Much of the correspondence is from alumni who reminisce fondly about their time at Auburn, and this is no surprise. Our university is celebrated for the exceptional experience our students are offered. In an increasingly competitive higher education landscape, we are constantly looking for ways to make students’ time here even more memorable and beneficial. By providing students with an outstanding education both in and out of the classroom, we are preparing them for success in their personal and professional lives. Our students engage, influence and lead at high levels, and we’re committed to offering support and programming that will help our students succeed long after they leave the Plains.

Auburn is also becoming a go-to destination for innovations, discoveries and partnerships. Our researchers are making advancements every day, and many of them have the potential to make really big impacts on our health, safety and quality of life. A terrific example of the practical impact Auburn is making on our world is our partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice. Auburn researchers are tackling the opioid epidemic head-on by helping law enforcement stay one step ahead of new drugs that are being abused. This forensic chemistry collaboration is just one of many initiatives happening at Auburn that is focused on alleviating today’s challenges. We are also leading the way in additive manufacturing research and development. Our partnership with NASA leverages our additive manufacturing expertise to construct flight hardware to support our country’s return to the moon. Auburn is joining forces with some of the world’s most innovative private and public partners, and together, we’re improving lives and reaching new heights.

Yes, Auburn is a truly special place. No one can speak to this more than you, our incredible community of alumni. Your experiences on campus and in the classroom have enabled you to transform your world, inspire your communities and impact lives near and far. We all have Auburn stories that are waiting to be told, and we should look for every opportunity to share them. Auburn is on the move, and with your help, we’re unstoppable.

Our efforts resulted in increasing our final non-reoccurring appropriation of a little more than $168m in the Governor’s original recommendation … to nearly $184m in the conference report that was adopted, passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor. This represents an overall increase of more than $15m — slightly more than a 9 percent increase — a stark contrast to the original 5 percent recommendation. The FY20 education budget reflects the largest increase for Auburn in more than a decade, and it confirms the Legislature’s commitment to Auburn and to equitable funding for higher education.

During the last week of the legislative session, I personally met with Speaker McCutcheon, Pro Tem Marsh, House Budget Chair Poole, Senator Whatley, Rep. Lovvorn and Lt. Governor Ainsworth to reinforce our message and deliver our requests for the conference committee.  These efforts resulted in Senator Whatley being appointed to the conference committee. It also resulted in an increase in our Operations and Maintenance appropriation, which was adopted with a 6-0 vote by the conference committee, followed by adoption by the Senate on a 30-1 vote, and a final vote in the House of 100-0. It was transmitted to the Governor, and signed on May 31. In addition to our increased O & M funding, we received $1.1 million in earmarks for poultry and forest products projects. These are two areas where Auburn is already making impactful advancements, and this appropriation will ensure our great work continues.

Separately, as a result of conservative budget policies and a robust economy, we will also receive $7.8 million in Advancement & Technology funds this year. These nonrecurring funds have statutory restrictions, but may be used to purchase technology and equipment which will be utilized by the Office of Information and Technology.
Overall, I am pleased to report that we had a successful legislative session. This was a result of our combined efforts, aggressive messaging and presence during the session. We had a direct impact on this budget process, an impact that will also affect future budgets. Our efforts were most certainly amplified by Trustee Rane’s involvement. Trustee Rane — you were a catalyst who helped move the needle in Auburn’s favor, and we appreciate your leadership in this effort.

And while I am not taking credit for any of our success during the legislative session … I WILL take credit for hiring Steve Pelham. Steve was truly instrumental in this process, and his expertise and relationships with our legislators have proven to be incredibly valuable to Auburn.

Moving forward, our priority is to be fully engaged with decision-makers. This will afford us the opportunity to contribute to future budget discussions on the front end, as well as play a key role in developing alternative budget models for consideration. I have been assured Auburn will have a seat at the table when future budget decisions are made regarding higher education. We will continue to be good stewards of our appropriated resources and set the standard by which all others are measured regarding performance and utilization of public resources.

