 Well, we have a lot going on in our spring and assembly. It is so good to be in person again at one of our gatherings. It is a spring thing. I would like to thank Mr. Pritchard for being able to actually see the things that can regulate one another for all that we're doing. It is great to be here today as we do talk about the right things along the way and also recognize who are most prestigious Our campus simply did a great opportunity for us to all in that as a professional community and also to recognize our faculty and staff who we have singled out for special awards within all of our accomplishments that we have at university. Since our last standard, we know that for each of us to do at our campus and across our campus and under various roles, we take every day for our students and those who serve here at the university. And I believe that there has never been a time that this campus has been more successful to see more accomplishments has been more progressive than we are in the past year. I hope you will agree that we share some of the accomplishments of the day. You are on the way to pursue a elevated U of A due to its greatest heights. You can't define our impact based on collective impact. Again, U of A and staff are really the power behind that collective effort here at the university. You are the catalyst for the impact that we are forging ahead for the university at this moment in your health system to transform certainly our campus, certainly those groups, but also our state and our nation. And as we know, our students literally go under the world and we are transforming those parts of the world as well. And so the awards today really we're going to recognize, if we speak to the heart of who we are as a university as a faculty and as staff, in each of us serve a variety of roles across the university. But each one of us work together, united in that mission that we have at the University of Alabama. I'm grateful to the work that each one of you have to equip our students to success and put the work that you've done over the past semester. Thank you for your devotion, the support that you have for the university and I'm just proud to be your president at the University of Alabama during these great times. To begin our program please, I'm pleased to welcome Dr. Jim Dalton, who's our executive vice president and provost at the University of Alabama and he will begin with the awards portion of our program. Jim. Thank you Dr. Bell and good afternoon everyone. It's an honor to be here today to celebrate our spring campus assembly award recipients. Before we proceed, I'd like to with the award presentations faculty and staff, please help me welcome our special guest this afternoon. Beginning with Mr. Calvin Brown director of alumni affairs and associate vice president of the University of Alabama Calvin, thank you for joining us today and for all you do as an advocate for UA alumni. Also welcome to Mr. John Gallahorn president of the National Alumni Association and his wife Sonia. Also please join me in welcoming Dr. E. Rogers Sayers. Dr. Sayers served our community as president of the University of Alabama during a period of tremendous growth and accomplishment from 1988 to 1996. Dr. Sayers, thank you for honoring us with your attendance as we recognize the newest recipient of the award that bears your name. Without further ado, the first award being presented today, the E. Rogers Sayers Distinguished Service Award created in 1996 by members of the president's cabinet and the National Alumni Association. It serves to recognize faculty and exempt administrative personnel who have performed in an exemplary manner to further the mission of the university. I'm pleased to announce the winner of the 2022 E. Rogers Sayers Distinguished Service Award is Dr. Donald Keith. While he's making his way to the stage, I'll read a few things about him. Dr. Keith received numerous letters supporting his recommendation. In those nominations, his role as the director of UA's Office for Emergency Management is described as instrumental in developing state-of-the-art programs and infrastructure that keep our faculty, staff, students, and visitors safe while on campus. The emergency management team has received many accolades and national certifications due to their commitment to safety under Dr. Keith's leadership. In 2010, thanks to Dr. Keith's efforts, UA was certified as a storm-ready university by the National Weather Service as maintained this certification to date. In 2011, his preparedness was put to the test. On that tragic day in Tuscaloosa, Dr. Keith briefed senior leadership, warned our campus community, established incident command, and activated UA's Emergency Operations Center. And for 16 days, following the tornado's assault, he assisted the University in Tuscaloosa County in coordinating response, mobilized and tracked resources and volunteers, serving and surrounding communities, and coordinated shelter for those in need. Since that time, the Office for Emergency Management has grown immensely thanks to Dr. Keith's guidance and direction. One of the most prestigious honors received by the Office due to the efforts of Dr. Keith and his team is the accreditation from the Emergency Managed Accreditation Program for preparedness and response activity. UA is now one of only eight institutions of higher education in the nation that is accredited, and the only university to ever receive a consecutive accreditation. Dr. Keith has further characterized in his nomination packet as a leader who is inspiring, motivating and encouraging, yet humble. One who instills pride in service. Driven by the motto, do at least one thing every day to make the University a better place. He has dedicated his career to supporting the readiness and safety of