Campus News

The State of the University Address 2010

2010 State of the University-Archway Partnership
Jill Sweat unloads bags of mulch as part of the ARchway Parternship

The State of the University Address 2010

Good afternoon and thank you for coming. And thank you, Adrian, for that introduction and for your leadership on Council this year.

Colleagues and friends, we have been entrusted with a treasure, passed down to us from people who walked this campus more than two centuries ago. That treasure is this institution. We have an obligation to those who came before us – an obligation to preserve what they left us, protect it from harm and present it to the next generation stronger and better than it was when we became its steward.

The University of Georgia is being challenged today, as it has been challenged many times in its history. In the midst of challenge, it can be difficult to focus on anything but the challenge itself, and all of us, of necessity, have spent a great deal of time on the current budget situation.

But I am heartened by the history of this place and the fact that it has come away from every challenge in a better position to carry out its mission. I am confident that the same is true today.

There is no doubt that the past 18 months have posed significant economic difficulties for everyone. We are all tired of talking and hearing about budgets, especially now in the fourth month of furloughs, and weary of news about declining revenue collections. But I am convinced that we have learned a lot about this institution and especially its people through this tribulation. These difficulties have, for the most part, brought out the best in us.

But this will not be a speech about budgets. It is far too easy to let that topic dominate, enabling us to forget about or overlook the fact that through the very good work of many of you in this room and many, many more across campus, this university continues to do important work and do it well. So first, as is my custom, I will review some of the successes of 2009.

We could not fairly reflect on 2009 without recognizing the contributions of now-retired Provost Arnett Mace. Arnett and Barbara are on a long and well-deserved vacation – I am sure it pains him to miss the State of the University speech.

I have been privileged to work with four provosts – Bill Prokasy (albeit in a slightly different structure), Karen Holbrook, Arnett and now Jere Morehead. In many ways, Arnett and I have been battle tested, as two serious budget crises occurred during our time together. He has been a true partner to me and there is no doubt that his astute budget management has not only kept this university strong and focused on its academic missions, but has also saved hundreds of people’s jobs. We are deeply indebted to him.

With your help, we selected a new provost who will certainly live up to the standards set by those who preceded him. Jere Morehead’s commitment to, love for and understanding of the University of Georgia are unexcelled. I look forward to working with him. Jere, please stand so that we may congratulate you once more.

One of the first and most important tasks Jere will undertake is the 10-year reaccreditation process with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. A great deal of that work has already been done by the reaccreditation committee, chaired by Bill Vencill, and Bob Boehmer in the provost’s office.

I encourage all of you to become informed about that process, about the substance of the report and to become active in the process. We need full campus-wide involvement to be as successful as we must be in the reaccreditation process.

In the fall, we enrolled the most qualified freshman class in UGA history, boasting an SAT average 10 points higher than that of 2008 and a core-curriculum GPA of 3.83 – an improvement on 2008’s 3.80. In the Honors Program, the SAT average is 1463 and the GPA is 4.09.

Five percent of the new students were first or second in their high school classes. 54% were in the top 10% of their classes. More than 1,400 of them had perfect 4.0 GPAs in high school.

More than 18,000 young people applied for admission to the University of Georgia during last year’s cycle; we enrolled about 5,000. With enrollment essentially capped, the increased pressure for admission has resulted in a revolution in the academic quality of the student body at UGA. We are privileged to enroll, teach and develop into citizens some of the very best young people that Georgia produces. Let us not ever forget the responsibility we bear to their parents, their families, their hometowns and the state which helps support this institution.

UGA students continued to take full advantage of the range of study abroad opportunities available to them, and we ranked 10th in the nation among doctoral/research universities for residential study abroad participation, both short- and long-term.

I remain convinced that there are few experiences more valuable to a student today than an extended immersion in another culture. We are fortunate to have been able to attract strong leadership in these endeavors from an old friend in Dr. Kavita Pandit, the new associate provost for international education. Kavita could not be with us today, because she is appropriately visiting our study abroad facility in Costa Rica.

External funding for research is at an all-time high at $173 million. Fundraising was also at an all-time high of $111 million. I am encouraged by the progress we are making and some of the organizational improvements that are beginning to take effect.

