 Members of the Board of Trustees, Presidents Von Arks and Bavington, Bishop Cagiano, Assistant Provincial Maracchi and other religious and community leaders, Congressman Himes and other elected officials, fellow presidents and their delegates, members of the Fairfield Jesuit community, faculty and staff of Fairfield University, students of Fairfield University, alumni, friends and family. It is a great and humbling honor to welcome you all to our campus and our community. As I now have the chance to reciprocate the amazingly warm and supportive reception, Susie, our four children, Alex, Teddy, Phillip and Kit and I have received from this wonderful place. In addition to welcoming you, I would like to begin by offering a reflection on Fairfield's past as a springboard for a broader conversation about our future. As a university's ninth Ignatian but first lay leader, I am called to serve as steward of this institution with a sense of awesome responsibility. Awesome in the sense of being in awe, but also as someone who grew up in Southern California in the early 80s, awesome in the sense of being utmost excited at the prospect. A tangible sense of awe and excitement might be true for any new president, but to be asked to lead this institution at this time is truly a privilege. 2017 marks the 75th anniversary of Fairfield's founding. While any diamond jubilee is an occasion to celebrate, I would politely suggest ours is particularly unique. For when we pause a moment to reflect on Fairfield's founding date of 1942, we are struck by the audacity of our founders. Think about it. To establish an institution of learning in the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor, when both college-age students and building materials would be in short supply speaks to a deep and unceasing faith in the dignifying power of education. This faith was soon rewarded as the passage of the GI Bill greatly expanded access to higher education and allowed the fledgling Fairfield University to grow rapidly in response to many first-generation students from the region. Starting with our first college graduates in the class of 1951, we quickly expanded and developed in keeping with our founding vision as a comprehensive institution serving undergraduate and graduate populations. Recognizing the need to evolve 20 years after that first graduating class, Fairfield accepted our first class of women in 1971. Building upon this legacy and buoyed by a remarkable and dedicated community, the last 40 years have seen Fairfield on an exceptional trajectory of continued growth and enhanced impact as we seek to further serve the Northeast United States and beyond. As someone who has been described in one publication as an historically-minded political scientist, I offer this context not simply as an exercise in nostalgia, but rather as a frame for thinking about our future. I also offer it with a civilian recognition of the power and significance of civic institutions to the American experiment and to a belief that our universities have been an essential, if not arguably, the essential civic institution to the relative success of that experiment. However, currently we are at an inflection point, a point at which the long-term prospects for the American democratic experiment are by no means guaranteed, and the role of higher education as the formational, intellectual, social, and cultural institution for its citizenry is under scrutiny, as not only our relevance, but the fundamental good of our work is being questioned. Though daunting, our prospects are not bleak. In fact, I would suggest that just as the pains of the Civil War and Reconstruction and the upheaval, the late 1800s forged the 20th century university, a model which has served us for the last 125 years or so, our current environment presents us with a chance to define the next 125 years of higher education. What will the next 75, 100, 125 years look like? I won't pretend to offer an answer, let alone hazard a guess. I do, however, wish to use this occasion as a platform to begin this conversation. The world needs the work we do, but we must also, as my predecessor has stated, meet the world as it is. We must be committed to remain relevant. For Fairfield, this is a unique opportunity, an opportunity to be a model for 21st century higher education, an opportunity to be the modern Jesuit Catholic University. Thankfully, our legacy, the amazing work and dedication of previous generations of students, faculty, staff, and Jesuits means we are poised for this moment. For while I do not know what the next 75 years holds, I do know that values-based, student-centric, outcomes-focused education, the kind of education that Fairfield offers is what will define the modern university. Before I share some thoughts on the characteristics and parameters of the modern Jesuit Catholic University, let me stress, this is not a call for radical change, but rather a call for deliberate evolution. And like any organic and organizational evolution, it is about taking aspects of our being and adapting them to a changing environment. Our mission remains clear. The formation of men and women for others with the desire they pursue social justice and productive citizenship. To ensure we are most effective in this purpose, I would ask we be more deliberate about three particular characteristics of our effort and cognizant of three parameters of our work. Our efforts to be the modern Jesuit Catholic University will be defined by three characteristics. A commitment to lifelong learning, a commitment to holistic formation, and a commitment to extensive and expansive partnership. Allow me a few moments to further illuminate each and to begin by emphasizing we will embrace all three with mages, a dedication to excellence in all things. First, we must continue to recognize that we are not simply training men and women for their first job or next stage of education. Rather, we are forming them for a lifetime of learning. The world is at a remarkable moment. Advances in wellness and healthcare mean for the first time in human history the number of people over the age of 65 is greater than the number of people under the age of five. We also know that many of the bodies of knowledge and disciplines, let alone careers which will shape the next century, have yet to be developed. Practically, for Fairfield, these phenomenon mean we need to ensure all our students are not simply taught skills, but rather are instilled with a capacity that serves them for their lifetime. Additionally, it means we need to be continually growing