campus, ensuring our campus community is both prepared and protected in the event of emergency. Dr. Keith, thank you for exemplifying what it means to go above and beyond and for furthering our mission of teaching, research and service. Your efforts have been instrumental in saving lives, is with great pride that we present you with the E. Roger Sayers Endowed Distinguished Service Award. The next award is the Dr. Minnie C. Miles Endowed Excellence Award which was established in 1995. This award honors exempt non-faculty administrative employees who have performed in an exemplary manner, exceeding the expectations set for their position and fostering the mission of the University. The award is named in honor of Dr. Minnie C. Miles a long-term business faculty member who began her lifetime service to the University of Alabama in 1942 and retired in 1978. It's my privilege to announce the 222 recipient of the Dr. Minnie C. Miles Endowed Excellence Award is Dr. Stacy Jones, Dean of Students and Executive Vice President in the Division of Student Life. In one of the many nomination letters for Dr. Jones, she is praised for her selfless, steadfast service by a UA colleague of more than 30 years. Described as a difference maker and advocate for all students at the Capstone Dr. Jones is known as one who decade after decade meets every problem with strength and stability. Students know her office as a place for assistance and friendly conversation and her open door policy invites them to seek her out for support and fellowship. In fact, one parent of a UA student who is currently a second semester junior and maintaining a 4.0 GPA described Dr. Jones' impact on her eldest son in her nomination letter. She wrote, during a personal tour of the office of Dean of Students, Dr. Jones elaborated how individualized support and guidance were provided to both the students and their families to further ensure the success of each student. Her sincerity and personalized attention while she presented UA's specialized intervention, education and supportive services for students were nothing short of impressive. My husband and I were wowed. The university became my son's home away from home and Dr. Jones' professional expertise, stellar character and faithful devotion to the university and his students and parents have proved second to none. She is a woman of her word and well deserving of this honor. Another nomination letter praised Dr. Jones for her sincere intent to not only listen to students but also her desire to help solve a problem, lift a burden and empower action. Dr. Jones has also been instrumental in encouraging UA students to be involved with the UA Alumni Association, understanding their need to remain connected to the capstone beyond their years on campus. Dr. Jones, thank you for your demonstrated commitment to helping those around you. Your positive impact has bettered the lives and experiences of countless students through your tireless and dedicated service. It's a great pride that we present you with the Many See Miles Endowed Excellence Award. On behalf of the University of Alabama my sincere congratulations to our two honorees, Dr. Donald Keith and Dr. Stacey Jones. Faculty and staff please join me in applauding them once again for their unwavering service to the capstone. With the awards portion of our assembly now complete, we will transition to important assembly updates from the presidents of several organizations on campus. Through their ongoing efforts, these four dedicated leaders serve our community and further our mission. We will begin with a report from faculty senate president Dr. Chapman Greer. Prior to her appointment as president, she served as a senator for the faculty senate for eight years. Dr. Greer is a clinical instructor of management at the Culverhouse College of Business. She joined Culverhouse in 2009 and received a master's in library and information sciences and a doctorate in English from the university. Chapman. Hello this out. Hi everybody. I am here to talk to you about the highlights of the faculty senate's activities over the last year. In doing that, what I'm seeking to do is to address the question that we are always asked, which is, what does faculty senate do? I'm going to put the rumors to rest. We do not sit around and watch paint dry. What we do is over the last couple of years we have developed a policy for promotion and retention of contract faculty which has been a four year process which was enacted in 2017 but is still not universal across campus and we are still working to make that implemented across campus. The second thing that we have worked on is revising the faculty handbook which prior to our taking on the task had not been revised in 29 years. It took four and a half years for us to revise it and we came up with that revision and I'm proud to say that we are doing minor revisions as we go along so that was fully enacted last year. We have worked on a plan to address the university's general education and to make sure that we were up to date and current and that is a five year plan. We are four years into that and we are on track to begin implementation starting next year. In the fall of 2021 what the faculty senate had been working on for seven years was implementing paid parental leave for everybody and it was for not just faculty who have a very nice paid parental leave package but for our staff colleagues as well and we worked very closely with AXA and PSA to accomplish that and I'm very grateful to our administration for helping us bring that into fruition starting as of January of this year. And then we are continuing to work on a proposal for universal child care. So that is faculty, staff and students. We have as most of you probably know an absolutely stellar CDRC but it has a 500 