This is special edition of Tech Talk will provide the MIT community with a brief overview of the various activities ongoing in the re-engineering effort to simplify and reduce the cost of the Institute's administrative activities.
Each of the summaries printed here was prepared as a one-page document by the particular team and is presented in its original format to preserve its unique structure and flow.
This information is being distributed as a means of providing the community an opportunity to review the objectives, scope and current status of reengineering projects in advance of Wednesday's INSTITUTE TOWN MEETING from noon until 2pm in Kresge Auditorium.
In perusing these summaries, members of the community are encouraged to come to the Town Meeting with general or specific questions that they might have an opportunity to ask directly. President Charles Vest, Vice Presidents William Dickson (the project sponsor) and James Bruce (project manager) will be on stage along with Victoria Sirianni, director of physical plant, who will serve as moderator.
Provost Mark Wrighton will join the members of the Reengineering Steering Committee (i.e., the administrative vice presidents and Dean Joel Moses from the School of Engineering), who will be available to assist Dr. Vest in reponding to questions. Also available will be the captains of the reengineering teams, who will assist as needed in providing additional depth and technical detail in response to questions.
As with the first town meeting in the Sala de Puerto Rico, audience members will have opportunities to direct questions to Dr. Vest or to members of the Steering Committee. Many questions have been submitted in advance via anonymous e-mail and by direct contact with teams. Other questions can be asked live in the auditorium or submitted in writing at the beginning of the program.
According to Isaac Colbert, captain of the community involvement team, which has organized the Town Meeting, "We wanted to provide a number of mechanisms by which members of the community can raise their questions. Not everyone is comfortable asking questions at a microphone in front of a large audience."
The Town Meeting is open to the entire Institute community, and will also be broadcast over MIT Cable to Lobbies 7 and 10, Sloan School, and Lincoln Laboratory.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on May 1, 1995.