Among the more significant grants received last year were $18.7 million to the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for research into reducing the morbidity of schistosomiasis in Africa, the Middle East and the Americas; almost $6 million total to the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences from various sources for soybean, blueberry, tomato and pepper research; and $1.7 million from the EPA to the Faculty of Engineering Outreach to retrofit diesel vehicle in Athens and Washington counties.

UGA researchers announced findings about the genome of the sorghum plant, with implications for increasing the drought tolerance of an important food source for northeast Africa; a potential blood test for Alzheimer’s; a cost-effective method for producing caviar from Siberian sturgeon; a new species of salamander in a stream in Northeast Georgia’s Stephens County; and a significant decline in the ratio of female monarch butterflies in migratory flocks.

The humanities and arts thrived last year as well. The Hugh Hodgson School of Music co-sponsored the second annual UGA/Athens Twilight Jazz Festival in conjunction with the city’s annual Twilight Criterium bicycle race.

Indian sitar virtuoso Shujaat Khan came to campus as the first holder of the Patel Distinguished Visiting Professor in Indian Musical Arts. The professorship honors former Vice President for Research Gordhan Patel and his wife, Jinx.

Two Pulitzer Prize winners, Richard Ford and Yusef Komunyaka, and a U.S. Poet Laureate, Rita Dove, delivered lectures on campus. Such events are part of the tremendous opportunities afforded students on one of America’s great public university campuses.

And we celebrated the life and enduring legacy of our dear friend and true university citizen, Fred Mills, in a wonderful memorial service in the place he loved most, the Hodgson Concert Hall.

Two UGA faculty members – Judith Ortiz Cofer and Philip Lee Williams – were elected to the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame and will be inducted in March. They are with us today – please stand so that we may congratulate you.

And nine of our faculty were named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a record for the University of Georgia. If you do not know them already, I want you to. They are:

· Harry A. Dailey Jr., professor of microbiology, and biochemistry and molecular biology, director of the UGA Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute:

· Dorothy M. Fragaszy, professor of psychology, director of the UGA Primate Cognition and Behavior Laboratory, and chair of the Neuroscience and Behavior Program:

· James T. Hollibaugh, professor of marine sciences:

· Duncan C. Krause, professor of microbiology and director of the UGA Faculty of Infectious Diseases:

· Robert J. Maier, professor of microbiology and Georgia Research Alliance Ramsey Eminent Scholar of Microbial Physiology:

· Mary Ann Moran, distinguished research professor:

· J. Whitfield Gibbons, professor emeritus, senior research scientist, and head of Savannah River Ecology Lab Environmental Outreach Program:

· Catherine M. Pringle, distinguished research professor: AND

· Peggy Ozias-Akins, professor of horticulture:

If any of these distinguished faculty members are here with us today, please stand, so that we can congratulate you on this fine achievement

This remains, indeed, a place of inquiry and discovery.

When I first arrived at the University of Georgia, Bill Potter talked to me about a new Special Collections Library. It is about to become a reality.

We have some real treasure in those collections, much of which we are not able to display or make available for scholarly use and almost all of which requires storage conditions we cannot meet in the Main Library. In December, the state sold the bonds for the construction of the Special Collections Library. This new research facility will allow us to protect those valuable resources properly, allow them to be used in teaching and research and, once the collections are moved, will free up space in the Main Library. I hope you will join me one week from today as we break ground for that project.

In the fall we welcomed George Foreman to campus as the director of the Performing Arts Center. He brings more than 30 years of experience in the field and comes to us from Centre College, where he directed the Norton Centre for the Arts. Dr. Foreman is the founder of the Advocate Brass and served as its conductor for 20 years. He holds degrees from the University of Kansas and the University of New Mexico.

George, please stand so that we may welcome you to UGA.

We have talked in recent years about the need for all of us to step up and do more. Two senior administrators here have agreed to do just that in taking on additional administrative responsibility while maintaining their previous positions. Laura Jolly, dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, has been appointed by Provost Morehead to the position of interim vice president for instruction. She was named dean in 2007 and has been a strong leader, focused on improving the student experience. Graduate enrollment has increased 20 percent and new areas of emphasis have been added within degree programs.

Libby Morris, director of the Institute of Higher Education, has been appointed vice provost for academic affairs. Under her leadership, the Institute has started an executive doctoral program in Atlanta, expanded international programs, increased research funding and secured more than $600,000 in private funds to place college access advisors in select Georgia high school. The Institute now ranks sixth nationally.

