Student Greetings
Jan. 25, 2005
Dear MU Students:
Welcome to a new year at MU and to the contributions of our vibrant campus to a new chapter in your life. We want this to be a most exciting and challenging time for you!
This is my first opportunity as chancellor to greet you at the beginning of a semester. My wife, Anne, and I look forward to joining you in many events on campus and participating with you in open forums to discuss the future events that will shape your education and all our lives. As a University, we gather together for the common purpose of self-exploration, societal examination, and identification of the concepts and ways of thinking that will ensure you're being prepared for future jobs and for success as a citizen and leader.
Many uncertainties confront us during this period of change in our country. You must be part of the dialogue that frames critical questions of war and peace, security and justice, economic growth and fiscal responsibility, and artistic expression and scientific progress. These themes and many others will be evident in your classrooms, in student activities and in discussions with friends, families and professors.
I invite you to join us as we celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and build on his powerful message of social and intellectual diversity. As we honor his birthday, it is appropriate to recall his challenge and heed his warning: “…our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.”
You should expect to be challenged in your classrooms, in discussions with friends, and by political and social events in the broader society. Indeed, in the absence of such challenges, our University will fail to provide you with “the best education from the heart of the nation.” We will not fail you! And we are ever mindful of your parents and our University founders who struggled mightily against great odds to preserve MU — this incubator of learning and discovery that is a leader in the nation's higher educational system.
Your learning is strengthened by MU's role as a research, land grant university with a global reach. The goals of campus diversity and global outreach are fed by the transforming impulses from the arts, humanities and social sciences. Combined with interdisciplinary work in the life sciences, math and engineering, this makes MU an ideal learning environment. Our breadth and depth enables the campus to weave the strands of knowledge from the broad human experience into a fabric that enriches your dreams and aspirations. As chancellor, I look forward to hosting regular open forums on special topics of interest to our community. The first will be at 4 p.m. Feb. 17 in Ellis Library Auditorium and will focus on the recent cataclysmic effects of the earthquake and tsunamis in Asia. (Our campus memorial service will be today at noon at the Columns.)
You are truly blessed to have the opportunity to study in this environment and, through your participation, enrich all our lives. Join me in our campus efforts to make this the most exciting and rewarding time of your life.
Brady J. Deaton
Chancellor