President John J. DeGioia and Provost Robert Groves formally launched “Designing the Future(s) of the University,” Georgetown’s new initiative to plan and discuss the future of higher education, Wednesday evening.
DeGioia and Groves are the first in a series of speakers who will talk about the future of Georgetown. Their discussion focused primarily on the purpose of the modern university in society. “We [universities] impart a way of being, a way of engaging in the world, a way of life,” DeGioia said.
Groves expressed optimism and the need to be proactive with changes in higher education. “We live in the most exciting time to be at university,” he said.
DeGioia stressed the importance of student-faculty relationships at universities in general and the necessity to not succumb to current external pressures that push universities to teach for the workforce and prioritize efficiency at the cost of trivializing scholarship.
After the conclusion of speeches, when asked about how to preserve the spirit of Georgetown in the future, DeGioia said, “We don’t want to lose the spirit of this place, and that’s why we’re being so deliberate, and so careful.”
