Thomas A. Kochan, chair of the MIT faculty and professor of management, describes the next steps in MIT’s collaboration with Haiti.
“Our role in helping Haiti recover from the devastating earthquake illustrates both the strengths and weaknesses of how we respond to requests for engagement. Clearly, the magnitude of the devastation and the close proximity of this neighbor moved all of us to respond in our individual ways. Many at MIT made financial contributions. Previous issues of the Faculty Newsletter also highlighted various projects students and faculty groups initiated. This is MIT at its best – grass roots initiatives bubbling up in response to a clear need or opportunity. Now we are in a second phase in which MIT is being asked to help rebuild the university system in Haiti by drawing on some of our unique capabilities and resources such as OpenCourseWare and experience with faculty mentoring programs such as the Sloan School’s International Faculty Fellows initiative. A group of interested faculty is exploring ways to do this in partnership with Haitian education leaders.”
Excerpted with permission from: Kochan, T. A. (2010, September). The Year Ahead: Accelerating the Pace of Innovation. MIT Faculty Newsletter, Vol. XXIII No. 1. Retrieved September 28, 2010 from MIT Faculty Newsletter: http://web.mit.edu/fnl/volume/231/kochan.html