Drs. Jolly and Morris, please stand so that we may congratulate you.

The Archway Partnership, a project of the Office of the Vice President for Public and Outreach which began in Moultrie and Colquitt County, has been so successful that it has expanded to seven additional counties around the state. Archway’s goal is to enhance and simplify access to UGA resources for cities and counties throughout Georgia.

This program embodies the very spirit of the Morrill Act which created the land-grant universities in this country, and puts UGA in a leadership position in the field.

The program has been recognized with a regional award from the Kellogg Foundation and in a feature story in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Archway is the brainchild of Art Dunning, who, as you know, will be leaving us to return home to Alabama in March. Art has transformed the public service and outreach function at the University of Georgia, focusing it on Georgia’s 21st-century needs and energizing the staff and faculty responsible for carrying out that mission.

The people of Georgia will benefit from his work for years to come. Dr. Dunning, please stand so that we may thank you for your service.

During the initial phase of the renovation of New College, workers discovered remnants of a former building and artifacts dating back more than 200 years. A brick floor about seven feet below today’s ground level and two stone walls give a sense of the shape and scale of the structure. We know the foundation of New College dates to 1819, so this newly-discovered structure pre-dates that.

Climbing into that space, literally descending into the history of this place, was a truly exciting moment. It was an incredible honor, and I very much look forward to what we learn from that find.

Before I move to the larger theme of my remarks today, I want to address a few words to the faculty.

I am aware of the concerns that many have expressed about the long-term impact of the budget cuts and hiring restrictions on faculty positions. I share those concerns, and both the previous and sitting provosts and I have had long, heartfelt discussions about that very topic.

The faculty is the backbone of the institution. A strong faculty attracts great students, both undergraduate and graduate. A strong faculty drives the research program. A strong faculty is a critical component of the kind of academic environment we want this place to enjoy. I must remind you that despite being unable to hire many tenure track replacements, we have hired capable, committed faculty on three-year contracts, and, thus, taught the same number of courses as we did last year. Unlike many places, we have not yet cut degree programs or tenured faculty. In brief, we have done everything we could do to protect the role of the faculty.

There is a legitimate concern that when we do not move forward on hiring faculty to fill vacancies, and particularly when we are not hiring young, tenure-track faculty at the assistant and associate professor level, we are weakening the strength that has been developed here over the past two decades. That strength could be damaged much more rapidly than it was built. Believe me, I have told the Governor and the legislative and Regents leadership this many times.

And despite the fact that we all want to wake up one day and find that this horrible, gripping recession has gone away, that life has reverted to what we knew three years ago, that real estate prices have recovered and raises are on the way, we all know that is not going to happen. We also know that even when this is over – and it will end – life for all of us has changed in some fundamental ways.

This is not just economic theory. We have all been furloughed four days so far with two more to come. Our paychecks are smaller. We have had to make adjustments to the family budget and perhaps be a bit more conservative about spending. I know that our students and their families are making those changes, in part because we have asked them to pay more for a UGA education.

I want to talk to you today about our stewardship obligation to this place in terms of conservation – conservation of finances, conservation of the mission and conservation of the natural and physical resources of this campus. The word itself derives from the Latin word meaning “to keep safe or well,” and I like that very much. We must keep the University of Georgia safe and well.

First, in order to operate effectively – to teach those students well, to conduct meaningful research, to serve people – we must manage our financial resources conservatively.

That is true at all times, but in times such as these, when budgets are restricted, innovative, thoughtful management is even more essential. We have managed well. We operate today more efficiently than we did five years ago. Not only have we delayed hiring, we have delayed purchases. We benefitted from savings in fringe benefits not paid on the furlough days. Those funds will be directed to academics.

We have dealt with the budgetary reductions primarily by not filling some 450 vacant positions, by looking under every rock and behind every tree for additional funds, by regretfully imposing furloughs at the direction of the Board of Regents and by taking a full-scale look at all Physical Plant operations.

On November 29, Vice President for Research David Lee wrote to the faculty that because of cuts in the OVPR budget, he was taking steps to cut allocations for faculty research grants from $250,000 to $150,000 and reducing travel grants by 60%. I know how difficult this decision was for him, but I also understand the realities he is facing.

