Returning to the University of Chicago as the next president is a very special homecoming
for me.
I've spent the last 40 years at another one of the world's great
universities, the University of California, Berkeley.
I will always cherish my years there.
There's only one place I would leave Berkeley for, and that is the University of Chicago.
As an undergraduate there, I was challenged and inspired in my common core classes, and
in other classes that I took afterwards in the Humanities and Social Sciences, where
we learn to grapple with problems that are genuinely important, but have no simple solutions.
I also learned skills that have served me through all of the aspects of my life-- as
a human being, as a citizen, as a scientist, and skills that will be invaluable to me as
I serve you as the next president.
One moment from my undergraduate time there stands out in my mind, a math class taught
by a certain Professor Robert Zimmer.
I still recall him energetically racing through a proof at the blackboard and, covered in
the chalk as he completed it, he turned with a big smile to us.
He was celebrating that he was teaching us not what to think, but how to think.
I never could have imagined at that time that I could be his successor as president.
Ed Levi, Hanna Gray, Hugo Sonnenschein, Don Randel, Bob Zimmer-- each one of those presidents
honored and built on the distinctive traditions and style of UChicago.
The combination of intellectual rigor, a joy in discovery and new ideas, and a fierce commitment
to free speech and vigorous debate.
That special combination that anyone anywhere will recognize as UChicago.
I start in this role with a deep reverence and a lot of excitement about the comprehensive
breadth and excellence that I see all across the University of Chicago, but also with a
real sense of ambition.
I see a University of Chicago poised to do so much more.
I can't wait to work with faculty and campus leaders, undergraduates, graduate students,
professional and doctoral.
I want to meet the many wonderful staff and hear from you, and of course, alumni and friends.
The University of Chicago and the city of Chicago, the metropolis of Chicago, have grown
up together.
They can renew and reinforce each other.
I'm especially eager to learn more and to build on the partnerships with all the neighboring
communities, especially around the entire South side of Chicago.
This is a special moment.
There are crises in public health, social, racial, environmental, and political crises.
It's also a time of enormous technological upheaval and a time of so many discoveries.
All of this brings to mind the importance of the seal of the University of Chicago--
"Crescat scientia vita excolatur."
Let's recommit and renew the meaning of that seal.
Let's grow knowledge together.
And let's ensure every way that we can that it helps human life to improve.
Thank you.