There's a phrase that I often return to from President William Preston Few's
inaugural address: 'Our goal must be to keep the good that has come to us from
out of the past and adjust it to the conditions and the needs of the present.
To create a shining place made strong by the courage to seek the truth and the
conviction to live it.' President Few spoke these words just over a century ago.
Within a few years and with no shortage of courage and conviction, he would
partner with James B. Duke on an outrageously ambitious project: to build
a university out of the traditions and history of Trinity College. The first
hundred years of Duke's existence is a stirring testament to their success.
Whether through our future leaders that we train in our classrooms, through the
discoveries we make in our labs, the innovative partnerships we forge in our
region or our alumni community's service to the world, we are carrying on their
rich legacy of a living commitment to the truth.
And as we turn together toward our own exciting future just five years away
from Duke's centennial, it's with the same courage and conviction that we boldly
state our own ambitions: that Duke will become nothing less than the great
University for the next hundred years. As the next great University, Duke will put
people first empowering an ever more diverse and truly exceptional community
of scholars who will grapple with the world's most pressing challenges.
Second, we will redefine teaching and learning engaging advances in technology and the
power of interdisciplinary team based and problem focused teaching to better
prepare students for a changing world. The next great University will also
cultivate a strong healthy and inclusive community of learners and doers an
example of mutual respect in a divided world. Fourth, we will seek new
opportunities for creative partnerships that can support our neighbors and help
our region thrive. And perhaps most importantly, as the next great University
we will engage our global network of alumni and Friends in a Duke without
walls, extended over space and time, investing continuously in developing
ourselves and each other to reach our full potential to advance humankind.
A century after his inauguration, President Few could scarcely have
imagined just how successful his university has been. But I think he would
have been pleased that we find ourselves on the cusp of another period of
transformation as profound as that which awaited him those decades ago.For ours
is an institution that has been ambitious from day one. And as our
success has grown, our ambition has just grown a pace. I want to make sure that
that spirit is not only retained but magnified in the years to come. And just
as President Few and James B. Duke courageously built the Duke we have
always been, I invite you to join me in turning toward the extraordinary Duke we
are destined to become.