications for undergraduate admission again reached new heights. While the growth slowed down, we still received 52,000 applications, a record for us and the state. And we welcomed 3,800 new students: our largest class ever, including record numbers of first-generation students, women, and other traditionally underrepresented students.

Some of this interest in Georgia Tech we owe to the strong demand for technology-savvy graduates in the marketplace. But it is our academic reputation, and, very importantly, our unique value proposition, that ultimately convince students to want to study with us.

Our students pay less here than they would at most other leading research universities. They graduate at one of the highest rates among public universities and they land some of the best paying jobs in the nation. The result is one of the highest returns on investment anywhere.

This year, we were the only university in Georgia and one of only 34 in the nation to receive five stars by Money magazine. And Princeton Review listed Georgia Tech as the number one public university in value for students. We tend to fare well in media rankings, but when rankings focus on value for students, we come out on top!

Our research growth has been equally impressive this past year. Our faculty won research awards totaling a historic $1.45 billion, a 14% increase, with GTRI making up almost two thirds. For the second consecutive year, NSF listed us as number one in research expenditures among institutions without a medical school.

All this money supported important work ranging from nuclear security to clean energy and carbon capture to AI applications to manufacturing, business, cybersecurity (actually, to everything!).

The research enabled by these resources is making a difference. Just in the last few weeks I have visited with colleagues who are leading the way in semiconductor packaging technology, building an ion trap quantum computer, helping NASA understand the dangers of exploring the moon, studying why coral reefs are dying and why that matters, enabling new forms of artistic expression through computational media, and uncovering the secrets of multicellular life evolution.

The discoveries, ideas, and inventions happening on our campus every day are truly delivering on our mission to improve the human condition. And they are powering a new wave of startups. As an example, today in the Exhibition Hall, Create X is hosting its biggest-to-date Demo Day with about 100 new companies.

Growth in research and students is putting pressure on our physical infrastructure. We still have much to do to catch up, but I am excited about improvements and additions either done or underway.

The John Lewis Student Center and Penny and Roe Stamps Student Commons, The Pavilions, and Exhibition Halls are all complete and fully operational in support of students.

Design and construction are ongoing at Science Square and the George and Scheller Towers in Tech Square, and the new first-year residence hall with 850 additional beds was approved by the Regents and is set to open in 2026.

This year we will complete the campus master plan, with a special focus on developing the southwest sector of campus, finding solutions to student housing demand, and supporting GTRI’s growth in Atlanta and Cobb County. We will keep working with the University System, our affiliate organizations, and private sector partners to find creative solutions to expand and upgrade our campus and be an example of efficiency, well-being, and sustainability.

A good example is our work with the Georgia Tech Foundation to develop the Randall Brothers site, across the street from the John Lewis Student Center. It will increase residential options, bring new amenities, and create the seed of a new district at the intersection of arts and technology that we’re calling Arts Square.

It will also include a new pedestrian bridge connecting the heart of our campus with Science Square and our NARA research labs on the other side of the railroad.

But, while physical infrastructure is clearly important, it is our faculty and staff who are most critical to driving our growth. Our needs are felt across the Institute, but perhaps more so among our faculty in computing, math and science, and GTRI.

As a promising sign, we had record numbers in new faculty hiring this year, netting more than 80 academic faculty — a 5% growth on our academic faculty in one year. And we prioritized instruction in our budget allocations to the Colleges, with over $5 million targeting instruction.

On the research side, we allocated $1 million each to strengthen administration and modernize systems and invested more than $10 million in new facilities to support large awards.

GTRI increased faculty hires by 4%, or a net of 70 research faculty, and we will continue to hire both staff and research faculty to support our growing portfolio.

I want to highlight that this growth is not happening to us. We are driving it intentionally as part of our strategic plan commitment to amplifying impact. But the plan has much more, and I am grateful to all who are part of the more than 20 strategic initiatives currently underway.

These initiatives touch every functional area of the Institute and get to the essence of not just what we do, but how we work. They deal with our culture, systems, and infrastructure to ensure that everyone at Tech has what they need to be as healthy, productive, and innovative as possible. Here are some of them.

I already mentioned the Comprehensive Campus Plan which, together with the Sustainability Next initiative, is defining the campus of the future, improving energy efficiency, and supporting the well-being of our community. Other initiatives like AdminX, Data Excellence, and the Administrative Services Center are redefining how we support all campus units.

