Hello. I’m John White. As chancellor of the University of Arkansas, I've delivered an annual state of the university address to the Arkansas community for the past several years. I’ve tried to keep our stakeholders abreast of major issues and the progress of our ongoing mission to become a nationally competitive, student-centered research university.

But recently, I’ve come to the conclusion that words can no longer convey the dizzying pace of growth on campus, especially to alumni and friends who may not visit Fayetteville often, or to prospective students who are considering the university.  So this year, I’m going to take you on a guided tour, letting the university speak through the mouths of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and others who best convey the state of our university.

Since its founding in 1871, the University of Arkansas has been the flagship of the state of Arkansas. Established as a land grant university, its mandate was threefold: to teach students, conduct research, and perform outreach. The citizens of Fayetteville and Washington County raised $130,000 to provide for the new university, ensuring it would be located on a site described as “second to none in the state of Arkansas.” 

From its location on the former McIlroy farm, the university resides on a hilltop overlooking downtown Fayetteville and the surrounding Ozark Mountains. For 136 years, the university has grown in size and stature on its way to becoming a nationally competitive, student-centered research university serving Arkansas and the world. 

Today, the Fayetteville campus encompasses more than 130 buildings on 345 acres. It provides nearly 200 academic programs to almost 18,000 students drawn from across the state, nation and world, yet it still maintains a low student to faculty ratio of 17 to 1.  For five consecutive years, each incoming freshman class has set enrollment records, each year looking to add their names to those of the 125,000 graduates already chiseled into Senior Walk – more than two miles now and growing.

The university employs a staff of more than 1,800, and approximately 850 full- and part-time faculty members who conduct more than $100 million of research.

These significant tallies of human and fiscal elements of the university result in an economic impact on the state that is estimated to be well in excess of a billion dollars, making it a crucial engine driving Arkansas’s economic growth. Looking forward, our goal to further increase the number of degree holders also will boost the state’s prosperity by raising wages and lowering unemployment, two crucial factors to improving the quality of life in Arkansas.

The numbers aside, the heart of the University of Arkansas' mission is, and always will be, serving our students. They are the life-blood of this institution. Part of being student-centered is having the finest faculty and staff available to our students. Oliver Wendel Holmes once said, “Once a mind has been stretched by a new idea, it can no longer return to its original shape.” That expansion is our obligation, building capacity and capability where before there was only potential. Interacting with faculty and conducting research are crucial components of the learning process, enriching the educational experience of our students. 

Derek Sears exemplifies our commitment to creating a student-centered environment.

From agronomy to chemical engineering, archeology to nanotechnology, poultry science to radio-frequency identification, research at the University of Arkansas advances new discoveries, interpretations, and insights necessary for economic and cultural progress. And our students are central to that progress.

Professor Navam Hettiarachchy is collaborating with her students to prevent pathogens from entering the food supply in the field of food safety.

The pursuit of teaching, research, and outreach also is embodied by the university’s Community Design Center, a nationally-recognized, award winning program that combines elements of ecology, architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, and urban design to address some of society’s toughest planning challenges.

So what else is happening at the University of Arkansas? As part of our ongoing mission to provide the best education possible, the university has been conducting a rigorous self-study in partnership with the 2010 Commission.

A blue-ribbon set of business, civic, educational, and governmental leaders, since 2000 the 2010 Commission has issued several high-profile reports benchmarking the university against its peer institutions and charting its progress towards its mission, the latest of which, Raising the Bar, was published in February. The commission reports have evolved into a valuable component of the university’s self-evaluation for reaccreditation self-study, typically conducted every 10 years and successfully completed this summer.

One of the things Raising the Bar stresses is the importance of diversity on campus, the university’s top institutional goal. This means creating a campus community that mirrors not just our state, but our country as a whole. We’re striving to enrich our learning environment by increasing the diversity of our students, our faculty and our staff. By doing so, we’re creating that critical exchange of viewpoints, opinions and beliefs that foster innovation and understanding.

Other noteworthy recommendations made in Raising the Bar include:

• Increasing need-based financial aid through Pell Grants and Arkansas Academic Challenge grants.
• Sponsoring workshops to prepare students to take the ACT, and need-based funding to help students retake the exam when necessary.
• Business community backing for a series of policies promoted in three national reports on higher education and the world economy
• Supporting the university’s effort to become a model for a sustainable university.
• Coordinating government, business and academic support for the new Arkansas World Trade Center.

