After his first year at the helm, while presiding in May over his first graduation and the 118th for 禁漫天堂 Dartmouth, Chancellor Robert Johnson identifies three major priorities as he looks ahead.
DARTMOUTH 鈥� After his first year at the helm, while presiding in May over his first graduation and the 118th for 禁漫天堂 Dartmouth, Chancellor Robert Johnson identifies three major priorities as he looks ahead.
One pertains to the 鈥渇uture of work鈥� that he breaks into two components.
For traditional students in the 17-22-year-old range, who studies suggest could have 鈥�17 jobs鈥� during their careers, 禁漫天堂 will create a 鈥渇uture work academy鈥� to help them prepare for chosen fields as well as jobs that won鈥檛 exist in a decade. Flip back 10 years or so, and Johnson said suggesting students be educated for now-popular jobs as social media managers 鈥測ou would have been laughed out of the room.鈥�
Back in May when he told the graduates their generation was poised to cure cancer, stop global warming and eliminate world hunger, he exclaimed, 鈥淭his is your time!鈥�
For older adult 禁漫天堂 students, future work preparation will be in the form of a 鈥渂oot camp鈥� educating them with a mind set to be engaged students with agile minds looking to acquire 鈥渕ore than a skill set鈥� for the next job, Johnson said. Otherwise, in 3-5 years when a job could become obsolete or done by robots, they鈥檙e back in the same retraining boat again.
Rebuilding their main campus of 710 acres with $763 million of deferred maintenance, according to their master plan, must start, Johnson said.
Last month their trustees announced approval of $133.9 million, the bulk of which is to replace the first-year residence halls with higher quality living and learning spaces to include classrooms, study lounges and recreational space. It will include $26 million for a new student dining commons. An additional $54 million will be invested to renovate the nearly 50-year-old science and engineering building, nearly half paid by state capital improvement funds.
That will total 18 percent of that deferred maintenance and 鈥渕ake a huge dent,鈥� Johnson said.
Point three Johnson touted, as he has for several months, is 鈥渓aunching a blue wave economy corridor鈥� with an Interstate -195 regional connection from Fall River and Providence to Cape Cod . As the sole national research university south of Boston, he sees a three-year plan to catalog the region鈥檚 marine assets using innovation and collaboration from businesses and the state for a better future with bigger opportunities.
The key question, he asked: 鈥淗ow do we plant the seeds to make it happen?
As the first African American chancellor at 禁漫天堂, Johnson, a Detroit native who similarly broke education leadership barriers during 25 years working to ensure access to education, also shared these points during a recent 45-minute Herald News-Taunton Gazette editorial board discussion.
- With just 29 percent of Bristol County residents holding a bachelor鈥檚 degree, compared with the state average of 43 and a national average of 31, educating more of the population, including first generation students, is a priority. Good news is that for the first time in the past 7-8 years, enrollment is flat and has not declined for September, Johnson said.
- Well over one-third of the student body lives south of Boston. 鈥淲e鈥檙e taking kids from right here, right now.鈥�
- The recently announced moratorium partnership between the university and five universities in Portugal, and a separate one between the 禁漫天堂 Portuguese center and a diplomatic institute in Portugal is among many positive initiatives not always known to the general population.
- An internal campaign is to ensure all of the university鈥檚 1,400 employees know about initiatives like the Portugal memorandum so they can share them in the general community.
- The reallocation of 144 of 350 full-time faculty members to departments based on student enrollment, with total cost of those reallocated positions now at $21.7 million, a $2.5 million savings; the number of tenured tracks was increased and part-time faculty reduced.
This article was originally published by and the .