On the academic side, the Global Student Experience initiative is working to return study abroad rates to pre-pandemic levels, which were among the highest in the country. We launched the First Year Study Abroad program and added options in Rwanda, India, and Spain, among others. With 2,200 students living abroad last year, we’re closing in on our 2019 figures.

Also, this summer, Provost Steve McLaughlin announced the creation of the Division of Lifetime Learning, aligning C21U, CEISMC, and GTPE to better provide educational opportunities that are accessible, affordable, transformational, and achievable at all stages of life and career.

Nelson Baker is serving as the interim dean as we continue to work with faculty leadership and the University System office to build what could become our seventh college.

Another important initiative — the Well-Being Roadmap With a Focus on Students — launched last August. Among other programs underway, the plan has already led to the establishment of the Center for Mental Health Care and Resources with expanded staff capacity and some progress in reduced wait times. A complementary Well-Being Action Roadmap With a Focus on Faculty and Staff will launch this fall.

Human Resources has implemented new systems to improve efficiency and programs that provide greater opportunities for fulfillment and recognition. Along with ongoing efforts around Employee Engagement and the Employee Experience, Human Resources has launched Performance Management@Tech for staff, a digital platform that will expand paths to career growth, professional development, and rewards to our employees.

Our strategic plan also articulates our values. Two of them, “We thrive on diversity” and “We safeguard freedom of inquiry and expression,” are crucial to the academic enterprise and to who we are and are particularly relevant today.

It is not uncommon to see these values pitted against each other. Apparently, you are either pro-diversity and inclusion, or you are pro-freedom of expression, and, if you support one, you’re supposed to be skeptical about the other. Our values, however, reject this false dichotomy and correctly embrace both.

Learning, which is the business of the university, requires that we be exposed to information, insights, perspectives, and data that challenge our existing beliefs. Yet we’re hardwired to either ignore new evidence that contradicts our beliefs or to interpret evidence in a way that reaffirms our beliefs.

We’re so good at it that we can go through extreme mental contortions to filter new evidence out, or badly misinterpret it, rather than reevaluating our existing frameworks. Learning, it turns out, is hard work! It requires great motivation and great stimulation. And that’s why universities exist.

Our faculty are superb at challenging students’ understanding of complex phenomena with new evidence, and our grading system is quite effective at motivating students to learn.

But learning happens outside the classroom too. In conversations over lunch, presentations by guest speakers, or evening discussions in the dorm.

And for learning to happen in those moments, two things are necessary: a community with diverse experiences and perspectives, and an environment that empowers everyone to share their views and engage in respectful, curious, constructive conversation with others.

Exposure to diverse viewpoints is instrumental for learning but only when individuals are not afraid to express their views for fear of being ostracized or, in today’s vernacular, “canceled.” By the same token, freedom of expression is essential for learning, but it is of little use if everyone already shares the same worldview.

To deliver on our mission, we need an intellectually vibrant campus that embraces people and ideas of all kinds and empowers everyone to express themselves freely and openly.

I have been asked how the Supreme Court decision in the University of North Carolina and Harvard case may affect our ability to build a diverse campus. It is important to note that the court did not deny the educational benefits of a diverse student body. In fact, it called out some of them — to train future leaders, to prepare students to live in a pluralistic society, to broaden understanding, to foster innovation— and deemed them “commendable,” even if it limited what universities can do in pursuing those goals through admissions practices.

At Georgia Tech, race or ethnicity were not a determining factor in admissions, though we gave applicants the option of disclosing their race as part of several factors in our holistic evaluation. We have now removed that option in compliance with the court’s ruling.

Yet our work to expand access continues. And there’s much we can continue to do to make sure students of all backgrounds feel welcome and want to study here.

We work with school systems across Georgia to inspire students of all backgrounds to consider careers in science and technology. We run camps that expose students to engineering, computing, and science. We provide direct admission to valedictorians and salutatorians everywhere in the state. We offer transfer pathway programs for students from other universities and dual degree options with historically Black colleges. And we raise private funds to provide need-based scholarships to students.

These programs are not affected in any way by the Supreme Court ruling. And yet they have a positive impact in increasing diversity of our student body along many important dimensions, including race.

