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Delivered April 16, 2025

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

Those words have held true since Nelson Mandela shared them with the world after spending 27 years in South African prisons. Despite his imprisonment, Mandela never lost hope that reconciliation, education and compassion would lead to a just and prosperous future.

In fact, throughout history, from Confucius to Socrates, from Thomas Paine to Eleanor Roosevelt to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the world’s greatest thinkers, leaders and visionaries have shared the common belief that human progress is a result of education.

At ��ƷSM����ӰƬ, education is not merely something we do or offer. It’s not static. Rather, it is active, dynamic and transformational across our campus.

We are here:

Not just to teach, but to empower
Not just to research, but to imagine.
Not just to learn, but to lead.

Not to fear change, but to drive change.

We create knowledge. We share it. We apply it. Then—because progress demands it—we question it.

We challenge everything we think we know, and we begin again.

We do this because “education ... can change the world.”

I thank you for being with us today, and for everything you do to make the ��ƷSM����ӰƬ a place where teaching and learning and research come to life every day.

Thank you, Professor Dimidjian, for the kind introduction, and thank you to Jessica Sandoval for introducing our distinguished guests. Thank you, Dania Arayssi, for reading the Land Acknowledgement, reminding us of our connection to the past and our commitments to the future.

In addition to those already acknowledged this morning, I want to offer a special thank you to Chancellor Emeritus Phil DiStefano. I am profoundly grateful for his continued contributions to ��ƷSM����ӰƬ.

I also want to recognize and commend Provost Russ Moore, whose thoughtful and judicious leadership as provost for the last 15 years has led this university to new heights. Russ, your service to ��ƷSM����ӰƬ has been exemplary, and we all owe you a debt of gratitude.

Thank you President Saliman for putting your trust in me and for your leadership at this critical time in CU’s history.

Thank you to the Regents for your enduring support of our campus, our people and our mission.

And finally, a thank you to the students, faculty and staff, alumni, donors and communities, who have welcomed me with open arms and opened my eyes to the wonder of this place.

The University of Colorado was founded in Boulder in 1876, and as we begin our 150th year, it is a truly humbling honor to serve as your 12th chancellor.

Because of its people, because of you, ��ƷSM����ӰƬ IS a place for discovery, for building community, for personal growth and for transformation—and when all of these are aligned—for a true and lasting impact on the local, state and global communities.

Thanks to you and your great work, I am here to say something that bears repeating time and again:

��ƷSM����ӰƬ is strong.

Yes, even now.

Especially now.

��ƷSM����ӰƬ’s strength is grounded in our vision:

To be a leader in identifying and addressing the humanitarian, social and technological challenges of the 21st century.

Why do I believe we are so strong and well-positioned when it feels like higher education is under attack and our society is facing so many serious challenges?

We are strong because ��ƷSM����ӰƬ is no ordinary university.

More students than ever are choosing to apply to ��ƷSM����ӰƬ because they want what only we offer.

First-year undergraduate applications are up 5.9% over this time last year, and the total number of applications is now double the number we received in 2018.

We are attracting some of the most brilliant minds from Colorado, across the United States, and around the globe.

Our students are awesome! Retention and graduation rates are on the rise, with our first-year cohort reaching a 90% second-fall retention rate for the first time on record.

Always striving, always evolving, always reaching, we are making adjustments to ensure further progress across all demographics.

Our research and creative work shape the future of science, technology, arts, humanities, education and law, while changing our world in ways that only a few years ago seemed unimaginable.

Last year, ��ƷSM����ӰƬ charted a record $742 million dollars in research funding while launching an unprecedented 35 startups—placing us among the most entrepreneurial campuses in the country.

Over the last seven years, our scholars published more than 800 books, 1,400 book chapters and about 47,000 journal articles.

��ƷSM����ӰƬ scholars also created more than 2,400 theatrical, musical, dance, or art performances; 900 exhibitions in galleries or museums; and more than 300 plays, poems or works of fiction. Our brilliant community has received more than 630 patents.

We thrive because we are a destination of choice for great academic minds. For example, the Center for African and African American Studies just recruited its first Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Scholar, Umniya Najaer, from Stanford.

The College of Music recently hired Michael Uy from Harvard to lead the American Music Research Center.

And this summer, Amanda Haertling Thein will join us from the University of Iowa as our new dean of the School of Education.

And as I look around this room, I see even more examples of truly outstanding faculty and staff who have chosen to make ��ƷSM����ӰƬ their academic home.

We thrive because we have great people working together in a culture of shared governance with a commitment to constructive dialogue to solve tough problems together.

We thrive because we are unwavering in our commitment to academic freedom and free expression.

Let me repeat: we are unwavering in our commitment to academic freedom and free expression.

Yet, we also strive to be respectful and understand there is a time, a place and a manner to express ourselves so that we do not disrupt teaching and learning, research and administrative functions, nor cause fear nor harm to others.