Speaking of the Arkansas World Trade Center, this remarkable endeavor spearheaded by the university officially opened its doors in January, and already is making progress in facilitating the commercialization of research projects at the university, the premier research institution in the state. Graduate and undergraduate students in the Sam W. Walton College of Business have the opportunity to earn practical experience working with corporate representative on international initiatives.

Dan Hendrix is president of the Arkansas World Trade Center.

While educating our students is the foundation of our work, we also recognize that students have lives outside of the classroom. Creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere is essential to instilling a sense of community that exists long after graduation. Our students have comfortable living environments, quality food, state of the art classrooms, and the latest technology – all crucial elements of a nationally competitive university. As our student population has grown and changed at an astonishing rate, we’ve grown and changed with them, keeping them at the center of what we do.

In the past several years we’ve added and renovated dozens of new buildings, among them:

• The JB Hunt Transport Services Inc. Center for Academic Excellence
• Willard J. Walker Hall
• The Pat Walker Health Center, and
• And the lovely Fowler House…the chancellor’s future residence!

In addition, we've expanded the law school to keep pace with student needs. We’ve also increased student housing, including the Northwest Quad and the Maple Hill Residential Complex, which employs the latest thinking in residence hall design, promoting student comfort and interaction – so important to incoming freshmen.

Because students are both mentally and physically active, we’ve added the Donna Axum Fitness Center to the HPER Center, a 225,000 square foot facility that contains 10 racquetball courts, four basketball gyms, an Olympic size pool, indoor track, and climbing wall. More than 6,000 students, faculty, and staff participate in the Intramural Sports Program, in activities ranging from bowling to waterskiing. 

More than 1,200 students are active in the 26 sororities and fraternities that comprise the university’s Greek system. Our Greek students are actively involved in the community through outreach and volunteer activities, and they raise thousands of dollars each year for local charities. They're campus and classroom leaders as well.

Students also can exercise their minds outside of the classroom by attending regular theater productions, concerts, poetry and book readings, art exhibits, distinguished lectures, and outdoor movies at the Greek Theater.

Or they can just hang out at the student union talking to friends, unwinding after midterms.

If that’s not enough, students also can cheer on the Hogs at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. 

They can take in volleyball games and gymnastics meets in historic Barnhill Arena, and see basketball games here at Bud Walton Arena. They can enjoy a baseball game at Baum Stadium, or a meet either indoors at the Randal Tyson Track Center or outdoors here at John McDonnell Field.  Soon, students also will be able to cheer on the Lady Razorback softball team in a brand new ballpark.

Our unrivaled athletics facilities and the legacy of excellence of the university's athletics programs are a testament to Coach Frank Broyles, who is serving his 50th year with the University of Arkansas. We've been very fortunate to count on the leadership of Coach Broyles, first as head football coach and then as men's athletics director. He's been a great source of pride and a tremendous ambassador for the state and the university, as has his counterpart, Bev Lewis, director of women’s athletics.

Razorback and Lady'Back student-athletes are another constant source of pride for the University of Arkansas family.  For instance, we’re fortunate to have on campus America’s number one female amateur golfer and the university’s current record holder for best round, Stacy Lewis.  A two-time All-American and two-time all SEC first-teamer, Stacy also was the World University Games champion last fall.  But not only do the Lady’backs like Stacy excel in sporting competition, they are leaders in the classrooms as well.

Last spring, two Lady Razorbacks were academic All-Americans, 25 had perfect 4.0 grade point averages for the semester and 66 percent of all Lady Razorbacks were on the Academic Excellence Honor Rolls.

In men’s athletics, 55 Razorback student-athletes were selected to the SEC Honor Roll and 115 were named to the Lon Farrel Academic Honor Roll.  The track team also was named the Division I Men’s All-Academic Team of the Year for both the indoor and outdoor seasons.  Speaking of success, on the field they also managed to win an astonishing 42nd national title and a 33rd consecutive cross-country conference title.

Of course, the Razorback football team captured our imagination throughout the fall, ranking among the nation’s elite during an amazing 10-game winning streak en route to the SEC western division championship. That success resulted in a number of accolades for our student-athletes – most notably running back Darren McFadden of Little Rock, who finished second in the Heisman Trophy balloting and set the stage for more excitement this fall.

