Office of the Chancellor > Speeches, Columns and Letters > 2006 New Student Convocation

New Student Convocation
August 25, 2006

Good morning! I’m very pleased to welcome you, the class of 2010 to the University of Colorado at Boulder, your new home away from home.

I want to extend my appreciation to Ryan, Admissions Director Kevin MacLennan, and all of the dedicated Admissions staff for their tremendous efforts to successfully recruit such a wonderful and talented class. We’re glad you’re here.

This is one of my favorite times of year—I love the excitement of starting a new fall semester, And like you, I’m relatively new to the Boulder campus. I started as Chancellor on July 15th, so today marks the completion of my 6th week.

A University like this is comprised of many things, but like any organization, the most important aspect is the people. This is a wonderful place with more than 7,200 faculty, staff and support personnel, all here to help you have a safe, exciting, challenging and informative college experience. I hope you are as excited as i am to be here and to be starting a new chapter in our lives here at CU-Boulder.

I chose to come to CU-Boulder for many of the same reasons I suspect you did:  To live, to learn and to work in a challenging and high-quality academic environment, one that will stretch me and challenge me, and one surrounded by the great majesty and beauty of the Rocky Mountains.

This is a transformational time in your life, one where you can grow, meet new people, explore new things, and find yourself. As the Flagship University for the State of Colorado and one of the finest comprehensive research universities in the country, we have an excellent faculty engaged in groundbreaking research and innovative teaching; an enormously talented student body with a strong sense of social consciousness; and a beautiful campus that rivals any in the world.

There are many, many new experiences for you to explore here, both inside and outside of the academic environment. As a group you have tremendous abilities and power and can impact this University in ways that are unimaginable – for example, your predecessors had the foresight to put in place a Capital Construction Fee that provided the enabling funding for a number of new buildings.
 
In a few weeks, we will be opening one of these, the new Wolf Law Building and a month later the new ATLAS Building - a technology-enhanced teaching and learning center for the entire campus. We have started the renovation and expansion of the building that houses the Leeds School of Business and will soon start construction of the Visual Arts Complex – none of this would have been possible without the support you and your class mates are providing and I thank you and those that went before you for this. I look around and think what a different place this would be if your predecessors had not had the foresight and wisdom to make this comittment.

There are many other exciting things that are happening around campus. In the coming months we’ll start a new renovation project to build an all-night study center at the Norlin Library so that you will have a safe and comfortable place to study around the clock – 24/7.

And Housing and Dining Services continues to work to make the halls and dining rooms as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside.

Darley North and South, at Williams Village now have new furniture, paint, window blinds, hallway carpet, and doors, and Darley Commons has added a new grab-n-go operation called the 2-1-3 and made improvements to the dining room.

The Residence Halls Association is hosting the first ever Freshmen Leadership stampede. And RHA will continue sponsoring the Shoulder-to-Shoulder campaign, focused on campus unity and promoting school pride. You’ll see many of the gold Shoulder-to-Shoulder tee shirts around campus in the coming weeks – stop these folks and introduce yourself. They are here to assist you in the transition.

These are just a few of the ways in which we are transforming the campus and providing you with the tools you need to be successful here at CU-Boulder.

As the campus is changing, so too will you change over the course of the next four years - changes that are hard for you to imagine right now. While we take our responsibilities for your growth, and your academic and personal success very seriously, the principal responsibility is yours - your success and the achievements of our community depend on you and the decisions that you will be making in the coming weeks and months.

As newcomers to this campus community, it is important that we determine what values are most important to us, how will we use this opportunity to shape our futures? At CU-Boulder, we value many things: passion for learning, respect for one another, honesty, fairness, and pride in our community, just to name a few.

Furthermore, as a major comprehensive research university, it’s vital that we nurture an inclusive environment with a diverse student body – diversity that includes geographic origin, social and economic background, race and ethnicity, sexual identity, special talents, differring viewpoints, and personal achievements. I expect, and we expect that everyone in our community will help to create and maintain an environment that welcomes others, regardless of their differences, for it is these very differences that make us stronger and make this such a unique and exciting environment.

So as you enter this university, I want you to think about what it really means to be a CU student. – you will find that CU students are adventurous and have a zest for life, a zest that is strongly influenced by the beautiful surroundings in which we find ourselves. They are change agents and quick thinkers. They are generous, caring, outgoing and friendly.

You will find that they take their education seriously and set high expectations for themselves in all their activities, and that they take responsibility for their actions.

You will find that they care about themselves and their friends, and make wise choices about their personal health and safety.

Finally, as CU students you need will want to become involved in the life of the campus, inside and outside the classroom. To that end, we offer more than 150 programs of study with 85 different undergraduate majors, and there are over 300 different clubs and organizations from which to choose.

It is important that in addition to asking yourself “what it means to be a student at CU-Boulder?” that you ask yourself “what it is that you wish to accomplish during your four short years here?”  How will you use the many opportunities available to you to grow, to stretch, and to shape your own personal future?

These are hard questions, but questions that you need to ask now and to think carefully about, because while finals seem like a long way away and graduation even further, they will both be here before you know it – so take some time, be introspective, talk with those closest to you about what it means to be a student here at CU-Boulder and what it is that you want to accomplish during yoru time here? Determine your goals, identify your aspirations and work to accomplish them.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great American essayist, philosopher and poet said, “What lies behind us and what lies before us, are small matters compared to what lies within us.”  Your college experience, your time here at CU-Boulder will be what you make of it - you will shape it, and it will shape you.

In the days and weeks ahead, remember that you are not alone here; you are part of a community, and there are many people who are committed to helping you to succeed. Don’t hesitate to ask for help or advice when you need it.

My biggest hope is that each and every one of you will excel here and that we will celebrate your commencement and graduation right here at Folsom Field in just a few short years.
You are starting down a path to become important contributors to the communities in which you will live and work. Many of you will go on to shape and change the state, the nation, and in fact the world, and you will do so because of the path you chose while here at CU-Boulder. Make the most of it.

In closing, and on behalf of the entire university, welcome to your University of Colorado at Boulder. We are glad that you are here. Thank you.