We can advocate for Auburn in more ways than participating in budget decisions. Sometimes, legislators in Montgomery and influencers across the state need a reminder of how much Auburn does to move our great state forward. To make sure Auburn stays top of mind, in May, we launched a campaign called Advancing Alabama. The goal of the campaign is to ensure we make it well known the tremendous positive impact Auburn makes on our state.

To support this strategic effort, former Foundation Board chair Jeff Stone penned a wonderful opinion piece for us that ran on AL.com. For the past few weeks, we have leveraged the university’s social media accounts and website to promote stories about the many ways Auburn benefits the state.

For example, Auburn advances Alabama through research, and to illustrate, we shared how Bill Walton, a marine scientist in the College of Agriculture, is the driving force behind the up-and-coming off-bottom oyster farming industry. Last year, he received a $450,000 grant from the USDA to continue his research. His work is not only providing valuable information and assistance to Gulf Coast oyster famers, its ensuring that the oysters we eat are safe and high-quality.

Auburn also advances Alabama through opportunity. Our land-grant charge mandates us to always consider our students’ needs alongside the state of Alabama’s needs, and because of this, we are committed to offering innovative and responsive degrees. The wildlife industry is growing by leaps and bounds, and there is a strong demand for professionals with field-based practical knowledge. As an answer to this increasing demand, Auburn now offers a degree in wildlife enterprise management. There is only one other school that has this type of degree program, and we are the only one in the Southeast. Our graduates will hit the ground running in this emerging sector of our economy.
I encourage you to visit auburn.edu/advancingalabama to learn more. Auburn has a robust portfolio of research, outreach and innovation. It’s one of the reasons we achieved the R1 Carnegie Research designation, and it’s one of the reasons we are steadily increasing our national visibility. We know the countless initiatives underway and groundbreaking discoveries that happen at Auburn every day, but it’s important to show others the tremendous impact they have on our state when viewed in totality.

We’ve asked deans and key administrators to incorporate these messages in all of their communications. We’ve also tasked them with looking for every opportunity to elevate the work happening in their college, school or campus unit so we may amplify their contributions.

There is a card in front of you that we created to complement this campaign. As you can see, we are emphasizing three top-level facts:

• Auburn educates more Alabama students than any other university in the world.
• Auburn is the top-ranked public institution in the state of Alabama.
• And for every $1 the state invests in Auburn, we give back an impressive $8 return.

Auburn produces game-changing graduates, and we do it exceptionally well. The vast majority of our students are Alabamians, and many of them will stay in the state to lead in Alabama’s growing innovation economy. Many of them will leverage their creative and entrepreneurial spirit — one that was honed here at Auburn — to launch businesses of their own and help support our state’s workforce. Auburn has a track record of graduating students who go on to engage, influence and lead in their professions and communities, and our reputation for this gets stronger every day.

Many of those graduates participated in athletics while at Auburn, and we know this greatly enhances their student experience and gives them a solid foundation for success. Seventy-six of our spring graduates were student-athletes. They are competitors in their sports, but they’re also highly competitive in the classroom. Last month, it was announced that nine of our athletic teams received perfect academic progress scores, which is how the NCAA measures how student-athletes are progressing toward graduation. If considering the average academic progress rates over the past four years, Auburn leads the SEC in teams scoring in the top ten percent. This is a huge accomplishment, and it speaks to the dedication of our student-athletes and the commitment our athletics staff and faculty have to their success.

One thing we know for sure, is that all our graduates emerge armed with an exceptional education and the support of our tight-knit network of accomplished alumni. They graduate from Auburn prepared to succeed in their careers and in life.

Just last month, nearly 4,500 students graduated from Auburn. They’re our largest graduating class in university history, and they’re the first class to graduate from Auburn since it became an R1 institution. Graduation is a special time for everyone on campus. It’s a culmination of the Auburn student experience and it’s the realization of our mission. It’s also a tremendous accomplishment for our students. They’re graduating from the top-ranked national university in the state, they’re graduating from a top-tier research university, and they’re graduating from a university committed to increasing the value of their degree long after they leave campus.

