Hello, students,
colleagues, friends and everyone in this wonderful
Florida Atlantic University community that’s
become a real family to so many of us.
I’m coming to you today with news that I
couldn’t have predicted just a few weeks ago:
I’ll soon be leaving FAU to become chancellor
of the State University System. I hope you
had the opportunity to read the letter I sent to
the university community on Friday evening when the
Florida Board of Governors made their decision, but
I also wanted to come to you personally to explain
how this opportunity developed for me and why I
decided to accept it.
First of all, let me say that serving as the
president of Florida Atlantic University for the
past six-and-a-half years has been the greatest
privilege of my life, and I mean that quite
literally. FAU is more than a university to
me; it’s my alma mater, the school that gave
me an outstanding graduate education, launching me
on a career that exceeded my wildest expectations
and – I sincerely hope – put me in a
position to render service to the people of
Florida.
That career has opened the most amazing doors
for me, as I’ve served as a public school
teacher, a principal, a superintendent of schools,
Florida’s commissioner of education and
lieutenant governor, and, since 2003, president of
this fine university. Believe me, I’m
not indulging in false modesty when I say that
earlier in my life I never could have imagined that
the son of a widowed mother who struggled to
support six children could have walked this path.
And now another door is opening, one that will take
me away from FAU, at least in the physical
sense.
As chancellor of our 11 outstanding state
universities, I’ll work closely with the
Board of Governors to provide leadership that will
help guide the growth of a system of higher
education that’s already beginning to claim a
place of distinction on the national
stage.
Here at FAU, we can all be tremendously proud
of the advances we’ve achieved together,
including our very promising research partnerships
with Scripps, Torrey Pines and Max Planck, our
four-year medical education program, our merger
with Harbor Branch, our steadily increasing
academic standards, our leadership in sustainable
construction . . . and so much more. These are very
meaningful accomplishments, and there’s a lot
more to come. Frankly, I was planning on
leading that charge into the future until I was
approached by a number of people serving throughout
the state who urged me to consider applying for the
chancellorship. After long thought and
discussions with those closest to me, beginning, of
course, with my wife Courtney, I decided to explore
this opportunity, which would allow me to apply the
lessons I’ve learned here at FAU to benefit
all of our state universities.
And so I did apply, and I was fortunate
enough to be selected to take on this new
challenge. It’s easy to say that my
heart will always be here at FAU, but I think you
know me well enough by now to understand I really
mean that. Courtney and I have had a
wonderful experience here, and we’ll always
be grateful for the gifts FAU has given us.
We’ve been part of a community of dedicated
and talented people, we’ve made friendships
that we’ll cherish forever, and we welcomed
our son, Colby John, into the world here. In
many ways, FAU will always be home to us. On behalf
of Courtney, Colby John and myself, I’d like
to say thank you, thank you so very much, for all
you’ve done to make us feel so welcome and so
genuinely appreciated during our time at
FAU.
Please understand that this isn’t
goodbye. We’ll be here with you through
the start of the fall semester, when my new job
will begin in Tallahassee. Until then,
we’ll be participating in life at FAU as
usual, and I hope I get the chance to talk to you
personally at some point.
The strengths that I’ll bring to my role
as chancellor will be due in large part to the
knowledge and skills I’ve developed while
serving as president of this incredible
university. FAU will always be part of me, and
I’ll always be part of FAU. Thank you
again, from the bottom of my heart, for all the
support and encouragement you’ve given me as
I’ve done my best to lead FAU into what
promises to be the most exciting chapter in its proud
history. FAU will ALWAYS be MY UNIVERSITY!
Florida
Atlantic University is a public university that
currently serves 27,000 undergraduate and graduate
students on seven campuses in South Florida. Since
its founding in 1961, FAU has awarded degrees to more
than 100,000 alumni, and I am very proud to count
myself among them.
Like
today's students, I found FAU's faculty second to
none in excellence of classroom teaching and
mentorship of students. This truly outstanding
community of scholars makes the university experience
come alive for students, broadening their horizons in
a multitude of ways.
Though
less than 50 years old, FAU is already claiming a
place among America's most productive research
universities. Discoveries are being made today in FAU
laboratories that will add to the arsenal of
diagnostic and treatment tools used in the battle
against cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's disease
and a host of other deadly illnesses.
It is
my great privilege to lead Florida Atlantic
University during this period of transformative
growth and progress.