Over the last decade, we have made progress in the number of Black students we attract (9% of the incoming first-year class this year), women (43%), students from rural areas (13%), first-generation students whose parents did not graduate from college (15%), and other groups. And we have improved retention and graduation rates across the board.

The area where we have struggled the most is in attracting students from lower-income families. While we have made some progress in the number of Pell-eligible students that we serve, as a percentage of total enrollment, we have stalled between 12% and 14%. As a public university committed to expanding access, we stated a goal to increase the share of lower-income students to 15 to 20% by 2025, and we need to keep working to make that happen.

One of the best things we can do is to keep tuition low. Over the past four years, not only have we not increased tuition and fees but, thanks to a major investment from the state, we were able to reduce mandatory fees by about $1,000—I am not aware of anything comparable outside of Georgia. When adjusted for inflation, that’s a 22% reduction in tuition and fees for in-state students.

Second, we need to provide more need-based financial aid. This past year, we expanded the G. Wayne Clough Georgia Tech Promise Program to include more qualified students whose annual estimated family income is $55,500 or less.

We have also made need-based financial aid the biggest priority of our campaign and we will redouble our efforts to raise private funds to help more talented, low-income students get to Georgia Tech and succeed here.

Today, I’m announcing a new program, the Georgia Tech Val-Sal Scholarship. Under this initiative, Georgia high school valedictorians and salutatorians with demonstrated financial need will not only have automatic admission but will qualify for up to $5,000 in financial aid annually.

Lastly, we need to make sure low-income students succeed at Georgia Tech like everyone else. To that effect, the provost has launched a Limited-Income student taskforce to propose actions to attract more Pell-eligible students and help them succeed.

We are equally committed to being a welcoming place for talented faculty and staff from every background and to make sure everyone can thrive professionally and make a difference at Georgia Tech.

I am proud of the progress we have made over the last decade thanks to the efforts of many members of our community.

In particular, I want to recognize Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Archie Ervin, who after 13 years of service has announced he will retire at the end of this calendar year. Ervin will leave an Institute that is very different from the one he encountered when President Peterson recruited him 13 years ago. Archie — you are a big reason for that improvement. Thank you.

Thanks to the progress we’ve made, we are now in a position for all units to take additional responsibility for carrying out this important work.

We now have leaders throughout the Institute who have demonstrated a commitment to this work, and I will be considering some changes to empower them further to continue to build a more inclusive, more diverse, and more equitable Georgia Tech.

But going back to my premise about our values and our mission, just as we work to build an inclusive and diverse Georgia Tech, it is equally important that we protect freedom of expression for every member of our community.

We need to create a space where we are routinely exposed to new and different ideas, where we protect each other’s right to express our views, and where we cherish the practice of listening to one another with curiosity and respect.

Clark Kerr, who was president of the University of California during the student free speech protests in the 1960s, argued that, to serve American democracy, the university should not be engaged in making ideas safe for students, but students safe for ideas. I couldn’t agree more.

You may recall that about a year ago I invited Greg Lukianoff, CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (otherwise known as FIRE), to discuss his book with Jonathan Haidt: The Coddling of the American Mind — which I highly recommend by the way.

Since then, Georgia Tech General Counsel Danette Joslyn-Gaul and her team have reviewed our campus policies and speech codes and I am delighted to share that we received a “Green Light” rating, which is FIRE’s highest designation for schools with policies that do not imperil speech.

Last April, the Board of Regents approved a statement on academic freedom and freedom of expression that affirms the 1940 AAUP Principles on Academic Freedom. Chancellor Perdue has since translated this statement into policies that affect, among other things, the process of selecting and evaluating faculty and staff, which should avoid any ideological affirmations. Provost McLaughlin and Vice President for Human Resources Skye Duckett are working across the Institute to ensure that our policies and practices are compliant. 

But policies are half the battle at best. The real test is whether our culture and our day-to-day interactions support—and actually encourage—free expression.

This year, our Vice President for Student Engagement and Well-Being Luoluo Hong introduced a video during new student orientation that is specifically dedicated to discussing the importance of free speech on our campus.

She and Provost McLaughlin will be leading an effort this year to create additional learning opportunities about the importance of free expression to our mission and the tools to best put it into practice.

I encourage everyone to think about how we can best deliver on this promise — to nurture an intellectually vibrant academic environment where all perspectives are welcome, respected, and encouraged to be expressed.