We thrive when we invest in holistic student success, faculty creativity, knowledge transfer, campus safety, affordable housing, and technologies that help our employees work more efficiently.

We thrive through the generosity of our supporters.  We are on track for a record-breaking fundraising year, with $163 million dollars in new pledges since July. This is our strongest fundraising year since 2019, when the Renee Crown Wellness Institute was generously endowed and began its amazing work.

Although we are strong and moving aggressively toward our goals, we are not without challenges.

The landscape is shifting. Emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence; evolving student expectations and needs; and changes to the paradigm of federal support for research and federal attitudes towards international students all necessitate agility.

We are facing new policy mandates, rapidly evolving geopolitics, the refashioning of college athletics, and much more.

Our enterprise is being pushed and pulled in new and surprising ways.

We know we need to continue improving faculty, staff and graduate student salaries.

We know we need to address access and affordability for students from all backgrounds— ensuring they can attend and succeed at ��ƷSM����ӰƬ.

We know we have work to do to create environments that value a diversity of experiences, identities, and perspectives.

I want all of our communities at ��ƷSM����ӰƬ to know that you matter.

I see you.

I support you.

I recognize that society’s burdens are not equally shared.

We live in challenging times, but we are no stranger to challenges. In our 149 years as a leading university, we have faced the impacts of wars, economic crises, seismic political shifts, social upheaval, natural disasters, global pandemics, and many fundamental cultural changes.

Every time, we have met the challenge of change.

We have thrived by turning challenges into opportunities.

And we will again, while always remaining true to our mission.

We are proud to be the flagship campus for the CU system and for higher education across Colorado.

We are a powerful, AAU research university with global impact.

We will not allow external forces to define us.

We will embrace our leadership role and take this moment to redefine ourselves.

While our mission and vision are not changing, how we meet our mission and pursue that vision are evolving.

Let’s rise up to this opportunity and meet this moment head-on by focusing on four core priorities.

First and foremost, our students.

As the world changes, our students’ perspectives and priorities change with it. All ��ƷSM����ӰƬ degrees should continue to provide an unmatched competitive advantage for every graduate.

While we focus on the overall student experience, we must improve our retention and graduation rates across ALL demographics, and in particular, our four-year graduation rate.

Our current rate of 59.2% is an improvement and exceeds that of many of our national peers. But that still means that 4 out of 10 students who enroll at ��ƷSM����ӰƬ do not hold a degree after four years.

An additional 15% earn their degrees a year or two later, and we will continue working to improve our six-year graduation rate as well.

But some will leave us with student debt yet no degree.

We cannot control all the factors that impact a student’s decision to leave before earning a degree, so let’s focus on the factors we can control.

The ingredients for student success are interconnected, so we must focus on supporting students academically, socially and emotionally. That’s why I have charged Professor Sona Dimidjian and the Crown Institute with leading a student health, wellness and flourishing initiative to be co-designed with students and many campus partners.

The initiative is launching this spring, and I thank Professor Dimidjian and the Crown Institute team for taking on this critical challenge.

A second core priority is sustainability and securing the future.

Our faculty, staff and students are committed to ensuring that human life thrives on this planet and that every person has the opportunity to create a life worth living.

We recently welcomed Andrew Mayock as our inaugural Vice Chancellor for Sustainability and Jane Zelikova as the first-ever Executive Director of our Sustainability Research Initiative.

I look forward to the bold leadership they will bring, advancing our commitment to our collective future.

They join a campus already offering more than 400 courses related to sustainability, a core part of the emerging common curriculum across all majors.

��ƷSM����ӰƬ has been the launchpad for at least 44 sustainability spinoff companies since 2000.

We are proud to have a No. 1 rating for plant-based dining; and we are home to more than 30 campus buildings classified as LEED Gold or Platinum.

CU is guiding water policy across the American West and helping communities rebuild from disasters with greater resilience while proving that economic and ecological benefits can exist, hand-in-hand.

We will continue pushing the envelope of energy innovation, developing cleaner, more efficient options to support our future economy.

Our faculty are creating the new sustainability-related educational opportunities our students want and need and that their future employers seek.

By doing so, we ensure Colorado’s long-term success, because we know a sustainable world is not in opposition to a strong economy, but an essential ingredient of one.

Our third priority is opportunity through expanded access and inclusion.

As Colorado’s flagship campus and a nationally recognized institution with a global population, we must reflect and support the people we serve.

This means all of Colorado, all Coloradans, and all our communities.

Our mission is to serve, respect and welcome everyone, regardless of politics, race, age, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, pregnancy, disability, nationality, religion, creed, or military or veteran status.

Urban, suburban and rural.

From longtime Coloradans to first-generation immigrants to international scholars.

Everyone means everyone.

If you want to advance your life trajectory while contributing to the mission and vision of the University of Colorado, you belong here.

