Last month, The Wall Street Journal ran a feature story titled, “Sorry, Harvard. Everyone Wants to Go to College in the South Now,” that circulated widely among alumni. Capped by a full-width shot of the Ramblin’ Wreck, flanked with cheerleaders, leading the football team onto the field, the article covers an enrollment surge among Southern research universities that goes back about two decades and has grown even more considerable recently. Notably, this dramatic jump in out-of-state enrollment among schools in the South is being led almost exclusively by public institutions like Georgia Tech.

In 2014, Georgia Tech made history by launching the first large-scale online master’s degree in computer science offered by a top-ranked institution for a fraction of the cost of a traditional program. The goal was to expand access to an affordable, high-quality graduate education and create a new model of online learning that would serve thousands of students from diverse life and professional circumstances and locations.

Last week, we welcomed the start of a new academic year — and with it, the largest incoming class in Institute history. I can’t tell you how proud I am of Georgia Tech’s faculty and staff, who are finding ways to serve more students every year and deliver one of the highest-value educations among American universities. Think about this: Just this past week, Georgia Tech was listed as both the nation’s fastest-growing public university and the nation’s No. 1 best-value public university. I can’t think of any other university that has achieved both.

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), a crown jewel not just of Georgia Tech but of our nation’s research and development fabric. For nearly a century, GTRI has been driving technological innovation that fuels our economy, protects our nation, and improves the human condition. GTRI is an essential piece of who we are and what we do, and a major contributor to our nation’s future.

I just got back last night from our summer tour around the state. Over the course of three days, I joined several colleagues on a journey that took us across 540 miles to attend 20 events in 13 towns. From stop to stop, we greeted alumni and incoming students, met with government and community leaders, spoke with business owners, and toured manufacturing facilities. It was a perfect way to experience the great impact the Institute has on Georgia’s communities and economy and to help us think of how we can amplify that impact further.