child wait list and we know that we can address this and make the child care available to a wider community. And then we are also we held a variety of different town halls for different events that were going on around campus particularly as pertained to COVID. So in the spring of 2022 we affirmed the primary importance of academic freedom as there were attacks going on around the country against academic freedom at higher education levels. We have addressed policies regarding UA retiree emails we are addressing our support for our colleagues in Ukraine and we provide support for a number of different programs on campus most notably Reach which addresses our students aging out of a foster care system our students who are homeless orphaned or emancipated and we have an estimated 600 of those students on campus where we have identified only 40 of them but we have a much greater success rate with the Reach program than they would have a chance of having otherwise. We support our safe center which has done terrific work around sexual assault and continue to be one of their strong supporters and we are a supporter of Brewerport and we are having our annual teacher appreciation luncheon on May 5th with Takamama. So we always work on our various subcommittees to address the policies and procedures across campus. We perform service projects within the campus community and within the wider community as well. We host events that range from faculty senate meetings which are open and all of you are welcome to come watch paint dry with us and to higher ed day to meeting with our straight representatives and to the celebration of our colleagues in Brewerport and Reach and then we participate in shared governance with our administration which has done an absolutely terrific job working through the last couple of years which has been a challenge for all of us. So when people ask me what does faculty senate do, I am inclined to say we do the very hard, very unsung work that takes a long time and it makes this a terrific place for us all to live and be. So thank you. Thank you Dr. Greer. Now it's my pleasure to introduce the president of the professional staff assembly Dr. Delphine Harris. Dr. Harris is the executive director of business process innovation for UA's division of finance and operations. She earned an MBA and PhD in higher education from the university and has over two decades of combined service with UA and the UA system. Dr. Harris. I'm honored to represent the UA professional staff as PSA president. This past year was a time of transition we had those staff that transitioned from hybrid and remote to on campus. We all see our challenges as it is every year the challenges may change. We know in PSA, OCTSA, and faculty senate the work doesn't stop. We keep going. And this year we had success in several different areas. We made it a priority to have timely town meetings. We hosted a COVID town hall and the panelists answered questions that were submitted ahead of time and I can personally attest every single question got answered whether it was live in the event or afterwards. And it was a good opportunity to make contact with constituents. We launched a campaign in the fall for anti-bullying month October to promote awareness recognition. And this campaign was a success in terms of views and response and we hope to see a continued awareness and communication of this issue within the campus community. PSA and other faculty staff assemblies have discussed researched and advocated for a paid parental leave for the better part of this past decade. By working collaboratively with these groups a formal proposal was developed in the fall and administration announced that a paid parental policy would become a reality in January of this year. In addition to our success in addressing timely concerns and long-term priorities, our service and outreach committee has expanded the opportunities for community service both in terms of donating your time, donating supplies, donating gifts to support them. We have long supported WDRC, Brewer's Port, and Habitat for Humanity. By expanding rather than offering four opportunities a year we now offer something monthly where people can take the time and volunteer in whatever capacity that they can. On May 19th PSA will present two outstanding professional awards for professional staff members who have gone above and beyond their regular duties exemplifying positivity and creating conditions for success. In addition we now incorporate along with this awards and recognition we also recognize the hard work that our PSA officers do as well as our outgoing PSA representatives. I am pleased to announce that PSA will have an active role in Tuscaloosa's inaugural Juneteenth celebration this year. We're very excited to participate and volunteer our time for that. In the coming months PSA will begin its campaign to encourage staff to explore their higher education opportunities by utilizing UA's current benefits including tuition credit and additional compensation through degree completion. You will hear personal stories of how higher education has infected our lives including my own as well as others over the coming months so stay tuned for that. You can find information on current and ongoing initiatives including recordings of prior General Assembly meetings at Bama PSA on Facebook and Twitter as well as there's information on our website PSA.ua.edu. On June 1 I will pass the mantle including the gavel I'm having trouble letting go of that one to my esteemed colleague Dee Cook. Serving as PSA president has been both an honor and a privilege and I could not be without your support. Thank you. Thank you Dr. Harris. Next please welcome the president of the office clerical and technical staff assembly, Angel Narvez Lugo. Mr. Narvez