I am pleased today to announce that we are in a position to restore those funds and boost the general faculty travel fund by an additional $100,000. I am dedicating $100,000 to support the Faculty Research Grant program, $100,000 to support the OVPR Foreign Travel Fund and another $60,000 for general support to enable that division to respond to critical opportunities and enhance faculty research. Additionally, I am directing that we will use funds contributed to academics by the Athletic Association to restore a $20,000 cut to the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities.

Finally, we will use $4 million in central budget savings to allow the new provost to address some critical needs. We need to hire badly needed faculty and provide start-up funds for some of them, particularly in the sciences. That money will be split evenly, with $2 million going to hiring faculty and $2 million going to critical one-time needs.

We simply must support the central missions of teaching and research, and to do so we must begin to replace the ranks of essential lost faculty. This action will, I believe, also position us to take advantage of the opportunities to bring in new faculty talent that will present themselves as we come out of the recession.

Second, we have to conserve essential university operations in order to maintain the march toward greater quality. If you had told me 18 months ago that we could be down some $70 million in state funding yet enroll a class with board scores 10 points higher than the previous year, offer as many courses as we did the year before and finally cross the 80% graduation rate line, I would have said it was impossible. But that is exactly what has happened through your efforts and your commitment to the mission and ideals of this place.

I hope you see that, despite the challenges of the economy and the state budget, despite the regretful imposition of furloughs, despite the most difficult economic cycle of my academic career, the University of Georgia remains strong remains committed to carrying out its missions, remains one of this state’s greatest assets. All of those things are true because of our greatest assets – our people. I am deeply grateful to each of you.

Third, I want to move into a number of successes here in recent years on campus management and sustainability. I firmly believe we have the best campus management and development team in America. The leadership in the Architect’s office is extraordinary; the work they have done in recent years is especially deserving of recognition. Please join me in recognizing Danny Sniff, head of that office, and his staff for their very good work.

And we have equally fine leadership in the Physical Plant. Please join me in recognizing Associate Vice President Ralph Johnson and his staff.

I would like to review with you a number of our successes in the area of sustainability and then make three announcements.

I have become increasingly convinced in recent years that this university needs to become more aggressive in the conservation of natural resources. We have all worked together on these issues and have made more progress than has been recognized. The report of the Sustainability Task Force provides a very good overview and I commend Kathy Pharr, who chaired that group, and the members, who represented virtually every segment of this campus. I have spent the past two months reading and analyzing the report and have found it quite helpful in thinking about these issues.

The entire campus has responded to the drought and to the need for energy conservation in extraordinary fashion. The “Every Drop Counts” campaign resulted in a 22% drop in total water usage on campus. On the energy side, we have reduced energy consumption per square foot by 18%. A multitude of small actions by thousands of individuals across campus combined with prudent central actions created these good results.

We have reduced our use of coal by taking advantage of favorable natural gas pricing and locking in prices in long-term contracts. Over the past 10 years, we have removed more than 1.5 million square feet of asphalt, some for new construction of energy-efficient facilities, but much of it for dedicated green space. I was pleased recently to review some photos of North Campus in the 1800s, and the only real difference in how it looks today outside the door to this building is that the trees are bigger.

Operationally, we have taken a number of steps, some large, some small, which have had a cumulative positive impact on energy use, water use and recycling. We have gone to third-day servicing of rooms in the Georgia Center, which saves considerable water and energy. Where we recently were using more than 350 different cleaning agents on campus, some with serious environmental impacts, today we use three environmentally friendly products. We have installed more than 70 recycling bins with President’s Venture Fund money; the campus recycling rate is now 35%. There are 13 rainwater collection systems across campus which collect rainwater used for irrigation, cycled back through building plumbing systems and other uses.

The many things we have already done and have been doing in the past several years to address sustainability, green issues and our impact on climate change are too numerous to mention in total. If you read the report, I think you will agree with me that we do not get enough credit for what we have been doing in these areas, in some cases for many years.

UGA’s commitment to sustainability research actually pre-dates the term itself by decades. I would remind you that the experiment station at Griffin, established in 1888 and the first of its kind in America, was really an early sustainability center. Its the focus on agriculture, which is one of the defining characteristics of the University of Georgia, remains today an important part of our identity. Today, our influence in these areas spans the globe; the Ecolodge in Costa Rica, where the kind of basic agricultural work begun more than 100 years ago in middle Georgia has grown to include world-class research into climate change, soil and wildlife ecology, sustainable silviculture and even the sociological issues attached to the kinds of lifestyle and workstyle changes we are all making in an effort to conserve resources.

