Letters to the Community
- Preliminary Report – Institute-wide Planning Task Force
August 20, 2009
"As you know, given the global financial crisis, last winter we appointed an Institute-wide Planning Task Force to consider how best to move forward with reduced resources. We charged the group with examining ways to carry out MIT’s core mission more efficiently, using fewer financial resources, and without compromising the quality of MIT’s work..." [read more] - End-of-year message from the President
May 28, 2009
"With Commencement and Reunions soon upon us, we celebrate the successes of this academic year and prepare for the challenges ahead. Around the world and in every sector, fundamental economic assumptions have dramatically changed over the last eight months. At MIT, we responded swiftly to the evolving economic downturn..." [read more] - Letter to the Community from President Hockfield
February 19, 2009
"We begin the spring semester knowing that challenging work and hard decisions lie ahead, as we determine how to strengthen our education and research mission with diminished resources. But we also know that MIT’s work matters very much in the world, from shaping the World Wide Web to advancing the frontiers of research in cancer, AIDS and infectious disease; from creating low-carbon energy technologies to designing sustainable buildings; from launching technology start-ups to assisting entrepreneurs in developing nations; from influencing American economic policy in a time of crisis to educating our extraordinary students. By extension, as we respond to the pressure of economic contraction, it matters very much how we shape the future of MIT. ..." [read more] - Letter to the community on Institute-wide Planning
February 9, 2009
"In December, we announced that MIT would soon launch an Institute-wide planning process to determine how we can carry out our core mission more efficiently, using fewer financial resources and without decreasing the quality of our work. We are now ready to begin that inclusive process, drawing on the creativity, innovation and collaboration that MIT is known for. It will be important to work together as a community on these long-term improvements, as we ride out this serious and unpredictable global economic storm and its consequences for MIT. ..." [read more] - Letter to the community on Institute budget process
December 11, 2008
"We are writing to update you on the Institute's planning process in response to the contracting economy and to the strains we anticipate it will place on our traditional revenue sources. During the past two weeks we have met with the Academic Council and the Academic Department Heads to discuss inclusive collaborative ways to achieve our budget reduction targets. These conversations have helped shape a process that includes both near-term and long-term plans. ..." [read more] - Letter to the community
November 17, 2008
"Ambitious forward motion is MIT's signature; we celebrate initiative, innovation, relentless improvement and creative change. Yet as the world's financial markets continue to decline, they forecast a global reduction in resources. In that context, our challenge is clear: together we must chart a financially prudent path forward, but one that sustains and fosters the essential character of MIT. ..." [read more]
