Office of the Chancellor > Speeches, Columns and Letters > 2007 New Student Convocation

New Student Convocation
August 24, 2007

Chancellor Peterson speaks at the 2007 New Student Convocation

Good morning! I'm very pleased to welcome you, the class of 2011, to the University of Colorado at Boulder, your new home away from home.

I want to extend my appreciation to Kevin MacLennan and his staff in the Office of Admissions for their tireless efforts to successfully recruit such a wonderful and talented class. You are each part of one of the largest, best qualified and most diverse classes in the history of CU, and 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, but I also recognize that while it is exciting and new, with that newness comes some uncertainty.

For most of you, this is an entirely new experience. You are away from home for more than a few days, perhaps for the first time. You are surrounded by people you do not know, from places you have never heard of. Your room in the residence hall looks different from your room back home, perhaps smaller—and you have to share with someone!

W.E. B. DuBois, the great civil rights activist and educator, describes the college experience this way, "Not a dream, but a mighty reality—a glimpse of the higher life, the broader possibilities of humanity, which is granted to those persons who, amid the rush and roar of living, pause four short years to learn what living really means."

Today marks an important milestone in your life. You are beginning a transformational time, one where you can grow, meet new people, explore new things and find yourself.

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 to be here as we are to have you, and to be starting a new chapter in your lives here at CU.

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

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.

Last week we dedicated a newly renovated Farrand Field, a wonderful place in the heart of the campus that is already alive with activity. In a few weeks, we will be formally opening the Koelbel Building, the building that houses the Leeds School of Business, and soon we will start construction of the Visual Arts Complex. None of this would have been possible without the support you and your classmates 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 commitment.

There are many other exciting things that are happening around campus. In the coming months we will start the renovation of Ketchum and Eckley, and just last week the Board of Regents approved a new Center for Community that will have a new dining facility and will also help to consolidate our student services.

The Residence Halls Association is hosting the second 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.

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 you determine what values are most important, and how you will use this opportunity to shape your future. At CU 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 national 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, differing 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 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. I encourage you to get involved. This is a big place and that is good because it offers you a tremendous breadth of opportunities, but involvement in these types of activities will help make it feel like home more quickly.

It is important that in addition to asking yourself, "What does it mean to be a student at CU?" that you ask yourself, "What is it 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 and what it is that you want to accomplish during your 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 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. Make the most of it.

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