Speeches

Remarks on Contract Extension

 

November 18, 2010

I am excited and honored to continue serving the University of Michigan. As I have said many times, I have the best job in the world. Just last week, the Michigan Daily asked about my future plans, and I told them I’m not ready to go.

I deeply appreciate this vote of confidence from the Board. Together, we have made tremendous progress as an institution these past several years. And we have done so in particularly challenging economic times.

I am proud of the hard work, innovation and dedication of so many members of our community who believe in the University and the essential contributions we make in today’s world.

I want to continue that momentum.

As president, my job is to look forward – 10, 20, 50 years forward – and build a strong future for the University of Michigan.

Members of this Board well know we have a tremendous amount of work ahead of us. That includes maintaining and accelerating the academic excellence of the University through great teaching, life-changing research, and the best students and faculty in the world.

We must fortify our finances through thoughtful budgeting, strong investments, and private support, which is increasingly important to our success.

And we must continue to offer and expand the exceptional health care that is a hallmark of Michigan.

Our staff, students, faculty and alumni all make this possible, as do our many community partners, and I look forward to the upcoming years.

On a more personal note, I want to say how much Ken and I genuinely enjoy the University and Ann Arbor. We have been fortunate to always live in university towns, and there is no community like Ann Arbor. We are extremely excited about the future.

Thank you again.