Date: Tuesday, May 16, 2017
To: THE NYU COMMUNITY
From: NYU President Andrew Hamilton


Dear Members of the NYU Community,

Before we bid goodbye to this year’s graduates and go our separate ways for the summer holiday, I want to thank you for a wonderful year.

This was my first full year as NYU’s president; under any circumstances, it would have been exciting and full. But given what took place on the national stage and all that has followed, it was a bit of a doozy.

Regardless, we accomplished a great deal together – new efforts at affordability; a final report from the Task Force on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion; the appointment of NYU’s first Chief Diversity Officer; substantial progress on our new hub for media, technology, and the arts in Brooklyn and our new classroom/theatre/student housing/faculty housing/gym facility at 181 Mercer St.; an outstanding year for admissions.

We made our values clear – in support of science, against restrictions on immigrants, and in honor of those students, faculty, and alumni/ae who have served our country.

We gained insights – into NYU’s role as an engine of social and economic mobility, into the high regard which our students are held by employers, and into the positive manner in which our financial health is regarded.

We even re-established the Hawk Cam in time to see a baby red-tailed hawk hatch.

In coming to know the people and the academic achievements at our campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai, I could not have asked for a more wonderful year. Thank you all for your hard work.  And thank you in particular for making my wife Jennie and me feel so welcome.

To our graduates: we are very proud of you, and wish you the best of luck in all that is to come.  

And to everyone else: enjoy your summer. I look forward to seeing you again next fall.

Sincerely,

Andrew Hamilton