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Recently Chancellor Herman spoke to faculty,
staff, students and community members at the YMCA's Know
Your University Speaker Series held each fall. I thought
you would be interested in some
of his words, that will guide the evolution of the campus
in the coming years.
"You know that higher education
in America’s public research universities is in a period
of upheaval and that a new order of excellence will eventually
emerge. It is not up to the institution to assure that
when the dust has settled the U of I will rank among the
nation’s preeminent universities—it is up to all of you,
and me, and Joe White. And the men and women who make
the phones work.
We are the sentinels of our generation.
It is our watch.
President White’s framework for long-term
strategic planning is the first step in what must be an
unvarnished evaluation of how well we do all that we do—from
academic programs and departments, to front-line student
services, to high-level administration. We will look hard
and steady at ourselves in the mirror. From this unflinching
self-examination will emerge a community vision and a
practical plan for achieving what must forever be our
singular shared goal: excellence.
We must declare excellence our ordinary
and only standard.
That means we must all be better at what
we do. Excellent programs must inch closer to unachievable
perfection."
As the College of Business community focuses
its attention on the strategic planning process, we are
guided by Chancellor Herman's words and the vision of President
White.
In Business, we will continue to have excellence
as our standard.
Sincerely,
Avijit Ghosh
Dean
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