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[ Applause ]
>> Thank you Scott [phonetic],
I doubt that we'll be doing this in 2027.
[ Laughter ]
But I would never try to program Scot Champ [phonetic]
to start with.
[ Laughter ]
I don't think it would work
but I do appreciate those kind remarks and I'm glad
that together we have accomplished a lot of the things
that we talked about in 1998 but we're certainly not finished
with what we need to do.
And I'll be pleased to talk about that in just a moment.
Thank you for your cooperation.
[ Laughter ]
It's not yours isn't it, Mary?
[ Laughter ]
I don't want to-- I thought about this and I didn't want
to start this on a sad note today
but I don't believe in my 15 years here.
We have ever had a time where we have lost as many people
that I have dearly cared about as we have
in just the last few months and when I think of end of pre
at the law school, Doug Toma the College of Education.
Our dear friend Conrad think in journalism Bobby Friedman
in business, our dear friend Randy Manning and many
of you know the late great Barry Philips, there are many
of our law school colleagues who are not here today
because Barry's funeral--
Barry was the lawyer who signed the agreement
for the 1996 Olympics.
He is one of our most distinguished alums
and past away and were not
for this having already been scheduled, and I would be
in Atlanta with Dean White at this moment to--
because his memorial service is going on at this very moment.
So it would be totally appropriate I think for us
to pause for just a minute and remember Barry and all
of these others who have been
such great contributors to the university.
[ Pause ]
Thank you very much.
I want to thank each one of you
for taking the time to come today.
I want to thank WGA Youth
for broadcasting the speech this year as well as Channel 15
and it's being strived-- it was being streamed to all
of our campuses all across the state.
As Scott mentioned, I'm energized
about where we have been.
I'm energized by where UGA is today.
Maybe even more so that I've been in the last couple of years
and I hope by the end of this speech, you will be energized
about where I think we are yet going.
The simple truth of the speech today is this,
Georgia's success depends on UGA's success.
There is no way around it, we educate Georgia at UGA
and I hope by the end of these 35 minutes together,
you will agree with me.
We produce the leadership class for this state,
we produce the producers, we create the creators,
we energize the innovators, we encourage the change agents,
we send into the world people equipped for success
and what has been variously called "the age of the mind".
The intellectual capital era
or to quote Thomas Friedman a flat in the world.
My friend Willis Potts, the former chair of the Board
of Regents has said that in the 21st century,
the world's work requires thinking, problem solving,
synthesizing, communicating, designing
and developing new ideas.
The 21st century needs people with a strong, rich,
comprehensive, broad based education,
the whole symphony what we continue to offer here at UGA.
Before I talk at length about what that means for us
in the coming years, let's do as we usually do, let's pause
and let's review a few of the highlights of 2011.
The first year odyssey program was initiated in the fall
with more than 300 seminar type classes for freshman,
taught by primarily tenured and tenured track faculty.
An outgrowth of the most recent sex comprehensive
reaccreditation process,
the first year odyssey gave UGA students an initial academic
experience most young people would expect to find only
at the first rate, small liberal arts college.
The greatest benefit and one of the goals
of the program is the establishment
of lasting relationships between freshmen students
and senior professors teaching the class.
I know that I built those relationships
in my odyssey seminar and I suspect the same for those
of the rest of you who taught.
I thank each one of you who participated
in that great endeavor and I encourage you to do
so again next year as well I.
We took full and final possession
of a navy supply school property in the spring and now referred
to it as a UGA health sciences campus.
Work began in the fall on the initial phase of renovations
to classrooms and administrative spaces and some faculty
and staff from the college of public health have already moved
in with a great number of classes
to begin there in August.
There are now 80 future MDs in first
and second year medical classes in Athens with third
and fourth year classes to commit since subsequent falls
as we move more fully in August to the navy school campus.
We continue to work with the system office on the expansion
of public graduate medical education in
and for the Straight of Georgia.
And I thank Governor Deal publicly for his support
of that program in his recently released budget.
The medical partnership with the Georgia Health Sciences
University and the expansion of GME, primarily at hospitals here
in Athens and surrounding areas are
but 2 more contributions UGA is making
as a land grant institution to serving the needs of the state.
Just this month, we opened along desired university child care
center also at the navy campus
which we dedicated formally on yesterday.
We are serving approximately 50 children there now
with an ultimate capacity of about 145.
