"Some of this is philosophy, but most of this has to be practice. I decided to start out with a little bragging about this University that all of us are devoting so much energy and attention to and I thought about what are some of the current highlights." "What are some of those things that make us so great as a university and these are down here in no particular order."

• We are finally making great strides in development and fundraising. For example, the year just ended and we brought in 45% more money than we did the year before. The first quarter this year we brought in163% more money than we did the first quarter of last year. With Judyth and her staff, with our university's commitment to development we are beginning to show progress. We have to make that line steepened even more and with your help we can do that by promoting the things we can be and what we can do for the state of Alaska and beyond.
• The second thing I wrote down is that we're an incredibly powerful research engine, especially for the size university we are. Just a few weeks ago The Chronicle for Higher Education reported the top 100 universities for bringing in federal research grants and contracts. We were 95th. That's pretty good to be in the top 100. But when you take from that 100 universities with medical schools and they bring a lot of institutions with national health grants and contracts. If you remove them we then rise to the top 30 of universities in the country. If you take from the top 30 those universities that have at least 25,000 students we're right there in the top 4 with MIT, with Cal Tech, and with Case Western Reserve University. We are a remarkable research university already.
• I thought about where we are in terms of our state's standing. We're Alaska's only research university. We account for nearly 90% of all the research grants and contracts within the University of Alaska system. That makes us kind of the only player of import and significance.
• We're also the only doctoral granting university in the state. This state with 660,000 people cannot afford to have two research universities, two doctoral granting universities.
• We're Alaska's flagship university. So, we do have state standing. We need folks across the state to recognize that we are different; we stand alone in the kind of university we are, can be, and should be.
• Think about our national standing. Academic Analytics last year ranked us number 5 in the country among small research universities. They also ranked two of our programs Atmospheric Sciences and Environmental Sciences among the top 10 nationwide among all universities, small and large.
• You think about our international standing. I've been calling us and I think folks are beginning to embrace it even though it suggests that it's cold here, that we are America's arctic university. It's our claim. It's our brand. It's our identity. I've begun to have enough international interactions to recognize that maybe we just drop America's. We are the arctic university, although in Colorado they have the ice and snow research center. It's also interesting to note that Seattle has the Alaska fisheries research institute or center. We need to kind of pull back what rightfully belongs to us.
• In International Polar Year our scientists are principal investigators or co-principal investigators on 28% of the international projects dealing with International Polar Year.
• The University of the Arctic, it's a consortium of 110 entities among the eight arctic nations, including 87 colleges and universities. We have in their mind; we are the premier arctic research university, clearly. I now have the pleasure; I think it's a pleasure that has yet to be proven out, chairing the University of the Arctic. Many of our researchers, many of our folks are involved with university of the arctic. We have great international standing.
• We're moving forward with creating an international indigenous graduate institute to give us additional standing across the globe.
• I wrote down the words state engagement. We are more than the Fairbanks campus. We're more than the university of the interior. We are the prominent university across the state. Things like our arctic energy center, the Alaska Energy transportation center. Our work with climate change, adaptation, resilience to sustainability, we stand alone.

As I reflected on, shifting gears a bit, but as I reflected on what I heard from the six cochairs and from the folks behind me, I captured what to me were some of the more salient issues and observations that were made. I think these are some of the more important issues that were brought to the forefront.

I love an earlier statement that suggested that let's all make sure that what we're about, what we began early 2007 really kicked off in March of 2007, but have continued over the past several months. Let's make sure that these efforts truly translate into something that is transformational for our university. To take us from where are, which is not bad company when you look at Cal Tech and MIT and Case Western, take us to the next level so that we can be all that we might for Alaska, for the nation and internationally.

In Advancement and Philanthropy these were the exact words--create communities of passionate advocates. That's what you're about. We need ten times this amount of passionate advocates. This is a beginning. Jake suggested I was offering closing remarks, I think these are maybe the beginning remarks of what comes next. Passionate advocates. We have to spread whatever it is that exists in this room today and just transport it across the state and beyond.