We may have at UGA as many courses built around environmental and ecological education as any campus in the country. Hundreds of faculty across multiple disciplines offer more than 60 degree programs related to sustainability. Three hundred faculty are members of the Academy of the Environment. UGA was the first university in America to require students to complete a course on environmental literacy. Consider the offerings in the Odum School of Ecology (the nation’s first stand-alone school of ecology); the master’s degrees in ecology and conservation ecology and the PhD in ecology; the Horseshoe Bend Research Ecology Experimental Research Site, the Odum Broad River property.

Those academic offerings are greatly enhanced by the programs in landscape architecture, historical preservation and environmental planning and design in the College of Environment and Design, all of which clearly have an environmental component to them. UGA was among the first universities in America to institute the certificate of environmental ethics in 1983.

Our school of forestry and natural resources was also one of the first in the country, with first-rate programs in forestry, wildlife and fisheries, and water and soil resources. The Warnell School is responsible for the management of more than 24,000 acres of forest land around the state, and does so in a manner that serves as a model for private landowners in Georgia.

In recent years, few if any universities have done more research into climate change and sustainability than we have. We have 122 faculty on the water resources roster; more than 70 engaged directly in climate change research; and a broad range of sites dedicated to this kind of research – the River Basin Center, the Marine Institute, the Marine Institute on Sapelo Island, the Savannah River Ecology Lab, Skidaway and the Costa Rica property abutting the Monte Verde Rain Forest, which is one of the best ecological research stations owned by an American university.

The growth and involvement of the Faculty of Engineering adds depth to our efforts by bringing the historic strength in agricultural and bioengineering to develop a focus on computer systems, environmental engineering, biomedical engineering and bioimaging. This is another area of strength which not only enhances the educational and research programs on campus but also offers solutions to critical issues facing Georgia and the nation.

We need to expand basic engineering here from both a research standpoint and instructional standpoint. Doing so will not only enhance the academic environment here but will strengthen economic development in the state.

The extensive network of research stations in Georgia is home to an array of sustainability efforts. In Attapulgus, UGA researchers work to help the South Georgia agricultural community improve and diversify crop production.

At the C.M. Stripling Irrigation Research Park near Camilla, our researchers are working on the most effective and efficient ways to deliver water to growing crops. Up in the mountains at Blairsville, the Georgia Mountain Research and Education Center addresses many of these same issues with a focus on the southern Appalachian environment. The centers in Calhoun, in the northwest, and Midville, in the southeast, are doing equally good work, all with at least a tangential connection to the principles of sustainability. And if I may say so, I am proud that the Stripling Center, the Bioconversion Research and Education Center, and the Costa Rica property were all established in my time here.

It’s simple – farmers are the original sustainability experts. They need to be able to use the land productively year after year after year, and UGA is helping them do just that.

Many other departments, groups and individuals are involved as well. Through the Engineering Outreach Service, we have not only studied ways to impact and improve the natural environment but the built physical environment as well. Professor Tom Lawrence has been a great help with campus issues and to me in my role as chair of the University System’s energy management committee. Professor Lynne Sallot’s capstone PR class developed the idea that became the “Go Green” light bulb campaign.

Numerous student organizations are part of the Go Green Alliance, including Bike UGA, Emerging Green Builders, the Genetics Student Association, Greeks Going Green, Students for Environmental Awareness and the UGA Ecology Club, among many others. I am grateful for and proud of the student body’s commitment to these issues.

We have in the past chosen to build to LEED guidelines without incurring the additional expense of the certification process, but applied for and received LEED Gold certification on the Tate Expansion and have registered four other buildings for certification: Pharmacy South, the new residence hall on East Campus, the Georgia Museum of Art and the Special Collections Library, for which we will break ground later this month. When they are certified, we will have a half-million square feet of LEED-certified space on campus.

We have also taken steps with Campus Transit. We have hybrid engines in some buses and some Physical Plant vehicles. And through the agreement that allows UGA faculty, staff and students to ride Athens Transit buses without paying a fare, we keep some 3,000 cars off campus daily. Since 2007, more than 2.7 million boardings on Athens Transit have been made by UGA ID holders.

