Dean Kevin Deluzio today announced Driving Curiosity Forward, the Queen's Engineering strategic plan. Developed over the past year in consultation with Queen’s Engineering students, staff, faculty and alumni, the plan maps a transformative vision for engineering education in Canada.
- New plan maps out a transformative vision to prepare engineering for the world's grand challenges
- Three areas of focus: research, education, and diversity
- Website will track over three dozen Strategic Actions with objectives and timelines
- Feedback is welcome via the ThoughtExchange platform, an alumni event in March, and subsequent forums for the plan’s three themes.
The plan maps out three areas of growth and change for the Faculty: a renewed commitment to research growth and collaboration; increased focus on challenge-based education that prepares students for engineering practice; and continued work to make Queen’s Engineering – and the profession – more diverse and welcoming to all.
“We are building from our strengths, and committed to advancing both engineering research and education,” Dean Deluzio says. “We are fortunate to have globally leading researchers, a unique career readiness program, and a strong commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion at the Faculty.”
“The challenges facing the world today – challenges that can be met through engineering – are not one-size-fits-all issues,” he says. “They require research and innovation. They require graduates ready to tackle them. And they require a commitment to diversity and inclusion, to ensure that solutions are being sought, and found, from the broadest possible set of perspectives.”
Driving Curiosity Forward is available as a standalone document, but also on its own web presence on the Queen’s Engineering website. The subsite breaks out each theme of the plan, and will allow visitors to track the progress of each of the plan’s 39 strategic actions as they develop.
“This is not a ‘one and done’ vision for the future, but a living document,” Dean Deluzio says. “This plan will succeed as a community effort, with our students, staff, faculty and alumni all aligning behind a single vision of what engineering should – and can – be.”
With the launch of the plan, the Faculty will begin to work on defining milestones and targets for each of the plan’s strategic actions, to be shared on the plan’s website as they develop. “With dozens of significant actions, this is a roadmap that will engage our full community,” Dean Deluzio says.
Students, staff, faculty, and alumni were involved in every major stage of the plan, through surveys, small focus groups, and broad stakeholder consultations in 2020 and 2021. Over 2,000 members of the Queen’s Engineering community contributed to this process; nearly 700 alumni, over 600 undergraduate and graduate students, and most of its staff and faculty. The process was guided by a 17-person Working Group including representatives from all stakeholder groups.
Community engagement with the plan will continue through a variety of means:
Driving Curiosity Forward is available on our website, to evolve as strategic actions develop.