The Office of the Provost and the entire Think Big team are pleased to announce plans for the spring. With the help of the Think Big Pathway Leaders, the team is forging ahead with projects and activities to help CWRU move along its four pathways, toward its North Star.
“The Think Big strategic plan has taken some interesting twists and turns, no thanks to a pandemic that fell in our laps just months after its launch,” said Provost and Executive Vice President Ben Vinson III. “But our expert team of Pathway Leaders have held us accountable and kept us moving toward our North Star,” he said.
Activities for spring 2021 include:
- Investigation of synergies at the health-environment-justice interface;
- A listening tour and survey to refine the definition of humanity/technology;
- The introduction of a data collection tool to capture our community efforts;
- Seminars on diversity, equity and inclusion in the curriculum; and
- Much more.
While the pandemic has hampered the team’s ability to make big financial investments—like investing in more campus-generated Think Big RFP and Seed ideas—the team has shifted its focus instead to approaching planning from a different perspective.
“While we originally had plans to make significant financial investments aligned to the plan, the pandemic has forced us to reevaluate in so many ways,” Vinson said. Now, the team has shifted its focus to building culture, thinking of new approaches, and considering how to change existing structures and efforts for the better.
“It has required us to be quite the creative campus,” Vinson continued. “Something that is very much a part of the Case Western Reserve University DNA.”
New this semester, the team is also pleased to welcome a new Pathway Leader to the Pathway 2 team. Fey Parrill, associate professor in the Department of Cognitive Science, has joined the team and will provide another voice working to integrate humanity and technology.
Get a short summary of the spring’s activities and proposed outcomes, along with ways to engage. As always, please contact the appropriate Pathway Leaders with comments or questions.