The mission of the Office of the Vice Chancellor is to advance educational innovation and foster the growth of every student at MIT, empowering them to make a positive impact at MIT and beyond.
Guided by the charge issued by the chancellor when OVC was created in 2017, we have focused our efforts to date on several key strategic priorities:
- Engaging with students and departments to develop and pursue a roadmap for enhancing the first-year student academic experience;
- partnering with community members to make improvements for students in areas such as advising, professional development, diversity and inclusion, and well-being;
- implementing the residential education innovations called for in the Institute-wide Task Force on the Future of MIT Education; and
- working with the staff from undergraduate and graduate education to conduct an organizational review that positions the two offices to support the above efforts as well as optimize services for our students and faculty.
Our progress on these priorities from 2017 to 2022 is outlined below.
Key
The status of each item is delineated as follows:
 | = Completed |
 | = In progress |
 | = Not yet started |
Undergraduate Experience
With a particular emphasis on the first-year academic experience, we aim to provide students with the education they need to fulfill their personal aspirations — and to make a better world.
| Implement first-year CUP experiments |
| FLC curricular pilots |
| Analyze relationships between student outcomes, admissions, etc. |
| Enhance academic advising |
| Improve communications about undergrad tuition/financial aid |
| Identify common experiential learning risk areas |
| Survey how prospective students perceive MIT |
Graduate Experience
By taking a holistic view of the graduate student experience, we strive to create an environment in which students can produce their best work while enhancing the teaching and research mission of MIT.
| Strengthen GradSupport team |
| Institutionalize prof development competencies, best practices, programs |
| Develop best practices in admissions, recruitment, student success programs |
| Enhance advising |
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
We recognize that different perspectives not only create a rich and dynamic community, but also promote the best solutions and outcomes. To that end, we are committed to fostering an environment where everyone can be the best version of themselves.
| Promote DEI in grad admissions, recruiting, and inclusive teaching |
| Develop healthy workplace environment for OVC staff |
| Work to understand needs of community |
| Expand # of students OME reaches through Interphase EDGEx |
Career and Professional Development
Equip students with the mentoring, career guidance, and professional skills they need to thrive — in a variety of workplace settings — over the course of their careers as national and global leaders.
| Provide more professional development opportunities |
| Develop financial literacy program |
Academic infrastructure
Provide students, faculty, and staff with the best tools, systems, and physical spaces to optimize student learning and intellectual growth.
| Develop roadmap for IT resources/solutions to meet educational needs |
| Evolve classroom spaces |
| Develop roles-based Student Support Network (Canopy) |
| Improve subject/teaching evaluation process |
| Provide more effective navigation to resources |
Live Our Mission and Values
In all our work on behalf of students and the MIT community at-large, our goal is to serve as a model organization that uses a principle-driven approach to arrive at the best outcomes.
| Develop process for surveys/data administration and sharing |
| Consider OVC strategic priorities from “Three Lenses” perspective |