| |
|
| |
IU President Myles Brand discusses shared obligations of university and state
Sept. 25, 2001
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Indiana University President Myles Brand stressed the mutual obligations of the university and the state it serves in his annual State of the University Address, delivered Tuesday on the IUPUI campus.
"The fate of IU and Indiana are so intertwined that neither can attain its full potential without the other," Brand told the audience at the Conference Center Auditorium at IUPUI. The speech was also broadcast live on WTIU-Channel 30 and was transmitted to sites on IU's other seven campuses. The speech will be archived at broadcast.iu.edu.
IU's president traced the historical ties between the state and the university, founded by an 1820 act of the legislature. He discussed the range of obligations that IU has to the state: "to educate the state's citizens, to push forward the frontiers of knowledge, and to contribute to the state's economic prosperity and enhance the quality of life for its citizens."
Brand pointed to a number of accomplishments in each of these areas. He cited IU's recent selection by Time magazine as its College of the Year among research universities. Time based the honor on the university's programs to help freshman students make a successful transition to university life.
"Despite these efforts, and other noteworthy successes, I do not want to give the impression that our work is done. We must continue to be on the alert for new initiatives or changes in existing programs that will provide minority and first-generation students wider access and greater opportunities for success," Brand said.
IU's president also pointed to the university's research efforts and economic partnerships with business and government. Those initiatives, he said, will be instrumental in making Indiana's economy stronger and more diverse.
"Indiana University is carrying out the covenant forged two centuries ago. We are making the road to educational opportunity straight and wide for all qualified students. We are enhancing Hoosier citizens' health, well-being and quality of life. We are providing skilled talent for the 21st-century economy. And university research is fueling an engine of prosperity for the state and the nation. While we must always seek avenues for improvement, we are fulfilling our reciprocal obligations to the state," Brand said.
Brand, who became president of Indiana University in 1994, discussed the need for the state to provide adequate funding for Indiana's research campuses -- Indiana University Bloomington, IUPUI and Purdue West Lafayette -- to allow them to continue to be catalysts for economic growth.
At the beginning of his speech, IU's president talked about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., and the impact that they were having on IU's students, faculty and staff.
"We are united by our sorrow and grief over the recent terrorist attack on our nation. We are united in our determination to comfort and support one another. And we are united in our strong desire to preserve our democratic way of life and bring to justice those who are responsible for these evil acts," Brand said.
(Susan Dillman, 812-856-9035, sdillman@indiana.edu)