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Well, thank you, and to everyone good morning.
On behalf of our more than 15,000 students and 2200 faculty and staff,
I want to welcome you to East Tennessee State University. This is an institution
that was founded more than a hundred years ago with the public service
mission.
An institution that, in many respects, serves as the land-grant institution for
Appalachia.
An institution that brings together programs from medicine to public health,
to pharmacy, to criminal justice, to business, to education.
An institution at which we, every day of the week,
are focused on bringing together solutions to the challenges
that face Appalachia, and there's no greater challenge facing our region than
the issue that we're here to discuss today.
More than one hundred individuals on a daily basis
across this nation die from overdoses to prescription drugs.
It ravages our communities, but most importantly
it impacts our youth. And one of the things that I hope you can do a little
bit while you're here today,
and as Distrtict Attorney Killian mentioned, get out your comfort zone.
When you're out of your comfort zone, talk a little bit to our students.
You're going to see them all throughout this building,
this is the student center. It's the center of the institution.
Take some time today to talk to our students and ask them
their story, and ask them their story as it relates to this issue, because I
guarantee you at a certain point you will meet a studen,t a faculty member, or
staff member
who has been personally impacted by this challenge because it touches
every family across our communities. I want to thank you all for being here today.
I hope that you enjoy your time on campus.
Made a comment to someone yesterday that today would be a great day to walk across
campus and soak in the pageantry of post-secondary education,
and then it started to rain! So, umbrellas are for sale upstairs in the bookstore
please contribute to the local economy,
but thank you all for being here today and for giving us the opportunity
to be a part of this dialogue. Our faculty and staff are truly honored to
be a part of the conversation, and we thank you for giving us this chance.
Everyone have a great day.