The breathtaking photo on our cover is especially exciting because of its context: the most sophisticated study ever of what’s in the air in Antarctica, conducted by Peter DeCarlo of the College of Engineering with spectrometry equipment he helped develop.
From DeCarlo’s southern trek to Ted Daeschler’s Academy of Natural Sciences fossil hunt on Ellesmere Island near the North Pole, Drexel researchers set out toward all compass points and landed on all seven continents in 2014. These adventurers lead our quest to expand Drexel’s international footprint and be a truly global university.
Global impact remains a core focus of our updated strategic plan, “Transforming the Modern Urban University,” which we recalibrated during the past year to serve Drexel through 2019. (You can read the refreshed plan at drexel.edu/StrategicPlan.)
Drexel continues to develop the infrastructure to support global engagement both at the individual level — student opportunities abroad, increased international student recruitment, faculty-to-faculty research collaboration — and at the institutional level through joint degree programs and major research partnerships.
In three years under the strategic plan, we’ve created six comprehensive international partnerships, ranging from Israel to Chile to China, with more in development. We’ve grown the number of study abroad opportunities by more than a quarter and the number of global co-op assignments our students undertake by a third. And we’ve tripled both the programming of our Office of International Programs and the total number of initiatives at Drexel that support cross-cultural education and engagement.
We still have a long way to go in achieving the international profile for Drexel that we aspire to, but we are off to a strong and inspiring start thanks to our students and faculty.
Sincerely,
John A. Fry / President