This year, we were incredibly fortunate to have two of our most accomplished alums share their wisdom and experience with our graduates: Paul Jacobson, who as you know is a wonderful friend to Auburn, and Ron Sanders, another outstanding Auburn success story. While their careers have led them down very different paths, the Auburn experience is a common theme along their road to success. We are grateful they were able to give the commencement addresses, and I am also grateful for the Trustees who were able to attend this wonderful occasion.

Students are our state’s biggest economic resource, but Auburn advances Alabama in many other ways. Auburn’s impressive return on investment is touted in the Advancing Alabama campaign, but this data is from our last economic impact study, which was several years ago. $8 back for every one dollar is superb, but we are estimating that figure to be even higher. It would perhaps be more accurate to say that Auburn gives the state around $10 back for every dollar invested in the university. That’s incredible, and we should not be shy about sharing Auburn’s value.

Our research endeavors are an excellent example of how we add value to our state. This is why we remain committed to expanding our research park and the expertise and offerings available there. This month, we will begin construction on the 100,000 square foot Innovation and Research Center. We expect approximately 300 full-time jobs to be created when the center is complete. Later this summer, in August, we’ll begin work on the new health sciences facility, which is a result of our collaboration with East Alabama Medical Center. Both of these new offerings will be huge assets to our region, and we are excited about future growth and opportunity in the research park.
We want to continue to grow our research enterprise, as research is a key tenet of our mission and it informs our instruction. Last month, we were thrilled to have the opportunity to gain insight into trends in the growth and development of research parks as exemplified by those in the Raleigh-Durham area. 

For those of you who weren’t able to join us, I’ll share a few highlights of our trip. We toured a few of the research parks in the area. They contain mixed-use space housing offices, start-up and entrepreneurial ventures, as well as retail and residential developments. We learned more about their focus on innovation, as well as more about the evolution of research parks from spread out campuses, to more dense locations with a mixture of academic, research, corporate and retail operations in nearby.

The primary focal point of the tour was our visit to NC State’s Centennial Campus. It’s home to 70 companies, government agencies and nonprofits, and it offers a unique mix of corporate and university buildings. This tour gave us a firsthand look at a large and robust research park, as well as how other institutions are building research collaborations and industry partnerships.

All in all, it was a very informative trip, and I believe we came back to Auburn with a renewed perspective and fresh ideas on how to move our research park and industry partnerships forward. Thank you to the Trustees who joined us. Your input and expertise are very valuable, and I’m grateful you were able to make the trip.
We have a full agenda today, so I’ll wrap things up. Before I close, I want to take a moment to recognize Dean June Henton, who is retiring after three decades as dean of the College of Human Sciences. She did incredible work to advance the college, including elevating Auburn’s role in the fight against world hunger. We are grateful for her leadership and wish her well as she enters retirement.

Last month, we announced that Dr. Susan Hubbard was selected as the new Dean of the College of Human Sciences, effective July 1. We had a national search for Dean Henton’s successor, and we identified quickly that Susan was the best candidate for the job. Susan has been the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the college since 2006, and she brings robust experience as an administrator and as an advocate for students. We are excited to see where the college is headed under her leadership.

I could spend the rest of the morning talking about the growth and progress at Auburn, but we have other agenda items. I thank you for all you do to keep our great university moving forward. Thank you for your time. I’m happy to answer any questions.

I hear the enrollment in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources is now at an all-time record. Coming from someone who has personally experienced the rigors of its programs, that is a testament to your leadership and to your faculty. Students, especially today’s college students, are drawn to programs where they not only see their own success, but understand and appreciate the impact a program has on the world. Success and impact are traits of powerful programs. I’m pleased to know they are as strong today as they were when I was here.