We owe Tim Burgess, Danny Smith [phonetic],
Kristy Coleman [phonetics] and their staff a great round
of applause for the good work
that brought this vision to reality.
[ Applause ]
I say more about this in context later
but we enroll the largest class
in UGA history while maintaining academic levels very close
to the prior year a 12 54 SAT average
and a 3.83 average high school GPA.
These are the young people that we are preparing
for the 21st Century and preparing to carry
out Regent Potts' charge.
Once again, our students faired very well
in National academic scholarship competitions.
In 2011 alone, our students were awarded a Marshall Scholarships,
a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, 3 Barry Goldwater Scholarship,
1 Morris K. Udall Scholarship,
1 Merage American Dream Fellowship,
2 NSEP Boren Scholarships, 11 Fulbright Scholarships,
and 13 National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships.
This university, in particularly the honors program
under the direction of Dr. David Williams.
Continuous to attract some of the very and brightest students,
both in this state, and from across this nation.
The future of this state runs through Athens.
University faculty were at the forefront of research findings
in their disciplines keeping the public affairs office busy
with announcements that received national
and international attention.
Among them were the development of a vaccine
that dramatically reduces breast cancer in mice
and we believe has long term applicability to humans.
The use of Lipitor to prevent blindness in people
with diabetes, the study of the impact of the decline
in costal fishery predators on the larger costal environment,
and the sea that produces so much of what we need.
The role of the parathyroid gland
in regulating calcium levels in the human body,
the role of the banded tetra in nutrient recycling
in certain nontropical streams.
We studied patterns in fire fighter fatalities
and how they happened.
The impact of the European snow pack on US weather patterns.
The use of gold nanoparticles in a rapid flu diagnostics.
Discoveries about proteins and plant cell walls.
The discovery of a strain of yeast
that easily turns pine in the ethanol.
A mouse study for the future of the lessening
of the impact of Alzheimer's.
Together we've also want the Obesity Initiative and effort
to address one of Georgia's most vexing
and costly long term health issues focusing on both adult
and childhood diabetes and obesity to be lead
by Eminent Scholar Cliff Baile.
This initiative includes faculty from nearly
from nearly every school in college on campus
and its building partnerships across the state with hospitals,
schools and community groups.
Even that is not an exhaustive list,
but it offers just a glimpse into the active life
of our research faculty, and what they continued to produce.
The life of the mind was further stimulated as it should be
at this place by range
of speakers including the Nobel laureate, poets, authors,
artist, philanthropists, journalist,
internationally appointment and elected officials.
Equally compelling this year with the musical dance
and art performances available at the visual
and performing arts center,
under the direction of George Foreman.
This included the Munich Symphony Orchestra, Bela Fleck,
the Guitar Orchestra of Barcelona,
the State Ballet Theatre of Russia and, just recently,
the famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
As I tell those of you who are here today as students
and I deeply appreciate the students who have come
at no other time and in no other place in your life,
will you have ready access to the breath and depth of free
or inexpensive academic and cultural events
that you will have here during your 4 or 5 year sojourn here.
So take advantage of it.
Professor Han Park arranged the second round
of track 2 discussions in the fall.
I was speaking just yesterday with prominent, Korean-Americans
in Atlanta who were laudatory of the work that Dr. Park has done
in bringing North and South Korea
and the United States together for high level talks.
Our service mission has never been more vibrant.
Grady County was headed to the roster
of Archway partnership communities and is the latest
to benefit from the work of an Archway professional living
in the community, listening to the communities' needs
and leveraging UGA resources and expertise
to address those needs.
The Vinson Institute of Government is working
with Governor Deal on four of his statewide initiatives.
The Georgia Competitiveness Initiative,
the Health Exchange Advisory Committee,
the Water Supply Program Task Force,
and the OneGeorgia Rule Policy Center and many of you
in the audience are involved in those efforts as well.
When Georgia needs, the broadest and deepest range of knowledge
to address state needs, it turns to the University of Georgia.
We fill the number of important leadership positions in 2011.
Linda Kirk Fox came all the way across the country
from Washington State to take her new position as Dean
of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences.
Likewise, Tim Chester came from Pepperdine in California
to become our chief information officer, and we needed him
because e-mail crashed on his first day.
[ Laughter ]
Griff Doyle, a long time member
of the government relations teams is now vice president
for government relations.
And long time faculty member Jan Hathcote was named
university registrar.