In many ways, this is a matter of context – looking at what we are already doing under the definition of sustainability and then looking beyond that to see what we can do additionally. The working group on sustainability provides us with a definition of the term which reads, in part: “In the context of its multiple missions, a sustainable university meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs and creates opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to enhance the quality of life throughout their communities, both physical and scholarly.

“A sustainable university acts as a living laboratory where sustainability is researched, taught, tested, and constantly refined. Sustainability is a process, not an end goal.”

To that end, I will close with three announcements.

First, I am accepting the report and the recommendations of the UGA Sustainability Working group. Those recommendations include, but are not limited to, inclusion of sustainability in the university’s next strategic plan, which is currently under development, and the creation of an institutional coordinating body. Meeting the recommendations of the working group will require making sustainability a constant refrain in all our messages, including a “Go Green. Live Red and Black” website highlighting sustainability efforts and offering tips and information about individual actions; an annual sustainability report; an annual forum for presenting that report and discussing sustainability efforts and issues; increasing the amount of waste we recycle; installing sustainability signage; and further statewide collaboration in both research and application of sustainability measures.

Second, after much thought, I am also accepting the recommendation passed by a student referendum to impose a three dollar per term “green fee” on students to help fund that office. That fee has also been recommended to me by the mandatory fee committee, which is comprised of students and staff in Student Affairs. We will establish an Office of Sustainability with those funds, and that office will be headed by Kevin Kirsche, currently assistant director of planning in the Office of University Architects.

This office will provide leadership and coordination to the many sustainability initiatives on campus – many outlined in the task force report – and ensure that departments are abiding by the University’s commitment to sustainability, which will be part of the Strategic Plan for 2010-2020.

Kevin is joined today by Emily Karol and Mark Milby, two students who were instrumental in the success of the green fee initiative. They have represented the student voice passionately and effectively and they are but two examples of the future leadership class in this state that we produce at UGA. I would like for all three of them to stand so that we may recognize them as well.

Finally, I have decided for now not to sign the President’s Climate Commitment, which would obligate UGA to developing “a comprehensive plan to achieve climate neutrality as soon as possible.” I know that some will disagree with my position on this, but understand that this decision does not indicate that I do not support much of what is called for in the document – indeed, the actions and commitments I have outlined in this speech are evidence that I am in agreement with much of the spirit of the commitment.

I simply don’t believe our current setting – with a coal-powered steam plant and a major agricultural college – lends itself to complete climate or carbon-footprint neutrality. Many major, animal-intensive universities, such as Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and Iowa State, have not signed for these very reasons.

I want us to be known for doing what we say we will do and not for signing on to agreements with obligations we know we cannot meet. A recent Chronicle of Higher Education article detailed the impact that the economic downturn had had on the efforts of a number of signatories to meet the requirements, and I do not want to see UGA’s name added to that list.

We have done much and will continue to do much. We will build more LEED-certified buildings. We will reduce further our greenhouse gas emissions. We will make further transportation improvements. We will enhance recycling. We will move toward sustainability.

I began this speech with the idea of conservation – conservation of financial resources, conservation of mission, conservation of natural resources. 225 years ago, the idea of public higher education was born in this state when Abraham Baldwin drafted the charter for the University of Georgia. We will kick off the commemoration of that seminal event in American history with the Founders’ Day lecture next week, with a two-day symposium in April and a series of other events throughout the year.

We, then, are also conservators of an idea. A remarkable idea, born in the frontier of a new country, nurtured through the inevitable struggles of the simple act of getting started, traumatized by war and illness and poverty and social strife, yet the idea lives on in every one of us, in every student walking the North Campus lawn or studying in the Miller Center, in every teacher and researcher, in every person connected in any way to this special place.

The idea that higher education is a public good, not a private benefit. The idea that higher education belonged to the people, not just the privileged. That idea was born here, in this state, in 1785, and we live that idea today.

In the early years of the 21st century, we were charged with preserving and perpetuating that idea. Yes, there have been easier times to have accepted that charge, but this is our time.

 

In both the past and the present, people count on us. There are more than 250,000 alumni out there who care about this university and how we care for it. There are almost 35,000 students who depend on what we do and how we do it. There is an entire state that loves this institution and watches how it is managed. We are responsible to them, and I am confident that together we will fulfill our obligations to them by steadfastly conserving what has been entrusted to us and by passing it on safely to the next generation. Thank you.