Another thing, I think Mike (Mike Powers) said, this represents a quest for excellence. I might modify that a bit and say it's a quest for further excellence but we're of the same mind. That's what this is about, is taking us above and beyond where we are.

I'm going to paraphrase something Rick (Rick Caulfield) said that he drew from the working group efforts, that we're going to have to remember that our task, our responsibility, is preparing citizens for life and for work. That's what we're all about. We're about educating, training, inspiring the next generation, and generations beyond for being outstanding citizens who can contribute to their communities and to their professions.

The term engagement, it comes up so much. If we had some kind of graph that would plot the number of times any given word was used during the course of this last hour or so, I think engagement might win out. I'll offer you my own philosophy, Jake. My own definition of engagement and I borrow from the late 1990's Kellogg funded commission on the future of state universities and land grant colleges. I think it was a five or six volume set. One of them was returning to our roots and the suggestion was the whole genesis of the land grant university concept was back in the late 1800's, early 1900's when these universities were created as the people's university to engage the academic and the scholarly environment of faculty and research into meeting the needs of the people.

And engagement in my paraphrased definition is the act of involving faculty, staff, and students in reciprocal relationships with business, industry, communities, NGOs, governmental agencies, across the continuum a knowledge discovery, learning, teaching to application and outreach and service to do several things. First, we need to enhance the education experience for students, undergraduate and graduate. Secondly, to strengthen the scholarly capacity and that includes research and education of our faculty and staff. And thirdly, we need to increase our ability as a university in partnership with others to impact the citizens of this state and beyond. To me, that is what engagement is all about. That's what I think was implied by the various uses of the term engagement. And I just applaud you so much for rediscovering what it is that a public university is intended to do in service and in partnership with the kinds of entities all of you represent.

Under the Enrollment and Retention, Kevin or Jeff said that in effect they were demanding be, and we have to be this, an institute of high value and academic rigor. That's what the University's all about. We have to hold ourselves accountable for offering programs, whatever they might be; of high value and holding ourselves to the absolutely most rigorous standards we can set.

Faculty and Staff Development, again paraphrasing, what we need to do is enable faculty to develop the skills in teaching and learning so that they can have the greatest impact possible both in the classroom and lab, as well as in their partnerships with those various entities with whom we engage. And the admonition not to forget or ignore staff development, well placed and heard, extremely important.

Community Engagement and Economic Development, again we wrapped ourselves around the whole idea of engagement and again, it's a central theme to what these past six months have been about. I made an observation as that group presented it's report that when you get right down to it, we can do by ourselves in isolation only very little. It's these issues we discuss that are really shared domains that are critical to all of us. The University can't take the lead necessarily. We don't have the ultimate font of wisdom to deal with them but together with you we can in fact make a huge difference and act as a dense web to address these critical issues of the day.

I like notion of establishing, inculcating a culture of community engagement. Again, we're back to engagement. Another thing I think is essential, we're getting there, is to make sure folks also embrace a culture of philanthropy as well. And I'm not talking about this group, but the entire set of communities we discussed.

Research and Scholarship, we've got to focus as Ethan (Ethan Berkowitz) pointed out for the group on those critical issues of the day. Environmental and societal change having a huge impact on all of us but it's not limited to Alaska. Climate change may be exacerbated here but we have to focus on those issues that are associated with the kind of change that will alter our lives as individuals, as communities, society, and businesses and beyond. They talked about building partnerships for economic diversification. Again, that's what engagement is all about.

Cyber infrastructure and computational sciences. We are a harsh, remote location that is going to be made even more remote unless we can have connectivity to the rest of the world. We need, it's not just a university issue, and it's an issue for all Alaskans. Let's say we have aspiring congressmen in the audience; we know that person will be very sympathetic to those issues. This is not an endorsement, mind you.