The southern association of schools and colleges
in December gave formal approval to the cleanest,
reaccreditation report I have seen in more than 30 years
in higher education administration.
The NCAA also re-certified the universities athletic programs.
This is a university, both academically and athletically
that is going to do things right.
While there was no doubt in the outcome of either
of those processes, it is gratifying and affirming
to receive the final positive word.
Just last January, an entirely different kind of weather,
we commemorated the 50th anniversary of the segregation
at UGA with the month long series
of lectures, exhibits, and events.
We, as a university in 50 years have come very,
very far in that regard.
I still think we have much to do.
It is journey, not a destination.
One step in that journey last year was the adoption
of the university's 10 year diversity strategic plan,
a map for how we will incorporate, integrate,
and celebrate diversity and inclusion as a part
of the mission of this place to teach, to conduct research,
and deserve the people of Georgia.
The University of Georgia will serve people of all background,
ethnicities, stripes, and religions
who desire our services.
Thanks to the generosity of UGA's alumni, friends,
and supporters, private giving reached an all-time high last
year at 126 million, the 6th consecutive year of more
than a 100 million dollars in gifts and pledges.
And on July 1, history was made as the UGA Foundation
and the Arch Foundation merged into a new UGA Foundation
with the stated goal of helping to provide resources and support
of the university's mission.
Their first act was to allocate an additional 750,000 dollars
for student scholarships.
We continued the physical development of the campus
about which Scott spoke with dedications of major renovations
that Stegeman Coliseum and Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall.
We dedicated an official university flagpole and a bust
of Chappelle Matthews.
It was Chappelle Matthew's support of higher education
in the General Assembly in the 1960s and 1970s
that helped lay the foundation
for the success that we enjoy today.
The construction of the Richard B. Russell Library Building
Special Collections Libraries was completed,
and we will dedicate
that magnificent research facility next month.
I must admit however that my favorite
such dedicatory event was the dedication of the statue
of Abraham Baldwin, you might have noticed the wreath beside
the-- his statue on the North Campus quad today.
This is the University's 227th birthday and he was the person
that first articulated the vision
of public higher education in America,
and was the first president of the University of Georgia.
I am grateful to the UGA Alumni Association to its leadership
and Steve Jones and to the other leaders who take
that great group forward in raising the private funding
for that campus audition.
It took a little convincing of me frankly to bring
on board any adjustments to North Campus which I consider
to be one of the great university quads
in this country.
But once I saw him there, I knew he was right.
He seems like his been there for decades already.
He just looks right there, even Tom Landrum says he looks
like he remembers him.
[ Laughter ]
While policy changes
at the Cabinet level do not often make it
into the annual lists of highlights, the very good work
of Dean Rebecca White who lead the working group asked
to review the Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment policy,
and the members of her committee,
I believed rise to that level.
As approved by Cabinet,
that policy makes three significant changes
to the previous policy and needs to be a part
of the university's official record.
First, per the federal Department of Education,
it designates that all complaints under the policy,
including those made by or against students,
be made to the Equal Opportunity Office
for obviously equal treatment.
Previously *** harassment claims against students went
to the Office of Student Conduct we want to wrap
up student support in that area.
Second, the policy clearly prohibits all faculty and staff,
including graduate students, from dating or engaging
in *** behavior with students whom they currently supervise
or teach.
The previous prohibition extended only
to undergraduate students, it now extends to all students,
including once again graduate and professional students
and those relationships.
And third, the policy requires disclosure
of consensual relationships when one party has supervisory power
over the other at any level at the university and removal
from any decisions that would involve that subordinate.
Higher education's image as a whole was tainted last year
with several high-profile scandals many of them
in athletics involving allegations
of grossly inappropriate, and in my opinion
on some cases criminal behavior.
And while no place this large
and complex can be completely immune
from the bad acts of a very few.
I believe that the improvements to this policy
and the attention we are giving you now very progressive put UGA
in very good national stead.
We have engaged in recent months in a necessary discussion
about difficult
and uncomfortable topics regarding interpersonal
relationships on campus.
And frankly, we did it very well and in a manner that resulted
in improved policies and an even clearer message
about what behavior is acceptable
and what behavior is unquestionably unacceptable.
Unfortunately, we may also have learned from examples
on other campuses about what can happen when those kind
of conversations don't take place.
This is but a sample of the accomplishments of 2011.