Lugo is the advisor for UA's student government association now in his sixth year working at the capstone here in the bachelor's degree in religious studies in 2021 and founded the Latinx faculty and staff association. Angel. Thank you all. Thank you all for joining me. Thank you again, the behalf of OCTSA done in the last year everything that Delphine and Chapman said but just insert OCTSA, right. A lot of our work, as they have both said is collaborative and none of this, none of our organization's operate in a vacuum. So greetings on behalf of OCTSA for those of you don't know this will be my last address as president I will not presume to speak on the new administration's priorities and initiatives in this coming year. But if you'll indulge me, I would like to take this opportunity to wax nostalgic a bit and thank those who've made the work and mission of OCTSA a priority and those who have allied themselves to our causes. First I'd like to thank Dr. Bell for your leadership and your unwavering commitment to ensuring that non-exempt employees on our campus had a seat at the table. From the beginning of my first term as president, you've taken the lead in making sure that we were presented at all levels of the decision-making process at our university, starting with the inclusion of OCTSA on the University Provost Search Committee. For your leadership and your inclusion, we say thank you. To our partners in shared governance, the faculty senate, the professional staff assembly, and the student government association, thank you, thank you, thank you. We know from our past and current efforts that a rising tide lifts all ships and it's been a privilege to work alongside you as we collectively champion initiatives such as an extended parental leave policy for all of our employees. The work is far from over and our partnership is strengthened by our combined resolve to make the University of Alabama the best possible place to work and build meaningful careers. Also thank you to Rona and to Chapman, my queens. There is no agency on a campus like that of a fully tenured professor and your work to advocate for all of us has not gone unnoticed or unappreciated. Chapman, I would follow you into battle any day. So roll that. Two other individuals who I want to give special mention to our very own Vice President for Advancement Bob Pierce and our Vice President for Finance and Operations, Matt Fajak. Few know this and as I leave I can now share with you that around two years ago Bob and Matt established a scholarship for OCTSA members wishing to start or finish their degrees and over the next few years that scholarship will be able to award its first scholarship. So gentlemen, thank you both for your leadership and your commitment to the professional development of non-exempt staff at the Capstone. Thank you. And speaking of Matt, no campus assembly address where I speak would be complete without a mention of spring break. Matt, you have been the recipient of many good-natured ribbons on the topic. You have shown composure under fire when speaking to our assembly and few have raved the onslaught of a united and fired up OCTSA and lived to tell the tale. But you have weathered it with style and grace and I want to publicly thank you for everything you've done for non-exempt employees at USA. You alongside the rest of our leadership team showed grace and leadership during the pandemic and made it possible for our university to continue operations without resorting to reductions in staffing or pay to results of the pandemic that adversely affected hourly employees across the nation. Your lead in the HR reimagined process was critical to overhauling our HR processes to reflect the challenges of a new and dynamically changing workforce. And recently your continued efforts on our behalf have brought about the increase in the minimum hourly wage we now offer as an institution on behalf of OCTSA, those same folks that called for your head so many years ago. Thank you for everything you've done. We appreciate you. And finally, to the non-exempt employees of the University of Alabama, I thank you. I thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to serve as your president for the last three years. Your resiliency, your adaptability, and your commitment to this institution humble me every day and I have been honored to advocate on your behalf. Thank you all. May God bless UA and spring break forever. Thank you. Thank you, sir. For our final report, I'd like to welcome Student Government Association President Miss Madeleine Martin to share an SGA update. Madeleine is majoring in communications and political science. Madeleine. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Madeleine Martin and I have the privilege and honor to serve as the 111th Student Government Association President. So I could get up here and tell you about every single thing SGA did this past year, but when I truly say this, I would be up for here for hours and hours and I think you all have other things. So I want to tell you about where we are going for the year ahead. So when I was deciding to run for Student Government Association President, I really wanted to focus in on where the areas on campus that we have such great initiatives and plans, but where are those areas that we really can enhance that student experience and live by the SGA motto of students serving students. So I bulleted it down to four things of connection, outreach, professional and academic development, and diversity. So starting with connection, I'm from Hoover, Alabama. So for my non-Alabamians, it's about 45 minutes away. Grew up a Crimson Tide fan. Both siblings went here, but I didn't know if I wanted to go here. Then I toured campus. I saw that people actually enjoyed being a UA student