When we talk about powerful leaders, Dean Worrilow remains an influential figure in the history of both education and agriculture, and his connection to the state’s farmers and producers continues to shape our field. His loyalty—first to the people who worked the land, second to the state he advocated for so passionately, and third to his vision for the university and its students—was steadfast and unwavering. This award represents a commitment to carrying forward Dean Worrilow’s inspiring vision for agriculture, business and higher education. To be selected by my fellow alumni for this singular honor is both incredibly humbling and truly a highlight of my career, second only to being selected as Auburn’s president.

You would be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t agree that Dean Worrilow left an indelible mark on this university and an even more permanent impact on the agricultural economy in Delaware. His approach to translating discovery into knowledge and knowledge into practice is the very essence of a land-grant university. Although our world has changed greatly since Dean Worrilow’s time, he was very clear and intentional in the course he set for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources: to be a land-grant program in all aspects of the word. That charge has not wavered in the years that have followed. Our common charge remains the same.

If we really think about it, the land-grant university is the epitome of American idealism. It is the academic manifestation of America’s ideals of possibility and opportunity. Justin Morrill advocated for this when he defined his new approach to education. The idea that a university could run counter to the practices of our country was unprecedented at a time when only a handful of elite universities educated the privileged few in disciplines that were, for lack of a better term, impractical and unimportant to the overwhelming majority of the country. He advocated for access to training and education, and for a nimbleness that allowed for the focus of our universities to be determined by the people we served.

Because of land-grant institutions, America reinvented itself by giving citizens access to a practical education that would not only improve their lives, but would strengthen their communities and boost economic opportunity. These institutions shared two common qualities that set them apart: access and affordability. Access to education that allowed for research and economic growth, and affordability for families who had long been viewed as unworthy of higher education. It transformed small colleges into institutions, and towns into hubs of discovery.

The Morrill Act brought a sea change to our country’s approach to education and economic prosperity. Universal standards and approaches to primary and secondary schooling came to symbolize American values at the turn of the 20th century. State university systems were established and supported. After World War II, the GI Bill built upon these ideas, expanding access to education to even more Americans and reaffirming that service was a value to be highly regarded.

Despite our successes, it sometimes seems as though the ideals and goals of the land-grant system are failing. The narrative that college is the only path to economic opportunity has led our students to borrow money at unprecedented levels to attend college. To earn the salary necessary to repay their loans, students must transition from rural places to urban areas where salaries are higher and opportunities are often greater and more diverse. As universities broaden their reach to try and bring more students to college, they are competing against rising costs of research, instruction and outreach. This competition has led many institutions to lose sight of these ideals in favor of affluent students and programs that are less about impact and more about optics.

When you add to that the growing dialogue questioning the true value of college, it’s not hard to see why education has become less of a characteristic of the public good and more of a consumer product that must be purchased rather than earned. If we ever want to look at an example of that greed, we need not look any further than the college admissions scandals that have shaken higher education to its core. The idea that a college education can be bought is against the very essence of land-grants: access and affordability.

Despite the actions of some institutions who have seemingly lost touch with their missions, the focus of land-grant universities has not changed. We remain committed to access and affordability. In fact, I believe that our intended impact has undergone a seismic shift. If anything, we have intensified our commitment to expanding educational access through non-traditional means, fostering research with practical applications and outreach that improves the public good and strengthens our communities.

College has traditionally been paramount to upward socioeconomic mobility. An education grounded in practical application opens doors, especially for first-generation students. By giving educational opportunities to a broad range of people, we are able to identify and nurture diamonds in the rough. Elite private universities don’t have this opportunity. They are given a select few of students who have far surpassed their peers. There is never a doubt of their future success. For them, there’s not much accomplishment that comes with graduating the top 10 percent. I don’t know about you, but I would sooner hire a student who understands the value of hard work and impact over someone with the highest GPA who can’t articulate the impact that knowledge can have on a community.

