Fatma Mili, dean of the UNC Charlotte College of Computing and Informatics (CCI), is a seasoned academic leader, and like her predecessors and fellow deans, she is helping to sustain the University’s tradition of strong leadership.
Since arriving at UNC Charlotte in 2017, Mili has been intentional about the role CCI must play in the community. She shares her insight about leadership, the University’s impact on society and equipping students to lead.
UNC Charlotte has a rich history of strong leaders. What defines a strong leader?
More than anything else, people determine the strength of the institutions they join and lead. UNC Charlotte has flourished since its inception thanks to the leaders who founded it and those it continues to attract. Strong leaders have conviction, courage and vision. Leadership starts with a sense of mission around deeply held convictions. Good leaders hold thought-based convictions but also evolve, constantly re-examining and questioning those convictions to make sure they adapt, grow and mature. Strong leaders have the courage to stand up for their convictions and take risks, acting and speaking up to remain true to their convictions. Strong leaders have far-reaching vision that extends beyond their immediate circle, beyond their direct stakeholders, and beyond their tenure.
How have society’s issues and the University’s influence on them changed over the time of your leadership? How can faculty and other leaders apply their expertise to deepen UNC Charlotte and the college’s impact?
The COVID-19 pandemic, the national awakening to the breadth and depth of enduring racial injustice and violence, as well as the acceleration of severe weather events are all symptoms of a system delivering results most of us do not want. Compounded crises add a sense of urgency to the unique role universities can and must play, which has dramatically accelerated several efforts already underway at UNC Charlotte. For example, as remote learning has brought to the surface the inequity in student needs and conditions, it also focused our faculty on redesigning their teaching and learning environments to personalize learning, maximize student engagement and democratize access. Similarly, the complexity and multifaceted nature of the current crises have been a catalyst for all colleges at UNC Charlotte to collaborate, sharing resources and ideas across disciplines. At CCI alone, the number of cross-college collaborations on research proposals have more than doubled.
What are the top goals for the College of Computing and Informatics for the near future?
We have several projects underway in the college aligned with the priorities cited above.
- We are in the process of implementing adaptive learning in all of our core courses. Adaptive learning uses technology to guide students and personalize the content and pace of their work to reflect which concepts they have mastered and which concepts they still need to work on.
- CCI has also been a leader in the conversation around the social implications of computing and the accountability that designers have. We are planning to modify our curricula by embedding these concepts in everything we create and use.
- We are broadening our post-graduate offerings to better meet the needs of adults at all stages of their lives.
- We have dramatically increased the volume and percentage of multidisciplinary research in the college with a focus on addressing multifaceted complex problems faced by society today.