Hi, I’m Jim Ryan, and I’m delighted to begin today as the 9th president of UVA.
As an alumnus and a former faculty member,
it's a real honor to serve the university I love.
As I begin my tenure, I do so with gratitude to Terry Sullivan for her leadership and for
putting the university in such a strong position for the future.
As you may have heard, I like questions, and when I was announced as president last September,
I promised I would ask a lot of them.
Consistent with that promise, I would like to start my presidency by posing a few questions
to you about the future of UVA, which is ours to shape—hence the name of this website.
The questions relate to three themes—community, discovery, and service.
I organized the questions around these themes because they are foundational to our university
and, not surprisingly, they kept coming up in the numerous conversations I have had with
students, faculty, staff, and alumni since last September.
I've heard stories about the strong sense of community on Grounds and among our alumni,
and the importance of a strong relationship with the communities surrounding UVA.
I’ve learned about some of the truly remarkable research under way across the university,
and the importance of supporting and encouraging the discovery of new knowledge.
And I’ve been heartened by the enthusiastic support of public service and the idea that
service should be at the core of our mission, as a public institution.
I now would love to hear from you, and I hope you take the time to answer some basic questions
related to how we can strengthen the sense of community on Grounds, among UVA and our
Charlottesville neighbors, and among our alumni.
There are also questions about how we can best promote the discovery of new knowledge
by our faculty and students, and questions about how we can best promote service among
our students and be of real service to the Commonwealth and beyond.
The last point about service, is, to me, the real key to understanding the best of our
past and the best course for our future.
I have always thought of UVA as special in the universe of higher education because it
has been mission-driven and outward looking from the very beginning,
serving a purpose larger than itself.
The original mission of UVA was to create citizen-leaders in order to strengthen our
fledgling democracy, a noble purpose but one accompanied by a cramped view of who might
qualify as a citizen-leader.
That view has broadened, thankfully, just as UVA’s
doors have opened wider and wider over time.
But the commitment to the public good has never wavered, even as our mission has grown
to include cutting-edge research and world-class medical care, and our reach has extended well
beyond our national boundaries.
Service to our democracy and beyond remains a key feature of this unique university.
Indeed, I have often thought of UVA as our nation’s public university, not simply because
our founding was so intertwined with the founding of our nation, but because our university—from
the very first days to today—was meant to serve our nation and, now, the world.
In thinking about how we can strengthen our community, promote discovery, and enhance
our commitment to service, my hope is that we do so
with an eye toward our collective impact on the world.
Universities should be a force for good in the world, and UVA is no exception.
It's my hope that our university will be known as the one most determined to
making the world a better place through the preparation of our students to be ethical
leaders; through our research; and through our partnerships
with the numerous communities we serve.
I consider it to be a real privilege to be a part of the UVA community again.
But with privilege comes responsibility, the responsibility to create opportunities for
others and to leave the world a bit better than you found it.
I look forward to hearing your ideas about how all of us, together, can do just that.