Welcoming the Spring Semester
Dear Members of the Carnegie Mellon University Community:
I am delighted to welcome you back to CMU following Winter Break. I hope you had a chance to rest, recharge and spend quality time with your loved ones. As we embark on a new semester and look to the coming months, I want to take a moment to share a few reminders, updates and opportunities with you.
The university’s Year in Review 2023 highlights our community’s collective accomplishments over the past year. I hope you will take a moment to peruse this site and truly appreciate the profound impact you and your fellow Tartans are making both on our campuses and across the world every day. Reflecting on the past year, I am inspired and hopeful for all that is to come in 2024.
2024-2025 Academic Calendar
The 2024-2025 Academic Calendar is now marked as “official” and available on The HUB website. The summer 2025 internship calendar also has been finalized. In addition, the next two years of academic calendars have been made available to assist our community in long-term planning.
Included in the 2024-2025 Academic Calendar is the continuation of a weeklong Fall Break, as well as an early scheduling of Spring Carnival so as to not overlap with religious holidays. I want to call attention to the Inclusive Holiday Observations and Interfaith Calendar, which faculty should keep in mind when planning mandatory activities and assignments. Students are encouraged to reach out to their course instructors early in the semester to share dates on which they may need flexibility during the semester.
A New Destination for DEIB Resources
CMU’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) website, re-launched in November 2023, is a central destination for DEIB-related resources. I encourage you to explore this website to see the wealth of information it offers on community connections, commitments and progress, measurable outcomes and resources. Another tool that came online in 2023 is the Campus Climate and Bias Reporting Protocol (CCBRP), a non-disciplinary educational body that will provide guidance, clarity and a mechanism for reporting and informally resolving alleged bias incidents.
Opportunities to Learn, Gather and Grow
Throughout the semester, I invite you to attend my open office hours, which give me a chance to hear from students, faculty and staff on their thoughts, challenges and aspirations. As we begin a new year together, I want to hear from you so that we can work together to make CMU a place where everyone can grow and thrive.
As our community continues to cultivate understanding and awareness around complex issues, there are several upcoming transformative and interactive educational experiences to build knowledge, empathy and awareness within our university community. Additional opportunities to engage in meaningful discourse on these topics will be announced shortly.
Looking Ahead
Carnegie Mellon is a leader in education, technology and research, and as we look to 2024, there are several initiatives on the horizon to advance this work. We continue to grow our newly launched graduate certificate programs in artificial intelligence, 3D bioprinting and biofabrication, and computational data science. These innovative offerings are aimed at working professionals who want to deepen or expand their knowledge to include modern methods and apply that new knowledge at work. And as a teaching and learning community, we are exploring the possibilities of advancing student learning through generative AI, including the launch of a Generative Artificial Intelligence Teaching as Research (GAITAR) Initiative that includes several new efforts to bring generative AI to classrooms across CMU. Through these and other efforts, CMU is furthering our mission to have a transformative impact on society through continual innovation in education, research, creativity and entrepreneurship.
Finally, I want to extend my sincere gratitude to the CMU community for their support and confidence in my reappointment as provost. I especially extend my appreciation to the university leadership team and my own team for their continued partnership. It is a true honor to serve in this role.
Sincerely,
James H. Garrett Jr.
Provost and Chief Academic Officer