I could go on for the remainder of my time,
but let's turn to the future.
Like many of you, I taught a First-Year Odyssey class
in the fall.
And while I have taught a class on Georgia
or national politics every year or so, I decided this time
to teach about the history and development
of the University of Georgia.
To do so, of course, I went to the definitive source
and I read again for the third time,
Tom Dyer's definitive history of UGA that was commissioned
for the 1985 celebration of the bicentennial of the charter.
Every time I read his book, I am struck by the cyclical nature
of the challenges and opportunities we have faced
over the past 227 years.
Today, we seek to address Georgia's needs
through the addition of medicine
and engineering in the curriculum.
Through the recently adding creation of the Colleges
of Public Health, the School of Public
and International Affairs, the College of Environment
and Design, the Odum School of Ecology;
through the Archway Partnerships and through other efforts
of the Office of Public Service and Outreach; through research
across the range of disciplines.
But listen to this line in Dyer's history,
describing the period after the Civil War,
when the university had reopened
and the state was claiming its 1st share of Morrill Act funds,
the Morrill Act of course created the Land
Grant Universities.
Here's what he said, the debate at UGA
and in the legislature focused on Chancellor Andrew Lipscomb's,
the presidents in those days were called chancellors.
Plans to make the university both more accessible
and more responsive to the state's needs
by eliminating the highly structured four-year classical
curriculum in favor of a two-year foundation
and the freedom of juniors and seniors to select courses
in major areas, a pattern that frankly continues to this day.
Lipscomb believed that the classical education model
of Greek and Latin and rhetoric
and geometry did not fully serve the needs of the emerging South.
The faculty finally accepted Lipscomb's recommendation,
laying the foundation for the modern structure
of required courses for the first two years,
the liberal arts foundation with a focus on a major course
of study in the third and fourth years.
That pattern was established in the late 19th century in a time
of turmoil at UGA according to Dyer.
Together, we have engaged in a similar process to focus UGA
on meeting the state's needs now in the 21st century.
Most recently are the creation of the medical partnership
with the Georgia Health Sciences University and the approval
by the regents of civil, mechanical
and electrical engineering to the UGA curriculum
which will begin this fall.
While there are clear benefits to the university
in taking these steps access to a wider pool of federal funding,
an elevated student profile and the ability to recruit faculty
who previously would not have considered UGA-serving this
state is what was at the forefront of those decisions.
Why? Well, Georgia needs more doctors.
And the only public medical school
in this state is at capacity.
Georgia needs more engineers
and our new engineering programs will offer options
for in-state students to enroll in engineering programs
in the university system while helping
to meet the state's industrial
and commercial need for engineers.
Georgia needs more of its doctors to stay home and hence,
the emphasis in the Governor's budget
on graduate medical education.
And just as the process for making those decisions was not
without challenges and objections for us
in the 21st century and some of us have the scars
to show for those fights.
Our predecessors in the 19th century faced challenges
that frankly were more threatening to the health
and stability of the university than any we have faced.
Political, cultural, religious
and curricular forces attacked UGA in the post-civil war era,
tugging and pushing and pulling it in every direction,
sometimes, it veered off course and at times, off mission.
In 1862 with fewer than 40 students enrolled and the nation
at war with itself, Chancellor Lipscomb propose the
establishment of a new school of civil engineering
or that before predicated on the clear need for such expertise
in rebuilding the state after the civil war.
The trustees agreed with the president's proposal
but provided no funding.
[ Laughter ]
We've heard that before.
[ Laughter ]
Soon thereafter however with 3 trustees killed in battle
and more students enlisting,
even though you may not have known but in the 19th century,
during the civil war, UGA students were exempted
from military service.
But the university was closed in the fall of 1863,
initially for a period of 4 months but ultimately,
for over 2 years and it remained so until January of 1866.
Lipscomb and some members of the faculty, many of whom lived
on campus, allowed and were allowed to remain on campus
as caretakers while the facilities were converted here
on these grounds, in this very place for confederate army use.
The nation's first publicly chartered university had become
little more than a military outpost
in the nation's darkest hours.
Following the reopening of the university in 1866,
enrollment grew steadily and Lipscomb's focus returned
to the creation of a new university.
One responsive to the state's needs,
rather than depended upon a classical model of education
for society's elite at [inaudible].
In 1872, the medical college was integrated
in the UGA's organizational structure.
