Greetings:
I am pleased to extend a warm welcome and grateful thanks as we celebrate this first week of the 2014-15 academic year. While the business of the university never rests, and the work of Vanderbilt University Medical Center continues around the clock and throughout the year, as we begin the fall semester there is something strong and powerful in harnessing the full human potential of almost 13,000 students and more than 24,000 faculty and staff striving toward the achievement of personal and shared goals. From Vanderbilt students engaged in discovery and the creation of new ideas—to faculty and staff teams connecting across disciplinary borders to solve the challenges facing our greater society—we are all joined in our belief of improving ourselves and serving our world.
Vanderbilt continues to move forward with our Academic Strategic Plan. To learn how we will build on our considerable strengths in the undergraduate residential experience; trans-institutional programs; health care solutions; and educational technologies, I encourage you to visit the Academic Strategic Plan website and read the plan, which was drafted by the executive co-chairs and the strategic planning committees and recently affirmed by our Board of Trust. This strategic planning effort, which began last summer, arose from countless conversations among faculty, students and staff. Its bottom up process is unique not only for its inclusion of so many voices, but also in how it has developed innovative ideas that will shape Vanderbilt’s future. In the coming months and years, we will implement the plan’s goals by investing in these ideas, our people, and our collaborative culture.
At heart, it is our people who are the true essence of what Vanderbilt represents and the potential that we offer to the world. Guided by our principles of respect for one another and the importance of our mission, we are poised for an exciting year filled with extraordinary promise for achievement and progress. I consider it a great honor to lead and serve this remarkable university, and I look forward to our bright future for the road ahead.
Sincerely,
Nicholas S. Zeppos
Chancellor