and thought to myself, what is drawing them here? What makes them want to go sit on the quad at 3 p.m. When it's beautiful? And it really is that connection to this university and connection to the capstone. This may fall upon deaf ears, but I do believe that COVID really put a neck in that connection. There's a lot of programming and even events such as Get On Board Day that we haven't seen back to the fullest extent. But with each new initiative and each plan, I mean, look at us today. We're back here in person. We have more strength and opportunities for connection. And I really want SGA to focus on their programming of enhancing that student experience, even if it's just come to the SGA office and grab a cookie before finals. Simple things like that really matter to students. For outreach, I served as vice president for external affairs last year. I've worked with the city of Tuscaloosa and a couple other companies. And I really want to bring more companies, whether it be from ride shares to movie nights to even speakers to come talk to students. There's a great opportunity for us as students to not only meet people, but have that enhanced experience again. Another one for professional and academic development. I really want to live by the motto of the capstone of higher education. Our degree is a fantastic way for us to enter in the workforce. But it's also important that we have more opportunities for networking with professional speakers, outside businesses, and also simple things as looking at over your resume. And I think that's a great opportunity for us as students to come to the SGA office and to be able to interview prep or even offering free headshots within the U.A. student center. There's actually a new photo booth I'm going to try to implement. It's really cool. But really even just building those small things like LinkedIn, our degree is fantastic, but we need that professional edge to really push us to be, again, that capstone of higher education. And finally, diversity. I think especially with this week and seeing how amazing it is in the U.A. because that is what makes U.A. Jimmy Carter once said that it's a beautiful mosaic when different minds, different dreams, different people come together. And I truly believe we have that here at U.A. It's important that every person feels not only included, that they understand that they are on the equitable playing level as every other student, but realize that diversity again is what makes U.A. U.A. They should be here for no fine print, no condition, but the fact that they're a U.A. student like every single other person. So I'm very excited for the year ahead. We have fantastic individuals already in exec from people that you've definitely met, but also some new fresh faces with great ideas. We have a great group of senators, justices. I'm excited for our FYC class even as they're graduating high school to come join us. But truly this group of a couple hundred individuals are really going to make a change on campus. And I'm so honored to lead them all. So thank you all again. I also told Dr. Bell I would get the crowd hyped because I'm his opening act. So I just want to thank you all again for hearing a little bit about SGA and Roll Tide. Thank you, Ms. Martin. And thank you all for presenting your assembly reports this afternoon. And congratulations again to our award recipients. It is important for us to recognize the dedicated efforts and impressive accomplishments of our faculty and staff. And it's an honor to partner with you as we prepare our students to lead and serve. With that, it's my privilege to welcome again President Dr. Stuart R. Bell. Thank you, Dr. Dalton. As you listen to each individual here, they're really talking about a family. You know, it's great to come in and we push ourselves and maybe we kid ourselves a little bit about how we have had a great time and had a little bit of fun. But truly at the end of the day, we are a family. We're all working towards that mission. And I'm just proud of every of each one of those reports and certainly proud of our award winners today as we present those in the role that each one of us has. It's been said before, but I think it is worth repeating. This is the place where legends are made. And truly it's each one of you that create those legends in our students and also in your colleagues that we've represented and talked about today. You are the architects truly of everything great that's happening here at the University of Alabama. Thank you again for your leadership. Thank you again for your character. And thank you again for all the accomplishments that you help us achieve. You know, last fall assembly, I spent a lot of time talking about 47 enrollment records that we broke and all the great things that we began the fall semester. And I thought what I would do today is talk just a little bit about, okay, now that we've recruited all these great students here, what are they doing on our campus? And it's a lot that they're doing on our campus. Just yesterday I was able to go to one of our honors program. Tara Williams was there. It's part of our program where we recognize those key scholarship winners for international awards and also highly competitive national awards. And being able to, again, meet with those students as a faculty and a staff that reminds us of what we're doing and why we're here because to listen to their stories, it's pretty powerful. One of those that I had a chance to visit with yesterday is our newly awarded Rhodes Scholar, Nicholas Hayes. And as you all know, the Rhodes Scholar is the most prestigious academic scholarship and involves an international appointment for international study. Again, Nick Hayes, Nick is the 16th Rhodes Scholar in the University of Alabama's history. Just a fact