And in that same year, a college of agriculture was established.
It gave the administration access to the federal money,
through the Morrill Act,
which established the land-grant universities.
In fact, as Dyer points out in the book,
it was this federal money, not state support or tuition.
The state was broke and most people in this part
of the world had very little
if any money left after the civil war.
It was the Federal money in the last half of the 19th century
that actually saved UGA.
The final 2 decades of that century according
to Dyer saw a college under siege.
Agricultural entries question, the institution's commitments
to the needs of the state's vast farming community,
we still hear that some.
Denominationalists challenged the very moral core
of the educational process, we hear that some.
Regional Political Forces began to lobby successfully
for branch campuses in locations like Milledgeville.
Agricultural extensions were established in 1872 in Cuthbert
and Thomasville, both of those closed within 20 years.
Dyer writes that these campuses had been awarded with no regard
for the difficulty and funding such operations
and with little awareness of the problems
of operating branch campuses at a great distance
from the main campus in Athens.
Additional criticism came from the proponents
of the New South vision who argued that we ought
to focus exclusively on technological education,
heard that one today, agricultural education,
teacher education et cetera.
With funding decisions like these,
an ergo curriculum decisions being made by the legislature
with no higher education oversight agency.
When UGA did not bow to the desires of one interest group,
funding would be appropriated for the establishment
of an institution that would.
Thus, this state gained a normal school at North Georgia,
the Georgia Institute of Technology,
heard of them, in 1885.
A normal and industrial college in Milledgeville,
the experiment station in Griffin
and the state normal school in Athens,
nay the Navy Supply Corps School now,
the UGA Health Sciences Campus.
So the question then of what should UGA be, is not a new one.
It's behind the framing of the charter in the language
of Abraham Baldwin whose ideas about higher education
in the 18th century in this sate, in these region prior
to the informal establishment of this country
where nothing short of radical.
These questions lie beneath the surface of the criticism
and questions of the post-civil war era when a wounded
and defeated state asked how things were ever going
to get better.
Something I suspect, many
of us have asked it in the last 2 years.
All of that drives my processes and thought processes today.
Under the leadership of Chancellor Lipscomb,
we got through the civil war.
Under the leadership of Chancellor Hill,
we migrated from the 19th to the 20th century.
And we asked now, what is UGA?
What should it be?
And I have asked those questions as a person who was charged
to leave the university from the 20th to the 21st.
The simplest, most powerful answer still is,
is that UGA is Georgia's best option in the struggle
to restore the economy.
Thanks to all of you and our colleagues all
across this campus, we have done just that despite the challenges
of the recession, declines in state budgets, rising energy
and commodity costs and other challenges.
The road to change in Georgia leads through Athens.
If we believe in the transformative power
of education, and that
such a transformation affects not just the individual
but the society in which he or she lives and works and plays
and produces and creates,
then by sheer volume the leading change agent
in this state is the University of Georgia.
The freshmen class we enrolled this year was
about 5500 students larger than we had planned for
but an indication, I believe,
that the desirability of a UGA education.
Of that 5500, about 89 percent, or 4900,
are well qualified Georgia residents.
For comparative purposes, with no aspersions,
our friends at Georgia Tech enrolled 2,650 a little less
than half of the freshmen we enrolled,
60percent of whom are Georgians.
At Emory, just 17 percent of the 1356 enrolled were Georgians.
In short, this year we enroll at UGA almost three times
as many highly qualified Georgia freshmen as they do
at Tech and Emory combined.
The future of Georgia really does reside in Athens.
Some really great state universities,
like the University of Georgia and the University
of Michigan have moved to a more national model,
with declining in-state enrollment
and a funding model heavily dependent on high tuition.
It is by conscious decision that this university has stayed
at least 80 percent Georgian across to all programs.
If we are to be the primary agent of change in Georgia,
we must continue to populate this state with people
who love Georgia, who know Georgia, and who are Georgia.
That commitment is embedded in our past,
its part of our present, it must remain
so in our future, it's part of our DNA.
It is our charge and our mission,
and we take it very seriously.
In the best of times, it is a daunting obligation.
In difficult times, it's even more challenging.
We exist by charter, by legislation, by mandate
and by mission to serve Georgia.
We will never run from that mission, never stand down from
that charge, never abandon the people of this state who need us
in a time of economic recession.
