To Our Fellow ’Canes:
Last week, we welcomed our newest students to the University of Miami. Today, we extend a warm welcome back to all of our students and faculty returning to campus for classes.
As we begin this academic year, at a time marked by great promise and palpable division both nationally and globally, we have been reflecting on what unites us as leaders of the faculty, the administration, and the Board of Trustees here at the University of Miami. We are one U. What allows for that alignment comes down to two things.
First, we have faith in you. Our students. Our people. Our community. Second, we know that even though today the notion that anyone can achieve success through hard work and determination is met with growing skepticism—particularly among younger generations—here at the U, that notion has been and will always be our reality.
For nearly 100 years, this University has broken barriers because at our core, we understand that the only path to success is continuous improvement. We know that it is not enough to do more, we must be better. More and better underlies the creativity and tenacity that powers the city we call home.
Thanks to the immense talent of a faculty that prioritizes our students, our patients, and making life-changing discoveries, the University of Miami is on the rise. This is great news for those we serve, and for the world we live in. In our journeys, as individuals and as a community, we go farther together.
Whether you are a student, a member of the faculty, a clinician, professional staff, or the support teams that make things work behind the scenes, at the University of Miami, we encourage and challenge you to find and bring your best every day. ’Canes learn from our successes and our setbacks, and we never stop striving.
There is a lot of hand wringing these days about the value of a college education. As global events unfold and we approach election season, many bemoan the polarization that seems to seep into every aspect of society—and at times plays out on university campuses.
Here at the U, we view our role as stewards of your talent. Our shared value is excellence and, in a place as diverse as Miami, excellence can only be cultivated in an atmosphere of respect and intellectual curiosity.
That means we value free expression, which fuels critical thinking. It means we understand that people may not see things the same way, but if we exercise the ability to disagree respectfully, there is no limit to what we can accomplish together. It also means that we have high expectations of every member of our community to treat all others with dignity and abide by the standards and policies that enable us to achieve our mission.
What brought each of us here is the desire to learn. To do more. To be better.
Success through hard work is a crucial part of what makes us one U. Even if our areas of interest, our ideas, our backgrounds, and our experiences are different. Even when we disagree. Which is why, when we disagree, we do so with respect, with an open mind, and with care.
So let us never be distracted from our purpose—our students, our research, our patients— by the negativity that dominates news cycles. Let us always return to what we have in common: the drive to do and be better tomorrow than we were yesterday.
No matter where our paths to Miami began, or where they will eventually lead, today and each day on campus, every single one of us is the U. If we always meet at that point of connection, at that quest for excellence, nothing can keep us from continuing to rise.
Let’s have a great year! |
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JoNel Newman
Chair, Faculty Senate |
| Joe Echevarria
CEO & Acting President |
| Manny Kadre
Chair, Board of Trustees |
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