On the hardwood, we’re excited to welcome new men’s basketball coach, John Pelphrey, who brings his up-tempo, aggressive style of play to the SEC. Returning most of last year’s starters, Coach’s Pelphrey’s new team already is listed among the preseason top 20 teams in the nation by some media outlets. The women’s program welcomes home Tom Collen, who has over 200 wins in just nine seasons as a head coach. A former assistant coach for the Lady Razorbacks, Coach Collen returns to Arkansas with a reputation as one of the best recruiters in the country.

You just heard about the stunning success of John McDonnell's track and field teams, but perhaps the greatest success story in the history of the University of Arkansas is the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century. Over the life of the campaign, we raised more than $1.046 billion in private support for the university. That's an impressive figure for Harvard or Stanford, but for a public institution of the university's size, it's a monumental achievement. As a result, our endowment has grown from $119 million in 1997 to more than $763 million today.

This generosity shown by our alumni and friends has made a lasting positive impact on the life of the University of Arkansas. As a result of this unprecedented donor support, 1,738 new scholarship and fellowship funds were created. In addition, 132 new endowed faculty positions were developed as a result of the campaign

Countless lives will be enriched by the opportunities opened by all the new scholarships. Students will have access to a world-class University of Arkansas education. The staggering number of new chairs and professorships will allow the university to attract the finest minds the world-over to teach our students and conduct the research that leads to a brighter tomorrow.

There's no question that private support paves the way for the University of Arkansas to move from good to great.

Even with the support of these benefactors and so many others, many students, qualified to attend and graduate from the University of Arkansas, can't afford to do so. As the university continues to grow in size and stature it is important that it remains accessible to students, no matter what their socio-economic background. We must step up our own efforts to reach and support students with the greatest financial need by providing more need-based scholarships.

As the size of our student body has increased, state support to the university has not kept pace with inflationary pressures specific to higher education. The costs associated with competitive salaries and benefits, access to the latest laboratory equipment and library materials, and skyrocketing utilities and insurance premiums continues to have detrimental effects on universities at a significantly faster rate than the benchmark national inflation rate.  As a result, tuition costs have increased, and this is having an adverse effect on our students. Too many of our students work to pay their way through school. Many of them take on sizeable debt loads while completing their studies. In fact, half our graduates leave with student debt, and the average amount of debt they carry approaches $20,000.

We're making need-based scholarships a focal point of our fundraising efforts going forward. Such a scholarship program requires both private and public funds. We must ensure that students who are capable of graduating from the University of Arkansas and want to come here, but cannot afford to do so, are provided the resources necessary to attend the university. For those students who come, we must provide financial aid when needed.

In addition to private fundraising, it is imperative that the university continues seeking corporate and other external partnerships in an effort to not only advance our research mission, but to collaboratively find solutions that improve the quality of life for all Arkansans and the entire world. One such partnership launched this year endeavors to improve the healthcare supply chain and delivery industry.

The Center for Innovation in Healthcare Logistics at the University of Arkansas will leverage the unique supply chain and healthcare expertise of our faculty, and will partner with industrial, clinical, governmental and non-governmental stakeholders to stimulate efficient and patient-centered healthcare supply networks.

Ron Rardin, one of the newest of several highly sought faculty that we’ve attracted to the University of Arkansas, will direct the center.

We also must be mindful of our responsibility to our environment and to our surroundings. Simply put, we must make the University of Arkansas the model of a sustainable university. Faculty, students, and staff across our campus are working to make it happen. As we’ve demonstrated, we're partnering with communities and businesses to reduce our ecological footprint, and we're conducting the research necessary to advance sustainability efforts. As a Native American proverb says, "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children."

In the past year alone, the university became the first higher education institution in the state, and among the first 100 in the nation, to sign the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. The commitment is a pledge by the presidents to reduce and ultimately neutralize greenhouse gas emissions on their campuses.

We’ve also been recognized as the first educational institution in the country to encourage the use of Green Globes in our design and construction policies, a landmark step toward ensuring that all new campus construction and renovation meets the latest standards of green design and environmental sustainability.

But perhaps the most exciting endeavor in this area has been the launch of the Applied Sustainability Center, the second significant partnership between the university and Wal-Mart over the past 12 months.

As you can see, the University of Arkansas is on the move. And as impressive as our progress has been, I'm convinced this is only the beginning. We have undeniable momentum, plus the invaluable support of the University of Arkansas family.

From teaching to research, from student life to community outreach, and from the fields of collegiate competition to the professional workforce, the University of Arkansas is taking its place as one of the world's great comprehensive university communities…and the best is yet to come.

This is the state of our university. Thank you for all that you are doing to make our university, and thereby our state, stronger than ever.