While the challenges we face do not threaten the existence
of the university as did the challenges faced
by Chancellor Lipscomb in the darkest days
of the 19th century,
these challenges the last 3 years our serious nonetheless.
We have especially endured the most difficult two years
for the university's budget since the Great Depression,
but beyond that, there are several serious issues
for which we will need help from our funding partners,
from our public and private, and from you, lest we slip back
to being a merely good university, not a great one.
First, the state funding formula must be funded fully and fairly.
While I am sympathetic to the legislature in its efforts
to prioritize the allocation of scarce resources, another year
without funding the formula will do significant damage to UGA
and to the system as a whole.
While we owe the governor another round of thanks
for including the system's formula funding request
in its full amount in his budget proposal.
I can assure you that we yet have to play strong defense
to protect that effort throughout the
legislative session.
When the increase in the formula was not funded
at all last year alone, it meant the loss
of 15 million dollars at UGA.
That pattern is clearly not sustainable.
Second, we must and the people hearing this hear me clearly,
we absolutely must have help on faculty and stuff salaries.
I have made the case in Atlanta, in Atlanta to the point
that some members of the legislature run
when they see me coming.
I chase some of them down.
They need to know that we have lost ground
to our peer institutions, our aspirational institutions
and our competitors, both domestic and global especially
in the last two years.
For when UGA loses ground, Georgia loses ground,
and none of us can afford that.
One of the strongest statements of the commitment
of these great places, faculty and staff to the mission
of this place is the continued high level of productivity
over the past two years despite the recession, despite the lack
of a salary increase pool, despite the increase work load
as a result of unfilled positions,
I can not tell you how deeply grateful I am to each
of you for your commitment.
Some said it's simply a time to be thankful to have a job
and there's some truth in that.
But the University of Georgia operates in a global market
for both faculty and staff,
and that market is not satisfied to stand stable.
Thirdly, a successful as we have been, we're going to
yet more have to call a more help from our alumni.
Now, 280,000 strong,
with thousands added each year and from our friends.
Our most pressing need is a significant infusion of current
and endowed funds to support faculty positions,
with an equal commitment to funding student scholarships
and graduate fellowships.
I am proud that over the past 15 years, we have move
from 92 endowed positions to 219 [coughs] but that is not enough.
In fact, we could use twice that many.
The number of student aid applications we received has
increase 34 percent in the past 5 years, with two-thirds
of that growth occurring in the past two years.
UGA families in many cases are hurting,
and we need to help them achieve the dream of a UGA education.
Our friends, alumni, the UGA Foundation
and the governor have come together
to provide what should be our signal capital accomplishment
of 2012, the Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital.
Contributions for many friends who support this project
and its importance to Georgia, include a significant grant
from the Woodruff Foundation, thousands of other gifts
and the governor's inclusion of 52.3 million
in his capital budget that should let us
yet see the groundbreaking for this 80 million dollar facility
at the corner of College Station
in Barnett Shoals roads before 2012 is complete.
Fourth, we must remain and diligent self examination,
well I believe a flagship should provide the broadest curriculum
in this state, the full symphony, as I've said.
We do not fulfill our obligation to the state
if we do not ask the necessary and often difficult questions
about what we do, and how we do it.
Those states should include-- those questions should include
but are not limited to enrollment and in mission size,
placement of students, the quality and qualities
of the student buddy, student satisfaction,
scholarly production, teaching effectiveness and proficiency,
meaningful service to the state, and research productivity.
That is what mature, confident, self-assured institutions do,
they question, "How can we do it better?"
Finally, as I begin, we must remain true to our roots
and to our heritage as the first state chartered university
in America, out of state in international students,
will always be welcome here and will always be an important part
of the UGA family, this year they come from every state
and from 121 foreign countries, but the flagship is supposed
to be reflective of its home state, its supposed
to be the place that sets the academic standard for the state,
a standard that demands strong college, preparatory curriculum
in Georgia's high schools.
We must continue to say to the people of this state
that we will not tolerate the existence of any program
that is not first class nor the homogenization of standards
across the state, these are tall challenges in tough times,
but we faced more difficult challenges together
in our 227 years.
And we've overcome them all, the civil war, societal change,
world wars, the great depression, desegregation,
and this latest great recession.
So too will we not simply overcome what faces us
in the future we will thrive, the best years
for this place are ahead of us, not behind us
and I relish your partnership in this great venture.
Thanks very much.
[ Applause ]