and developing graduate and professional programs which serve students over the course of their lives. Fairfield's founding purpose as a comprehensive institution means we have always recognized this characteristic. We must now deliberately bring it to the forefront. Second, the modern Jesuit Catholic University must be committed to forming well-rounded men and women, educating them through a commitment to core personalities, caring for the mind, caring for the body, and caring for the spirit. Some might rightfully ask how modern such a concept really is, as it stems from an almost 500-year tradition of Ignatian spirituality. However, cura personalis has a uniquely modern resonance as scholars of neuroscience have begun to appreciate how the body knows its mind. In other words, learning is enhanced, education is more impactful when we recognize the connection between physicality and cognition. In recent years, we have affirmed Fairfield's commitment not just to the mind, but also the body and the spirit of our students, and must continue to do so in the years ahead. Third, to be a model for 21st century higher education, we must be expansive in efforts and extensive in outreach. Looking beyond our disciplines and our schools, we must continue to foster a multidisciplinarity which is more than simple collaborations across faculty, but rather a mindset which encourages faculty and students to pursue knowledge through a systematic inquiry which perfectly reaches for frameworks of analysis outside of one's home, discipline, and field. Again, I share these characteristics not as a suggestion to pivot from our past, but rather as a call to be deliberate about our future. In being deliberate, I ask we focus not just on the characteristics of our work, but on its parameters. For if we are to be modern, if we are to be the modern Jesuit Catholic University, we must also be national in scope, global in outlook, and unbounded in approach. Fairfield's location as a gateway to both New England and the tri-state region and our origins as an institution serving local students are two attributes of which we're justifiably proud. At the same time, however, shifting demographics, a decline in the Northeast college age population, suggests we will not be able to maintain the quality of student or scale of enrollment we desire by simply focusing where we always have. I've been asked if I'm worried that being national in scope will mean we lose something unique about Fairfield. I would propose the opposite. I fear that if we stay regionally focused, we will have to compromise on our values and on our quality. Being national in approach is essential if we are to maintain and enhance inclusive excellence. Regardless of from where our students, faculty, and staff join, to be a modern Jesuit Catholic University, we must ensure we are forming men and women with the broadest possible outlook. For while we recognize that we are an institution molded by the great advance of American higher education over these last 125 years, we are also part of a Jesuit tradition that from its very outset look beyond home nation and are part of the 21st century where excellence demands a global habit of mind. Having sat almost exactly two years ago to this day interviewing prospective graduate students in the beautiful Indo-Gothic courtyard of the Jesuit Saint Xavier's College Autonomous of the University of Mumbai, I can attest to how a setting might be foreign but our values can be so shared and so familiar. It is owing to these same values that we must also be unbounded in approach. As a Jesuit Catholic University, we are called to educate ever broader populations in ever more innovative ways. As a modern institution, we recognize that formation is not limited to the classroom. Co and extracurricular experiences are as fundamental to our overall work as seminars and lectures. Additionally, as a 21st century educational enterprise, we are blessed with tools of the digital age which offer unfathomable opportunities for impact and inclusion but which simultaneously can literally be weapons of societal decay. However, the dark side of the internet should never turn us away from its potential. Our mission demands we are continually seeking to expand our impact. We must use every resource at our disposal. Or to put it simply, I have hypothesized that none of the Jesuit community here at Fairfield have disagreed. If the internet were available in Saint Ignatius Loyola's day, you know he would have used it. You may have noticed the three characteristics and three parameters I described are not mutually exclusive. In fact, I believe they are inextricably linked. Dare I say unified. And it is with this thought that I want to close by reflecting on what it means for Fairfield to be a modern university in opposition to the postmodern multiversity. To be a university we must always celebrate and embrace the truth. Fundamental to this pursuit of truth is civil discourse and disagreement. As Robert George and Cornel West have jointly written, quote, the pursuit of knowledge and the maintenance of a free and democratic society require the cultivation and practice of the virtues of intellectual humility, openness of mind, and above all, love of truth. These virtues will manifest themselves and be strengthened by one's willingness to listen attentively and respectively to intelligent people who challenge one's belief and who represent causes one disagrees with and points of view one does not share. None of us is infallible. All of us should be willing, even eager, to engage with anyone who is prepared to do business in the currency of truth-seeking discourse by offering reasons, marshalling evidence, and making arguments. The more important the subject under discussion, the more willing we should be to listen and engage, especially if the person with whom we are in conversation will challenge or deeply held even our most cherished and identity-forming beliefs. End quote. While a statement for the modern context, George and West are also reflecting two fundamental Ignatian values, contemplation and discernment, an ability to pause, an ability to listen, an ability to think. As steward of this great university, this is my one ask, my one prayer for us all. That we as an institution, we as a community, we as a family continue to uphold our core values and commitments while embracing the challenge of being a model for the 21st century. So we may make the most of our blessings, so we may continue our rise, and so we may do so all for the greater glory of God. Thank you very much.