I made a couple other notes that don't really fit into the flow so well but without needing to say this, many of these ideas do require resources. Something that Roger (Roger Ruess) said and reminded us of, others as well is, I'll come back to that was by virtue of going around the elbow, I've been in a number of other universities who do not focus simply on their state. It's part of what they do certainly, but we can't be the kind of university that you have encouraged us to be if our look is limited to only Alaska. It is certainly a necessary part of what we don't but it's not sufficient. We have to have impact beyond Alaska.

And coming down to offer a reflection or two and what Kevin, Jo, and Paul said, I love the way Jo phrased it by talking about words like commitment, an absolute proponent and champion. She didn't use the word gadfly, but with the fingers in the chest, she's going to be a very effective gadfly. She will not let us forget that we have a responsibility to you to put wheels on this thing.

Kevin (Kevin Hostler) talked about operative word being Alaska. Again, it is absolutely necessary but not sufficient, for a university of our quality and of our promise and our potential.

2017, it's more than just a symbol certainly. It is absolutely imperative that we ride the wave of this 100th anniversary for Alaska's first university and take full advantage of the spin you've begun to put on the flywheel to get that thing turning more rapidly so that by the time we reach 2017 we can celebrate the results of what you began with this effort here.

Paul (Paul Reichardt) it was that you say anything…What Paul said was prophetic, genius, and visionary. (Laughing) Unforgettable and did I mention inspirational. The question I wrote while I should have been listening to Paul, and I did hear some of what Paul said. He is going to serve as a gadfly of sorts too. He is going to be here watching over our shoulders and he will be here to help be the catalyst behind our implementing what this group resulted in.

But I asked myself what can we do in way of implementation, with the resources we have now? And the second question is what else must we do beyond that? And the third question is, logically, if we must do more than what we can accomplish with existing resources, how do we close the gap? How do we get those additional resources? There are a lot of answers. It's complex. It won't be easy, but they include our friends in Juneau. They include our friends in Washington D.C. They include our faculty. They include our administration. They include our friends and supporters and the list goes on.

None of that will happen if all we do is check the box that says the Vision Task Force completed its work. Again, the Vision Task Force completed stage one and we're so grateful for that. I didn't know what a convocation was before I entered higher education. I was twelve years in industry and if somebody had asked me what university convocation was I would have scratched my head and depending upon who it was maybe tried to fake it. But convocation, I learned, as an academician, is kind of the state of the university address. It's convening and bringing people together and kind of stirring the motive forces for the future.

At my 2006, September Convocation, I said somewhat in retrospect now, inaccurately, I said we know who we are as a university, we know where we're going, and we know what it's going to take to get us there. Well we didn't really. I thought we did but with your help, we can now say with greater confidence that certainly we know who we are. We know where it is we collectively think we need to go, much more clearly than I did in September of 2006 and we're beginning to add greater definition to how is it we're going to get there. This is where I really started to write frantically as I stood over there on the wall. This project cannot result in just a document, in just the check in the box. We cannot be satisfied, nor should the Romans Paul (see I remembered something) with having just another plan. Instead this has got to be a blueprint for action. It has to be an inspiration for a full commitment to getting it done, not just by the university community, but also in the larger spirit of the plural communities that we talked about earlier.

And then I ran out of time and I will fill in a little bit what was racing through my head. I will commit to you that the leadership team, that includes us up here on the platform, as well as the guy who keeps insisting on the fingers in the chest that we will get our heads together and then engage you in helping us again close the gap between where we know we need to be and how we're going to get there.

For me, again, this has been extraordinarily rewarding, satisfying, and it's been such a joy to work with this group. I hope all of you are as committed I think you are in making this the beginning. Or maybe this is the end of the beginning. I'm not going to try to repeat the Churchill quote but this is not the end, this is a point where we embark on a mission, a shared mission.

Jo, I know this is a token of our appreciation of your commitment, your involvement, your passion, and we thank you so much. Kevin, likewise thank you so much. Paul, I've worn out at all the various Paul celebration events. But he sure made my last few years far more incredibly satisfying than they ever could have been otherwise and we thank you for participation and leadership in this as well.