that the University of Alabama also had not that we're competitive. We have more Rhodes Scholars than all the other universities in the state combined here at the University of Alabama, as it should be. Also had the chance to visit with our just announced 60th Goldwater Scholar. This prestigious scholarship was recently awarded to Jules Bates, who's a Randall Scholar and also a UA Honor student who is studying chemical engineering here at the University of Alabama. As well as UA Junior, Samron Deju, who is majoring in aerospace engineering and she is one of 51 students across the nation who has awarded a Brooks Owens Scholarship. It's a nationally claimed program and it's specifically awarded for those students who are studying aerospace engineering. We continue here at the University of Alabama to attract students like Nick, Jules and Samron because they believe in the flagship educational experience that each one of you are a part of here at the University of Alabama. We continue to produce that next generation of researchers, of scientists, of artists, of entrepreneur and you are equipping each one of those future legends in your classrooms and in your research laboratories. Our classrooms, labs and facilities are preparing those students for the 21st Globalized Workforce and increased natural competitiveness that we know that our students are facing. They enroll to UA to earn a premier education in the classroom but they are also ready to gain real world experience, hands-on experience in our communities and through programs like the Fulbright Scholarships literally in many locations around the world. It's also a little bit early still for our undergraduate recruitment cycle just to give you a glimpse of what next fall will bring and that is that we're continuing to see the strong enrollments and applications at the University of Alabama and while we had a great incoming freshman class they're sure we expect we will have an equally talented incoming freshman class this next fall. We've also exceeded already our total applications from last year's cycle for graduate schools. UA's reputation is a great place to come whether it's an undergraduate or a graduate student has continued to increase and students from literally all over the world are seeking to be right at the University of Alabama much because of the efforts that each one of you as our faculty and staff had allowed the University to become known as a place of prominence for those students wanting to study. We've also had just a lot of other recognitions across our faculty and our staff, Dr. A.J. Agarwal professor in the College of Engineering and then 2022 SEC Faculty Achievement Award winner for the University of Alabama. Professionals such as Dr. Charlie Newman, director of the Alabama Life Research Institute was recently elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Dr. Steven Yates, assistant professor and program coordinator for the School of Library and Information Studies and also the 2022 faculty ambassador for our ongoing We Are UA giving campaign that concludes on Friday, Bob. Steven is pictured here with Alicia Brown who is our 2022 campaign staff ambassador and mentioning you, We Are UA I hope that each one of you are involved in that and are considering to make a great gift, whatever college whatever school, whatever program that you are passionate about because I believe that our being a part of that just shows the philanthropic nature of our community and certainly it speaks to our alums and it speaks to other supporters that we invite to support our programs support our faculty and support our students. Through the Rising Tide Capital Campaign we have already focused on creating 75 new endowed faculty positions. We're seeking to ensure that our existing faculty and staff have opportunities and the resources that they need in order to have and facilitate great accomplishments but also life work balance. The university remains committed to each one of our professional growth through various opportunities. I appreciate each one of you all participating in the Chai Men's Survey. We had a 46% response rate to that survey and for anyone who's ever worked with surveys, a 46% response rate is incredible and certainly far exceeded our goals and our aspirations for being able to get that input and now we're tasked as we go through that to make sure that we are making the progress and that we are able to adjust our programs as we move forward to make sure that we best serve all of our needs in the programs that we have that will be rolled out next year. Beyond our student awards and university campaigns there are so many other accomplishments that we'd like to share creative endeavors, service projects by our university community be those by the students, the faculty or the staff. Since our fall assembly we all saw you a million dollar band marching in the Macy's Day parade and everyone in New York is still singing Yay Alabama because that's the group that welcomed in Santa Claus and for those of us for the months prior to them going that would walk by Butler Field we all learned the song New York played that as well. Are you a dance marathon? If you're not familiar with that it occurs in this very room much like today no. We have the students we've got lights and strobes all going on but dance marathon raised $250,000 for children's hospital this last year through their dance marathon and if you don't know this is the largest group that we have on our campus and it's totally student run. The UA Center for Economic Development collected and distributed books to schools in Alabama's 13 black belt counties which include some of the most disadvantaged areas with the highest poverty declining populations that we have truly in the United States limited access to educational