Fall 2023 Message from the Dean

Every day we make decisions about what activities to support, how to spend our time and energy, and how to project our mission to the outside world. In this context, a strategic plan comes in handy.

In 2017, the UCI Samueli School of Engineering released a strategic plan with a vision for what the school would look like in 2025. It was a solid plan with several important and actionable goals. But, it inevitably needed a refresh. Some goals have been achieved, some are no longer relevant, and the rapidly changing socio-technological landscape means that new challenges must be met. As a result, we launched a new plan with a 2030-time horizon.

Apart from the plan itself, what I discovered during the process is that the journey on its own was highly worthwhile, involving early connections with stakeholder groups (faculty, staff, students, alumni and industry partners), a faculty-staff group who collected and organized the information, a schoolwide, web-based opportunity to gather feedback, and a strategic plan launch party. I am very pleased with the end result. Now, we just have to transition from “planning the work to working the plan” as management consultants are fond of saying.

Engineering+, or e+, is the overarching theme under which the strategic plan is organized and how we see ourselves in a rapidly evolving world. E+ is centered around three main pillars: Educational Journeys, Collaborative Research and Meaningful Partnerships. These pillars were identified as the best way of talking about who we are and how we want to be known. I hope you will share my excitement about all that is happening now and in the future at the UCI Samueli School of Engineering.

Best,

Magnus Egerstedt, Ph.D.
Stacey Nicholas Dean of Engineering
UCI Samueli School of Engineering