But as land-grants, we get a chance to mold the student who hails from a community with one stoplight and a few hundred people. We get to build the capacity of the student who has never sat through an AP or honors course, who likely had few opportunities in the classroom other than the bare minimum offerings required in public schools. So, when we see that promising student latch onto a new idea, nurture that idea and make it their own, it’s infinitely more meaningful — to us as educators and to them as citizens of the world. Because when you put that promising student from Robertsdale, Alabama, at a land-grant institution like Auburn, and he is mentored and given the tools to succeed, he becomes CEO Tim Cook from Apple, one of the world’s most visionary and successful companies in the world.

Only 14 of the 100 CEOs on the Fortune 100 list attended Ivy League universities. The overwhelming majority are products of public universities, and most graduated from land-grant universities. So not only are land-grants educating a broader base of students, our students are going on to find more success.

But we don’t just create opportunity in the classroom. We create opportunity in our communities. We play a critical role in revitalizing and sustaining our communities. Land-grant universities are a trusted, tried-and-true resource for solving problems and addressing citizens’ concerns. We’re the universities in our states that roll up our sleeves and get to work, no matter how daunting the task or how few resources we have. We see challenges as opportunities.

Just as we should view higher education as an investment instead of a commodity, we should measure our success as a land-grant by our impact rather than our rankings. Sure, we make a tremendous impact through education. Land-grants produce capable and service-oriented graduates who, as individuals, make great contributions to our society. And we have an obligation to find and prioritize research that responds to the demands and desires of our communities and helps put them on the path to a prosperous future. Land-grants across the country are making great strides in alleviating health disparities, making our country safer, transforming the workforce, increasing our knowledge of society and discovering solutions.

But land-grants are distinguished from our peers in higher education because we are charged with not only instruction and discovery, but in delivery. We are charged with harnessing academic discovery, extracting the practical purpose of our findings and putting it in the hands of those who need it most. We do this in several ways, including through Extension and partnerships.

Our most important partners are the people who call our states home. It’s often said that Extension is the front door to the university, and Extension efforts are extremely important in our communities. They hand-deliver our innovations and give the land-grant university a constant presence across the state.

At Auburn, our award-winning Alabama Cooperative Extension System continues to search for novel ways to serve our citizens. For example, more people in our region of Alabama are interested in becoming farmers. Many of them are first-generation farmers. To help these budding farmers get started, our Extension offers a free, online Farming Basics course. This groundbreaking approach to delivering best practices will make an impact on both new and experienced farmers.

You most likely heard about the devastating tornadoes that touched ground in our community last month. Extension is playing a crucial role in the long-term recovery by serving as a home base for resources. The expertise offered by Extension encompasses everything from coping with the disaster-induced grief and stress, to avoiding mistakes during the rebuilding process.

Dean Worrilow understood the value of Extension as much as anyone. His years spent on the ground as an Extension agent informed his vision for the college. He was incredibly in sync with the farmers across Delaware, and even after becoming an administrator, he never lost that connection. He recognized the importance of the two-way flow of information Extension provides the land-grant.

He knew that Extension works for us as much as it does for our communities. This is something that I know well, too. I got my start in Extension, right out of college, and still do today, as president of a land-grant university. I understand how deeply important this relationship is to every facet of the university. As land-grants, we are charged with delivering solutions that work for our citizens and not advancing knowledge simply for knowledge’s sake. Our citizens direct us to the challenges they face. We deliver, and it’s what keeps us relevant. We simply cannot fulfill our mission without this cycle of engagement, without this collaborative approach to problem-solving. We might not always have an answer, but we can get to work on finding one. The search for a solution enhances curriculum, drives our faculty and researchers, and helps our communities to thrive.

We also partner with others who are at work in our communities. Innovation is behind forward economic momentum, and game-changing innovations happen at land-grant universities every day. Partnerships are vital to the work we do. It’s the mission of land-grant universities to be relevant to the state’s economy. To not just prepare the workforce for the demands of the marketplace, but to advance the workforce through innovations, entrepreneurship and technology transfer.