opportunities allowed our students to go in and make an impact in those areas through collecting and distributing those books for those students and for those parents and completely changing the gear if you will. We also even run a race car competition without having a driver in the car. I know a lot of times we don't think a lot of cars in Tuscaloosa have drivers in them but this particular project it's a student run project but we also collaborated with an Italian university and we made history in the first head-to-head competition for an autonomous race car and we were the champions through that process. We're certainly accustomed to saying we're legends, we're champions on the field in the classrooms and now we can also say on the race tracks but again our place as a place of champions as legendary as a comprehensive research university has never been better and again at each of your hands. Our research endeavors continue to yield incredible results. UA's research enterprise is thriving and growing at remarkable rates. We've witnessed eight consecutive years of increasing external support awards again supporting our research activities with a 72% increase just over the last three years. Just two weeks ago the university received its largest external grant in institutional history $360 million which will be over a five-year period by the NOAA for water research. Our research institute model that we've established on our campus allows our faculty to come together and to address some of the most critical needs in our nation and truly in our world. This particular award allows those contributions to come together and bring together innovation from all of our colleges from all of our faculty and our staff to again address the needs for clean water availability and so many other issues that face us again as a nation and as a world all at the same time involving our students through the educational process and through their ability to join or get additional work experience. UA faculty are esteemed for their expertise in translating water research and also many other fields. In the past five years the number of times UA faculty publications have been cited by other faculty and other faculty have more than doubled. The number of UA faculty who are receiving national or international honorific awards has also doubled. Our faculty's contributions are leading to the rise in the university's notoriety. And our student athletes as well as our adapted athletics program also continue to garner national attention. UA women's swimming and diving team finished a program's best fourth at the NCAA championship and the UA cheerleading squad won its third division 1A national championship this past January. Our women's gymnastics program just concluded its season with another appearance at the NCAA championship and our baseball, women's golf and softball program are currently competing and are all ranked in the top 25 in the nation. Of course back in December the Crimson Tide claimed its 29th SEC championship onto its record seventh college football playoff appearance. Fresh off the court last month UA's women wheelchair basketball team brought home another championship their eighth overall and third consecutive national championship in wheelchair basketball. And last weekend our wheelchair tennis program won their sixth consecutive national championship their seventh in their program history. I'm proud to say that the University of Alabama is the only school in the SEC with an adapted program which has earned 16 national championship titles across three sports and have graduated 56 students in undergraduate, masters and PhD programs. Folks that's incredible. You know the pandemic was certainly a challenging season for higher education overall and certainly for us as well but during that time when many universities have struggled in what I think is finding their mission in some ways the University of Alabama stayed the course and we are thriving and our students are thriving because of that and that again is because of you in this room as we navigated those tough times. Faculty and staff what you're doing every day your consistent approach to excellence matters every accolade that I've shared today is because of your ongoing focus and support and all of our collective efforts to make these accomplishments occur. As we consider all that has been accomplished and look to the future ahead I think we can be sure that we will continue transforming this University the state of Alabama our country our graduates and through our collective effort. There is no experience like the Alabama experience and there is no campus that has more pride in our students as do you, our faculty and staff and who can rival that through accomplishments. When I say it's a privilege to serve as your president I mean that with the greatest degree of respect and admiration for how you continue to serve this capstone and our community here in Tuscaloosa. Through our unity of purpose our shared esteem for this institution we share that family bond as a faculty and staff at the University of Alabama it has been an honor and continues to be an honor to see all that you are doing every day, every week and every year from this pulpit. Now to wrap up our time today I encourage you guys to stay together and congratulate the award winners that we've talked about talk to your colleagues visit with a few of the students who may be here as well also enjoy the great food that has been prepared for us so that we can have that energy to go out and go back to our jobs and create the great things that we've already talked about today the tide is rising and the tide is rising so that we can have you in this room and across this great university thank you for what you do have a great day and roll tide.