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Dear CU Engineering Community:听
When Karen and I moved to 麻豆影院 three years ago, a lot of folks told us that the was among the best-kept secrets in the nation. It didn鈥檛 take me long to verify the veracity of this statement and the caliber of the college. Now, it鈥檚 clear the word is getting out.听
We continue to rise in听U.S. News & World Report听rankings, with three of our graduate programs in the top 10 and seven in the top 20. Five of our undergraduate programs are among the top 20 nationally. In three years, four of our faculty have been elected to the National Academies, joining nine other active faculty with this distinction. Overall, the college has risen to the No. 16 spot among public universities.
Telling our story is a determinant factor in our growing reputation. The importance of enhanced communications was evident as a driver across each pillar in our strategic vision. To become our best, we knew we needed to engage all sectors of our community.
To that end, we ramped up our communications efforts, reaching out to alumni, supporters, industry partners, parents, students, faculty and staff. We鈥檝e engaged nationally with research sponsors from Washington, D.C., to Silicon Valley. We launched an annual state tour to connect the people of Colorado with the college, and strengthened partnerships with universities across our state so that more Coloradans could have access to a quality engineering degree.
Following through on our vision, we鈥檙e beginning to look like our state. The 2019 first-year class includes 45 percent women and 25 percent underrepresented minorities. Twenty percent of this class is first-generation college students. This is the most scholastically talented and most diverse class our college has admitted to date.
By establishing regional alumni networks in Denver, Houston, San Francisco, Seattle and Southern California, we are reaching out to our alumni in new ways and developing opportunities for our alumni to get involved with the college. A simple way to stay connected is through this magazine, which we now publish twice a year, in the fall and spring. There are so many good news items to share, we couldn鈥檛 wait a year to tell you about them.
You are an essential element in our continued success. As an ambassador for our college, you have the opportunity to spread the word about the people, partnerships and research that make up CU Engineering. Find a story in this issue that interests you, and make a point to share that with someone else.
I have greatly enjoyed getting to know so many of our outstanding alumni, industry partners, faculty, staff and students. It has been an honor to work with you in setting a new course for the college鈥檚 future and in weaving that course into the campus strategic plan. Together, we have made great strides in improving the economic competitiveness and security of our state and nation and the quality of life for all Coloradans. While I am returning to the aerospace sector in 2020, I look听forward to watching the college continue along this trajectory for years to come.
All the best,
Dean Robert D. Braun