The model of economic development has shifted toward partnerships. This is why state and municipalities rely on the land-grant university. We don’t have things to give away like tax breaks. Economic development used to be about what a community gives away. It was somewhat of an arms race to see who could give away the most in tax breaks and other incentives. The most successful economic development initiatives today are sustainable for the long-term because they’re true partnerships. And we have so much more to offer our partners than financial incentives. We offer solutions to industry challenges.

Ten, 20 years ago, universities tended to work in silos. We discovered that one of the best ways to further our work on campus was to join forces with the partners who stand to benefit the most from our discoveries. Now, we work in tandem with partners who are investing in our communities.

Auburn’s partnership with GE Aviation is an excellent example of this investment. When GE was looking to use additive manufacturing in their jet engine manufacturing processes, they knew Auburn could help. And our innovations have helped GE streamline their production process and improve the efficiency of jet engine fuel nozzles. By working with Auburn, GE is benefitting from our years of research and discovery, and we’re getting to refine and improve our knowledge. The company announced last month that they were investing $50 million more in the facility and were creating even more jobs. It’s a win for our students because they’re learning from the people developing the technology. It’s a win for GE because they’re increasing production. And it’s a win for the state of Alabama because GE is bringing more jobs and investing more money.

The aerospace industry is a huge contributor to our state, and it’s an area where the state of Alabama has taken the lead … and Auburn is working to ensure we stay in the lead. As land-grant universities, economic development is in our DNA. Our efforts drive job creation and economic development, and it connects our students and researchers with a workforce seeking discoveries to increase their value in the marketplace.

Community investment is something that you at the University of Delaware know very well. Your STAR Campus is a model for economic revitalization everywhere. By giving students practical skills through education and providing solutions for business and industry through applied research, you are igniting economic growth by creating a tech-savvy, skilled workforce that will continue to provide for your state for years to come. It’s the very essence of the land-grant mission, all housed in a site that many thought was no longer useful.

The STAR Campus is a model for initiatives at many universities across the country, including Auburn. At the Auburn Research Park, we’re offering organizations the chance to locate their operations adjacent to Auburn’s campus, so they have easy access to faculty expertise and talented students. We’re creating an area of convergence for research, innovation, entrepreneurship and the arts. It’s a new and dynamic ecosystem in our region, one where the intersection of disciplines and talent can inspire novel solutions.

As land-grant universities, our charge is simple. We serve our communities through instruction, we discover through research and we improve lives through outreach. But we must not lose sight that this starts at home. If we aren’t engaged in our communities, we will never be relevant anywhere else. The University of Delaware must put Delaware first — just as we at Auburn should put Alabama first. I know that will certainly be Auburn’s focus as we rebuild Lee County in the coming months and years.

The challenges we face are grand, and their scope is complex and diverse. While land-grants have remained largely unchanged over the past 150-plus years, we must now stand to make an even greater impact on an increasingly global society. And for this reason, I think we must now double-down on our land-grant mission, creating opportunity through each pillar. This re-commitment must drive our decisions in order to fuel our future. By focusing on access and affordability, on driving our economies and partnering with those with the greatest need and biggest potential impact, we will not only reaffirm the value of higher education, but we will play a crucial role in making our communities, states, nation and world thrive.

Thank you again for this incredible honor and for the opportunity to speak to you tonight.

I just returned Wednesday from a National Science Board meeting and my participation will pay great dividends for Auburn in the coming years. We met with the new director of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology policy, and we learned which big initiatives the White House will be pouring money into.

These priorities are additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, biotech and cybersecurity — all of these priorities fall right in line with Auburn’s strengths, and I’m really pleased about this.

First, I’m glad everyone here is seated, because what I’m about to say is going to surprise those who think things move slowly at Auburn.

The sense of urgency we have been creating is showing up everywhere, including dealing with our difficult parking situation. There has been tremendous progress on the College Street parking deck which was due to open around Labor Day in time for football season So much progress, in fact, that the deck is set to be completed by Memorial Day. And hopefully that schedule is a trend that will continue.

That project has moved along really quickly and these additional spaces will alleviate some of the demand on campus for parking spaces.

