Effort on the Leaders in Progress and Service Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) began in academic year 2022–2023, when the QEP Topic Selection Committee, charged by the provost, recommended the topic based on data culled from the recently concluded strategic planning effort and input from a comprehensive campus engagement campaign. From fall 2023 to the present, QEP leadership developed the plan in collaboration with the QEP Development and Planning Committee while soliciting input, feedback, and support from many campus and community partners. Our QEP outreach campaign has revealed a broad-based commitment to the purpose and design of the QEP, and a sense of energy around its potential to advance the aspirations of the Institute’s mission and motto.

QEP Executive Summary

The mission statement of the Georgia Institute of Technology (“Georgia Tech” or “Institute”) expresses the Institute’s commitment to “developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition.” This mission is encapsulated in Georgia Tech’s longtime motto, “Progress and Service,” and reflected in the title of our Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP): Leaders in Progress and Service. The QEP’s purpose is to create and deliver a learning initiative available to all undergraduates that is intentionally designed for transformative impact—to prepare our students to exemplify the leaders envisioned in our mission and motto. The QEP will accomplish its purpose by building on institutional strengths and ongoing efforts outlined in Georgia Tech’s strategic plan and by addressing opportunities for improvement identified by analysis of institutional data and review of the literature.

Effort on the QEP began in academic year 2022–2023, when the QEP Topic Selection Committee, charged by the provost, recommended the topic based on data culled from the recently concluded strategic planning effort and input from a comprehensive campus engagement campaign. From fall 2023 to the present, QEP leadership developed the plan in collaboration with the QEP Development and Planning Committee while soliciting input, feedback, and support from many campus and community partners.

At the heart of the QEP is a learning initiative comprising three stages: an introductory foundational course, mentored immersive learning experiences extending over three semesters, and the Progress and Service Summit. The program will draw on the resources of and return value to multiple constituencies on campus—students, faculty, staff, and leadership—and multiple constituencies beyond. Our QEP outreach campaign has revealed a broad-based commitment to the purpose and design of the QEP, and a sense of energy around its potential to advance the aspirations of the Institute’s mission and motto.

Three student learning outcomes (SLOs), addressing institutional data and informed
by the literature, guided development of the QEP and its assessment plan.

• SLO 1: Students will be able to integrate multiple perspectives in defining complex problems.
• SLO 2: Students will be able to reflect on their identity development as professionals.
• SLO 3: Students will be able to describe how their actions as professionals impact society.

Achievement of the SLOs will be evaluated via ongoing juried assessment of student artifacts captured from each stage of the program using rubrics that were inspired by the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ VALUE rubrics and refined in response to pilot testing.

A proposed graduation distinction, “Leader in Progress and Service,” will recognize student completion of the multistage program and highlight Georgia Tech’s commitment to our
mission and motto.

The QEP is anchored in and designed to advance the Institute’s most fundamental commitments. The plan has earned ample dedication of institutional resources and enthusiastic support from campus and community partners. A well-informed and executed assessment plan will measure its success.