By Mike Harris , University Relations
Chancellor Linda P. Brady addresses faculty and staff at the opening convocation on Aug. 20 in Aycock Auditorium.
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Posted 8-20-08
GREENSBORO — This is a time of "new beginnings," said Chancellor Linda P. Brady in her first address to the campus community since becoming chancellor Aug. 1.
She spoke at the university’s 117th convocation in a newly renovated Aycock Auditorium, which added to the theme of new beginnings. An estimated 850-900 faculty and staff greeted her with a standing ovation.
Calling herself “a newcomer,” she believes the months and years ahead offer UNCG an opportunity to “build on excellence and shape a public metropolitan research university that is responsive to the needs of our students and the communities we serve.”
She highlighted three areas that the university community must focus on immediately.
The first priority is to begin developing the next UNCG Five-Year Strategic Plan for 2009-2014 and implementing the UNC Tomorrow priorities. The process will get under way quickly to prepare a further response that has a December deadline at UNC General Administration.
Chancellor Brady
Second is assessing how to support the ambitious goal of growing UNCG’s research productivity and infrastructure consistent with UNCG’s classification as a research university with high research activity. UNCG’s total funding for research last year increased 7 percent last year to $38 million.
Third, continuing the fundraising momentum through the Students First Campaign – the drive had raised $100 million through July 31. The unmet needs, she noted, include undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships and faculty support.
Brady spoke of UNCG’s history and traditions. “I am particularly sensitive to and appreciative of this history, for I, too, attended a woman’s college as a first generation college student,” she said. “This is a time of transition, an opportunity to explore new possibilities. But I can tell you that the values integral to UNCG’s identity will form a solid foundation for future planning. They will help shape the vision for my work and our work in this first year and beyond.”
Brady stressed that universities are social institutions with a responsibility to the public they serve. “The public expects our universities to improve quality of life, for individuals and communities. The question we will focus on in coming months, as we engage the strategic planning process is: ‘How can UNCG help?’”
She ended her address by saying that “we have the people, the passion and the possibilities to take UNCG to the next level.”
“We are at an important point in the history of the university and indeed in the history of the state,” she said, looking out at faculty, staff and friends of the university. “Let us make the most of it.”
