Our Vision
The McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis will be recognized as a leader in providing scientific insights and enabling technologies critical to solving fundamental research challenges of the world today and in preparing students for the rapidly changing world of tomorrow.
In order to achieve this vision, the school undertook a strategic planning process, beginning with an internal assessment in the spring of 2016 and then in earnest that fall. A strategic planning committee of 20 faculty, students and staff held a “call for ideas” — an invitation to all the school's constituents to provide suggestions and ideas about possible opportunities. Students, faculty, staff and alumni along with partners in industry, government and other organizations were provided input through a variety of channels including email, web forms and even personal communication.
The goal of the committee was to gather these ideas and then identify important themes. Once these were refined, the resulting documents could be considered and from those initiatives a set of objectives and goals articulated; likewise, the mission and vision would be self-evident.
The strategic plan document, along with the 19 Strategic White Papers, are the result of that process. The topics that emerged organically covered an even distribution of white papers targeting research, education, culture and operations. These areas represent thoughtful, deliberate efforts to dramatically improve the current status of our operations, to provide innovative educational experiences, to strengthen research directions in which we can have significant impact, and to strike out in bold new areas.