REFLECTIONS David Ward, Chancellor

Our complex, vibrant community of over 60,000 students, faculty, and academic and classified staff, augmented by an impressive network of alumni and friends, is rich with talent and energy to lead us into the next century. For the past two years, I have been talking with and listening to many of you individually and in groups on campus and across the state and beyond -- taking the measure of the place from many perspectives. This document about our future is an outgrowth of that dialogue. It is offered as a framework for further discussion about how

we can build on our traditions and respond to the challenges of the next century. This venture is not new; at least once within each generation, the university has established a blueprint for the future. The most recent report, "Future Directions," published in 1988, provided an explicit translation of our commitment to teaching, research, and outreach, based upon the university's formally adopted mission statement. The Future Directions report has served as a useful guide during the past several years, but it is now time to renew and enhance our vision in a response to rapidly changing conditions. Changes in our funding, in the public's perception and confidence in higher education, and in the demand for high levels of accountability, along with exponential changes in the scope, delivery, and organization of knowledge, are challenging the limits of our current organization. We have developed a view of our mission: to create, integrate, transfer, and apply knowledge. Being a leader in the advancement and diffusion of knowledge in the next century will involve new approaches to learning and its organization. We have a tradition of excellence upon which to build and much to preserve, but I believe it is time for the university to start doing some things differently -- not just doing the same things better. To achieve these ends, we need to pursue our goals within a shared vision of a university that will be as outstanding in the next century as it has been in the past and is in the present. That vision comprises some different ways of advancing, organizing, and disseminating knowledge which, in my judgment, will be necessary to maintain our position as one of the leading institutions of higher education in the world. I have broadly defined some key strategic priorities to help us move toward that goal. I urge you to participate in our continuing dialogue. Regard these strategic priorities as a map that highlights our major destinations, leaving the choice of routes and vehicles to the creative energies of the university community. I welcome your thoughts and your comments as together we shape our vision for the future.