I come to congratulate you and to tell you something you likely already know
how very fortunate you are to welcome Jim Ryan as your 9th president.
Jim has an uncanny ability to build trust, to unite people across divisions
and differences. He motivates those around him to emulate him in putting
principle and purpose at the heart of our shared endeavors. Jim Ryan is ready
for this moment because he has lived the power of education.
What really makes Jim unique and different is his extraordinary
compassion and decency. Jim is one of the kindest, most gentle people you will ever
meet. How he is as a father if you're talking to the UVA students. Jim is a really really good
father, in all the classic ways in that he connects, he's sympathetic, he's strong,
he's a good guider. Jim will be an empathetic president and that I think is
comforting both to the students and the faculty and the university community.
I now install you in the name of the rector and visitors as the 9th president
of the University of Virginia. Congratulations to you and to
University of Virginia. So, one piece of advice I received was not to make this
speech a sermon, so today I'd like to talk about faith. More precisely I'd like
to talk about faith in the unfinished project of our University. To conduct
research, is to have faith in the power of discovery even before the discovery
has been made. To teach is to have the faith of a parent knowing that you're
helping to prepare students not just for their careers but for their full lives.
To be a student is to have faith that what you learn and the relationships you
build will enrich your life in countless ways.
What stitches these acts of faith together is a profound belief in the
future in the idea of progress. Progress towards a more prosperous, healthier, just
and peaceful society and progress toward lives that are more meaningful,
purposeful and passionate. The University of Virginia is in a sense as is often
said, Mr. Jefferson's University but it is also even more so, your University,
it's our University. Which means it's our responsibility to
preserve what is best about this place and to shape its future with boldness
and creativity. I hope you share my faith in the future which is in many ways
nothing more and nothing less than my faith and all of you. Friends, my running
shoes are laced up. I am ready, with your help to begin anew on this
unfinished, but glorious project that is the University of Virginia. Thank you
very much.