My vision for the Krieger School is of an institution encompassing vibrant academic departments with international prominence, competitive for the very best faculty and students; fulfilled, engaged undergraduate and graduate students who become committed and loyal alumni; and a diverse community thoroughly integrated across generational, disciplinary, and cultural dimensions. We continue to aspire to be the finest small research-oriented school of arts and sciences in the country, with a body of faculty and students who are, person for person, second to none. To achieve this goal, we must adhere faithfully to a simple and compelling creed:

To choose carefully what is worth pursuing,
and then to do so without compromise.

This imperative applies to our work at every level, including undergraduate education, graduate education, scholarly research, and outreach to the broader community. In view of the current strengths of and challenges to the Krieger School, we will attend to a number of interrelated areas over the next few years. In broad categories, they include:

Academic Excellence

Scholarship of the highest quality is at the core of all the work we do in the School. For a division of arts and sciences with fewer than 300 tenure-track professors, the accomplishments and stature of our faculty are extraordinary. The programs of the School have an impact that transcends their small size. To maintain such an impressive quality of faculty research and graduate student training in a competitive and limited-resource environment is a constant challenge, and yet there is absolutely nothing more critical to which to attend. Even in today’s extremely competitive environment, our historical aspiration to uncompromising quality remains the only right one for the School.

Community and Diversity

The value that a university adds to the pursuit of scholarship and education lies fundamentally in the communities that it supports and nurtures. The well being of the School requires above all else strong departments with healthy departmental cultures; well-rounded and deeply engaged students; vibrant interactions across disciplines and between faculty and students; and committed alumni who feel permanent and deep connections to the School. The importance of establishing and nurturing such communities informs every aspect of our work, from building departments, residence halls, and academic buildings to structuring curricula and student life. Moreover, an indispensable aspect of fostering a healthy community is a healthy diversity among those who constitute it, as seen through lenses themselves as diverse as ethnicity, gender, sexuality, country of origin, and academic and social interests. In some areas, such as gender and ethnic diversity among the student body, we have made important progress in the past few years. In others, such as the representation among our faculty of black men and women, we have much work remaining. The solutions to specific problems of representation must be embedded in a larger nurturance of all aspects of our community if they are to lead to lasting, meaningful change.

The Undergraduate Experience

We can distill two essential lessons from the rich report by the Commission on Undergraduate Education, issued in the spring of 2003. First, that we must be more intentional and global in thinking about our undergraduate curriculum. Second, that we must bring about transformative improvements to undergraduate student life. The latter is particularly important, touching areas as diverse as housing, food, student programming, security, and academic ethics. We have made significant progress in some key areas, but there is still much to do. With respect to curricular issues, there is no question as to the high quality of our departmental offerings or the dedication of our faculty to undergraduate education. However, the time has come for a thoughtful and creative faculty review of the overall structure of the undergraduate curriculum.

Campus Infrastructure

We find ourselves in a period of unprecedented growth and improvement on the Homewood campus and, at the same time, unprecedented need for new and renovated facilities. Even as we complete Charles Commons, our attention must turn to enhancing and expanding housing for freshmen and sophomores. It is essential that we renovate and update Gilman Hall, making it again worthy of the exemplary teaching and scholarship to which it plays host. The natural science buildings of the central campus need our attention as well, and it is imperative that we provide adequate space to house our social science departments. Our laboratory facilities for undergraduate chemistry and biology instruction are outdated, a situation which stands to impact not only current students, but over the longer run, our reputation for preeminence in premedical education. The state of our infrastructure presents a challenge that cannot be met by reliance on our operating budgets alone. What will continue to be required is the aggressive and creative use of philanthropy, debt, and state support, along with the rigorous identification of and persistent fidelity to those projects that are our highest priorities.

Budgets, Resources, and Development

Recent budgetary challenges, both internal and external, have underscored our need to develop and implement a strategy to ensure the long-term financial stability of the School. A significant element of this strategy will be engineering a better match between student enrollments and our existing investments in academic departments. In particular, this will mean attracting more undergraduates into our excellent programs in the humanities. Of course, fundraising will continue to be a critical priority; however, it must be appreciated that the impact of development is felt most strongly over the long term. Aggressively working to build the endowment is essential if the School is to remain true to its aspirations, but this strategy is in fact complementary to what we must do to meet immediate demands for resources. As much as anything, our present task is to lay the groundwork for broadening the base of committed, engaged alumni, to whom our successors will be able to turn to meet the future needs of the School.

There is no question that the School of Arts and Sciences is at the very core of Johns Hopkins, both historically and intellectually. Yet more than ever we must look outward to the rest of the university and beyond, by building research and teaching collaborations with other divisions, by educating with passion and commitment not only those students we bring to Baltimore but those already living and working here, and by investing in and partnering with educational and cultural institutions in Baltimore, Washington, and the state of Maryland. Especially given our small size, we should miss no opportunity to take advantage of the rich resources that are all around us.

Almost a century and a half after its founding, we inherit a School of Arts and Sciences whose excellence hardly needs to be established, but which it is our task to broaden, strengthen and maintain. It is with great pleasure that I look forward to joining with the faculty, students, alumni, and staff of the School in this exciting and rewarding work.

Adam Falk
James B. Knapp Dean