You are a Buff.

Now is the time to expand our global presence.

I have asked Vice Chancellor Ann Schmiesing, Vice Chancellor D’Andra Mull and Professor Seth Marder to lead an effort, assisted by external expertise, focused on how we can most effectively elevate our university’s global impact.

We want to lead in sending our students out into the world.

We want to ensure that international students and scholars are supported, valued, and respected.

We also recognize the evolving needs of our changing student populations; going forward, the student health insurance plan will include an option for family coverage.

By focusing on actions both large and small, local and global, we will ensure that education is more available and accessible than ever before at ��ƷSM����ӰƬ and that the impact of our scholarly work reaches all corners of the globe.

Finally, we live excellence every day.

We know that excellence is not an aspiration.

Excellence is an expectation, an everyday reality and a guiding principle.

We demonstrate excellence when our faculty, researchers, students, staff and programs earn national and international recognition.

This academic year, three of our faculty members—Roselinde Kaiser, Adam Kaufman, and Jerome Fox—earned the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

Professor Kristi Anseth won the 2024 vinfuture Special Prize for Women Innovators.

Library staff member Erin Block earned the 2024 Colorado Book Award for her debut poetry collection, How You Walk Alone in the Dark.

And these are only a few examples of the acclaim our faculty receive.

Their recognitions reflect much more than academic excellence. They reflect the profound impact CU has on the everyday lives of millions of folks around the globe.

Excellence is seen on the training grounds for our ROTC cadets and midshipmen.

Our Air Force ROTC, Detachment 105, ranks in the top 10% of all detachments nationwide.

Our Naval ROTC produces more Navy seals and pilots on average than any school outside of the Naval Academy.

This year, one Army ROTC cadet, a proud member of the Golden Buffalo Battalion, ranked #3 nationally out of more than 5,000 cadets.

Excellence is seen in our student-athletes’ academic success. The Buffs earned an all-time record GPA last fall and set a new record for department cumulative GPA at 3.254.

One of our student athletes was an academic All-American in football—Travis Hunter, who also happened to win the Heisman Trophy.

Excellence is the fifth-generation Buff, who is keeping a family legacy alive while building the life they want to lead, and it is the first-generation Buff, who has been dreaming of attending ��ƷSM����ӰƬ and now has the opportunity of a lifetime.

Excellence is connecting students to the distant past with the Museum of Natural History’s fossil kits. A special thank-you to Jim Hakala, who was instrumental in developing these kits reaching more than 60,000 students—and is preparing to retire after 25 years.

Excellence is the great work of our legal clinics, providing experiential learning to law students while supporting faculty, staff, students and the community.

Their work today is as critical as ever and we continue to invest in them.

Excellence is simply who we are. We are driven by our own high standards.

I started this morning by saying that ��ƷSM����ӰƬ is strong—in countless ways.

We are strong because of our leadership development programs that impact approximately 12,000 students every year.

We are strong because of our more than 5,000 dedicated staff members, who show up every day to support our campus, our faculty and ALL our students in countless ways and who are constantly seeking ways to improve how we do business.

We are strong because our top-tier artistic and cultural ecosystem helped bring the Sundance Film Festival to Boulder—Robert Redford, welcome home!

We are strong because we are the epicenter of innovation in quantum science and technology, a hub for advancements in human health and biosciences, and the launchpad to Colorado’s aerospace ecosystem.

We are strong because we do not just talk about freedom of speech, we live freedom of speech, exploring challenging questions through communities like the Benson Center, the Center for African and African American Studies, the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies, and in our classrooms and public spaces every day.

We may not always agree with each other.

In our efforts to be heard, we may misunderstand, overreact, or say or do something we regret.

Free expression is a garden that needs constant tending, and our ability to disagree constructively, with respect and compassion, strengthens us all.

We are strong because the spirit of Colorado and the spirit of ��ƷSM����ӰƬ are one and the same.

Pioneering and innovative, grounded in a strong sense of community, proud of our many cultures and traditions, and deeply respectful of our state’s natural beauty and natural resources.

Our strength is rooted here in the Centennial State, and it crosses boundaries and borders to connect all people.

Colleagues and friends, transforming higher education will not be easy, but it is imperative.

Although there are some who may doubt or diminish us,

We stand for our vision and the opportunity to turn our mission into reality.

We stand for our students, whomever they are. Wherever they come from. For their futures and for the generations to come.

We stand for knowledge, opportunity and the power of education to transform lives.

We stand for our state, our planet and our tomorrow.

We stand for each other, for humanity and for the collective purpose that binds us all.

To everyone in this room and listening in today—thank you.

Your work fuels this university, our purpose, and our mission.

Today, we begin writing the next chapter of ��ƷSM����ӰƬ.

Let us shape what comes next, together. And let us begin now.

Thank you.