Academic Year 2006-07

The beginning of a new academic year offers a moment for reflection and anticipation. This year it is a joy to do that.

We look forward to another outstanding year at NYU – a year in which our faculty will continue to advance the frontiers of knowledge through their research, a year in which our students will share in that process in and out of the classroom, and a year in which our entire University community will participate in the unique interplay of our University with the city and world in which it thrives. I welcome all of you to be a part of this great effort.

NYU is honored to count you among its ranks. Each of you – new students, returning students, members of the faculty, devoted administrators – is a person of talent and achievement. Your ambition and skills could have carried you anywhere, but you have chosen to come here to make your contribution, and we are humbled by your decision. Together, we form a great assemblage of scholars and learners situated in the greatest city of our age. The important conversations and issues of the day – be they civic, academic, political, economic, or otherwise – course across our campus like electric current.

As members of this wonderful community, we are privileged to live the life of the mind. And with this privilege comes responsibilities. Not just personal responsibilities– to fulfill the promise of our talent, to repay the efforts and sacrifices made by others that have brought us to this place in life – not even just communal responsibilities to the other members of the NYU community, but responsibilities to the world at large.

Perhaps as never before, the world is in need of your talents, energy, and commitment. This year marks the fifth anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001 – events that reshaped the world and that were felt profoundly on this campus. Those events were shocking, not just for the extent of the violence, destruction, and hatred, but because they were so unexpected. The attack left us with so many new questions about the world we inhabit, which seemed much more dangerous and mysterious on September 12th than it had on September 10th.

It is in the nature of universities and their scholars to pursue the seemingly incomprehensible, opaque, and inexplicable and, in so doing, to advance human knowledge. We accomplish this through a passion for ideas – even unpopular or idiosyncratic ideas – through a commitment to free speech and exchange, through a willingness to be open-minded, and through intellectual rigor.

In the first moments on that September morning in 2001, we saw men and women (including many from our NYU community) act with breathtaking valor, compassion, and resiliency. When the smoke cleared and help was needed, the people of this city rushed in, not out. That was true of this campus as well – the NYU community manifested steadfastness and strength. It augurs well for our future, because the lesson learned in those days is that effort can make even the most daunting tasks possible, so long as we think creatively, act courageously, and commit wholeheartedly.

When I look at the NYU community, I see that happening here. I see outstanding faculty turning their attention to new and enduring problems – like those working as part of our Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response who are exploring how cities respond to catastrophic events, or those in our economics department who are examining the most effective use of foreign aid in developing nations, or those in the law school who explore the balance between individual rights and national security, or those in the Steinhardt School seeking to understand how to improve teaching and learning in public schools or how behavior and HIV infection intersect, or those in the medical school that are leading the effort to improve child mental health in New York State or to create vaccines for HIV or cancer, or those in our dental and nursing colleges who are creating new roles for dentists and nurses in providing more comprehensive health care, or those in our social work school who seek ways to reduce domestic violence, or those in our Courant Institute who are attempting to better model our global climate. This list goes on in scores of other important and inspiring efforts.

I see promising students charting courses for themselves – such as the increasing numbers who are majoring in Middle Eastern studies or are studying Arabic, who set aside thousands of hours each week to volunteer for community service, who assist the indigent in achieving justice, or who dedicate themselves to changing the future in our social entrepreneurship programs – that will enable them to grapple better with the most pressing issues of the day upon graduation.

I see administrators and staff devote themselves, day in and day out, not only to ensuring that NYU’s research and educational missions are fulfilled, but also to addressing exigencies successfully, such as the admission of some 100 students displaced from the Gulf Coast by Katrina last fall. In this regard, I am delighted to welcome my colleague, Michael Alfano, to his new post as executive vice president. Together with Provost David McLaughlin and Sr. Vice President for Health Robert Berne, we have in place a talented team devoted to advancing our academic goals.

Finally, I see a University – through the creation of new campuses and programs on new continents – seeking to ensure that the crucial opportunity for a global education is made available to every student in order to prepare him or her to live a life and make contributions in a global world.

As the University begins classes this week, I can report that we are making great strides, setting the stage for the outstanding new academic year that lies before us:

• The dramatic expansion of the arts and science faculty under the Partners Initiative has continued apace, with over 50 outstanding new faculty members joining us in just one year; at the same time, the other schools of the University each have had their own stories of success on this front.
• We enjoyed a record year in admissions, we continued our major new initiatives to enhance student life, both in the residence halls and generally, and our students now are enjoying the benefits of the new 20,000-square-foot Wasserman Center for Career Development in the Palladium.
• As a general matter, we have continued to upgrade the quality of the space in which we live and conduct our academic programs, with projects ranging from the new residence hall on 12th Street (for which ground has just been broken) to renovated space in several of our schools and new space (either recently occupied or soon to be completed) for several departments, including (just to name a few) biology, creative writing, economics, journalism, philosophy, and physics, to aggressive exploration – in collaboration with the Faculty Senators Council – of innovative programs to expand faculty housing.
• We have just completed our most successful fundraising year ever: NYU raised $391 million during the academic year ending August 31, 2006, including, notably, $60 million for financial aid through our 175th anniversary initiative.
• And, while all of this was transpiring at our Washington Square campus, we have also been advancing our global efforts: this fall we will open new study abroad programs in Paris and Shanghai, and we continue to look for opportunities and partners for major new international initiatives.

I wish that each of us, as we walk to our class or laboratory or office, will reflect upon how we can help NYU contribute to crafting a future characterized by peace, justice, and prosperity. With all the intellectual energy and talent and creativity in our midst, I feel certain that trenchant questions and thoughtful answers will be forthcoming. I wish all of you a happy Labor Day Weekend, and a successful, safe, and healthy year.