Update and Invitation from Task Force 2021 and Beyond

December 21, 2020

To the members of the MIT community,

We are very pleased to provide you with an update on the progress of Task Force 2021 and Beyond, and to share with you the 50+ ideas that have resulted from the task force members' work over the past six months.

You can explore and provide input on the phase one ideas developed by the 11 working groups of the four task force workstreams on the task force website.

Our next step includes a review of the ideas by President Reif and other Institute leadership, faculty governance, and other key stakeholders to set the stage for identifying a prioritized subset of the initial ideas for implementation. We plan to launch the next phase of the task force, which will focus on implementation planning, in February.

The ideas proposed by the workstreams are wide ranging, from reshaping the physical campus, to helping students, faculty, and staff find rewarding paths at MIT, to building equity and camaraderie as our full community prepares to reunite on campus, to expanding the Institute’s positive impact on the world. You can read more about the ideas on MIT News.

The workstreams’ ideas emerged from a six-month, community-wide process that included over 100 meetings of the working groups and workstreams, consideration of more than 60 ideas submitted via a community idea bank, a community forum, presentations and discussions with various Institute committees and groups, and eight task force plenary sessions.

We would like to thank the 150+ members of the task force, including the Coordinating Committee, the workstream co-chairs, the working group leads, and the staff who supported each of the workstreams and groups. We are also grateful for the valuable contributions of our Student Advisory Group and Alumni Advisory Group.

We’ll have further updates to share in the new year. For now, we wish you a safe, restful, and wonderful winter break.

Sincerely,

Rick Danheiser, Chair of the Faculty

Sanjay Sarma, Vice President for Open Learning