Let me go back to where I started: how we continue to amplify our impact. I am fully aware that our growth is creating a good bit of stress across the Institute. I want you to know that securing new resources and finding better ways to allocate those resources remains a top priority for your leadership team.

Our new Executive Vice President for Administration and Finance, Shantay Bolton, is laser focused on it, as is Provost McLaughlin, our Executive Vice President for Research Chaouki Abdallah, our Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Chief of Staff Frank Neville, and each of their respective teams.

So am I. A big part of my time is spent advocating for public investment, finding creative partnerships with private investors, and raising philanthropic dollars.

Despite the unforeseen one-time budget reduction introduced in the last few days of the legislative session this year, I am grateful for the investments our state consistently makes in higher education, which are more generous than national benchmarks.

Our state leaders and elected officials have demonstrated significant appreciation for our universities, they value our contributions to our state and our nation, and support what we do.

The Chancellor, the University System Office, and the leaders of all public universities in the state, are all focused on better serving the state and conveying our compelling story to state decision makers. With the help of Bert Reeves and the rest of our Institute Relations team, we have and will continue to advocate from Washington D.C. to downtown Atlanta for increases in public funding to help us deliver on our important mission.

We have also become better at partnering with the private sector to secure the resources that we need to get the job done.

Science Square, which I mentioned earlier, is being built with private investments and the collaboration of one of our affiliates GATV. Also, the Georgia Tech Foundation continues to help us find creative solutions to develop strategic assets in Tech Square, the southwest sector and around Bobby Dodd Stadium.

Much of my time and attention is being devoted to our campaign, “Transforming Tomorrow,” the Institute-wide effort to raise more than $2 billion by the end of 2027. Campaign engagements have taken not just Beth and me, but the provost, the deans and many others on the road, coast to coast over the last several months.

We have traveled tens of thousands of miles and met with hundreds of supporters, friends, and colleagues and will continue those important discussions and visits.

The exceptional collaboration between our development team under Vice President for Development Jen Howe and the Alumni Association under the leadership of Dene Sheheane has been instrumental in making these events productive.

In addition to what we can do from the administration standpoint, I encourage each of you to play a role. Each of you can be ambassadors of Georgia Tech and share our value with individuals you interact with and who can help us.

Each of us can also identify inefficiencies, find better ways to do our work, and better serve our students.

We all need to commit to building a culture of innovation, to challenge the status quo, and find ways to be better and do better. An entrepreneurial, innovative organization is one where everyone is empowered to find opportunities and drive change for the better.

Lastly, I want to recognize the work of Georgia Tech Athletics this past year and encourage everyone to support our amazing Yellow Jackets this season.

After an incredibly exciting summer in golf, and the magical run of our alum Chris Eubanks in Wimbledon, our volleyball team got started by defeating No. 8 Penn State and moving up to No. 11 in the national ranking. I would love to see McCamish packed on September 15 for a great evening of Volleyball Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate against our friends in Athens!

It has been a very complex year in Athletics—conference alignment drama, NIL changes, and much more. But thanks to the work of Athletics Director J Batt and his team, we have invested in the program, recruited new coaches in football and men’s basketball, raised record amounts to support scholarships, and signed new sponsorships including our biggest one to date with Hyundai Motor Company.

Tomorrow, our football team will kick off the season at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and I will be cheering Coach Key and the team as loudly as I can! We couldn’t have better Georgia Tech ambassadors.

I’ll close with an old photo that surprised me this summer! In June, before we left for Spain, Beth and I joined the Georgia Tech Foundation for another great annual retreat that included intensive working sessions with the Campaign Steering Committee, and some fun too!

In preparing for the meeting, our colleagues in Institute Communications came across a photo I had never seen before.

This is a photo of me from my time as a graduate student. Ah, how surprised that younger me would be to see what I do for a living now!

The photo made me reflect on my days as a student and what this place has done to shape my life. When I talk to our students, I see myself in them, knowing that Georgia Tech will change their lives forever, just like it changed my own. That’s what we do at Georgia Tech and I am proud to work with each of you in making that a reality!

Thank you again for joining me! At the end of our Q&A and to close today’s address, we are going to show our new PSA, which will debut this season. I hope you’ll love it as much as I do. And now, I’m happy to take questions.