In other news … our athletics teams have continued their runs of success. There is some tough competition in the SEC—in all sports—but Auburn continues to be a fierce competitor.

Trustee Lanier and I spent last Saturday morning with our top-ranked equestrian team before their meet. And when you’re around our equestrian team, there is no doubt why they are the No. 1 team in the country right now. They are a dedicated group ­with a ton of talent, and Coach Williams does an outstanding job of leading the team.  As you may recall we are investing around $5 million in new and updated facilities for the Equestrian team and it was good for the two of us to walk those facilities together.

We are incredibly fortunate to have such great leaders for our athletics teams. Coach Williams, Coach Pearl, Coach Flo and all of our coaching staff continue to exemplify strong leadership and what it means to win with integrity. They’re active in the community, they’re involved on campus and they are great role models for our athletes and our younger fans.

And I’ll say this again, because it is most certainly worth repeating—we want our athletes to be just as successful off the court as they are in competition. Preparing all our students for success in their professional and personal lives is what we do best.

We always aim to be nimble and responsive to our students’ needs. And today, we are aware more than ever that our young people often face challenges that can be alleviated through counseling, and like most schools, we struggle to be fully staffed in this area.

In response, we will soon have two full-time psychiatrists on staff. We already have one, and we’re working to add another. Having psychiatrists on staff is a tremendous resource for our students. They don’t have to leave campus to see a medical professional who can also prescribe any needed medication.

In addition, we are taking a new approach by having Human Resources keep a job posting for a counselor open 24/7. We almost always have a need for additional support, and this way we will have a pool of applicants ready for us. And, by keeping the position open all the time, we won’t miss out on great candidates because we don’t have a posting advertised.

As a land-grant university, we are always focused on our students, but we also have a charge to serve the state of Alabama. One of the ways we do that is by serving as an economic driver for the state.

We are a force for good in our economy because we take Auburn expertise and combine it with the strengths of our partners in business and industry. And we’re thrilled to have Steve Pelham on board to help us continue to grow our economic development endeavors.

Most of you already know Steve from his work in the governor’s office. And you also know he brings with him contacts, relationships and the experience he’s gained over the years through his work in government, business and industry.  He had a large role in running the state and I am thrilled he is here to help us run his alma mater.

Auburn is a partnership university that is open for business, and Steve’s expertise will be valuable to us as we continue to advance the state of Alabama.

I recently had the opportunity to spotlight our work to keep the state’s economy moving forward by speaking at the Economic Development Association of Alabama’s winter conference.

The attendees were able to hear about initiatives we have underway at Auburn that stand to really make a big impact on Alabama’s economy, including our work in additive manufacturing with NASA and GE, our emphasis on entrepreneurial development and support, and the ways we’re working to keep people safe and secure.

I also had the opportunity to attend the APLU board meeting last week. We’re a big player in APLU and our leadership there sends a strong signal to our peers that Auburn is on the move. In fact, we now lead the southern cluster of APLU’S Center for Public University Transformation.  It’s another opportunity for us to increase our visibility.

Everyone in this room knows the incredible things that are happening at Auburn, and we want to take every opportunity to share this any way we can.

We have a full agenda today, and it’s full of things that stand to shape the future of our university. I’ll wrap things up so we can get to it.

I thank you for all you do to keep our great university moving forward. Thank you for your time. I’m happy to answer any questions.

This is something you probably wouldn’t expect the president of Auburn University to stand here and say, but the state of Alabama is tremendously fortunate to have Auburn and the UA system as valuable resources and trusted partners. And we are pleased to partner with the UA system. Except for one Saturday in November.

But all jokes aside, we are working together for a common goal, and that’s to move our state forward. We’re also fortunate to have strong support from our lawmakers at the state and federal level. Together, we cultivate and develop our biggest economic resource—our students. It’s fantastic that our students don’t have to leave the state to receive a world-class education.

And at Auburn, our main focus has always been, and will always continue to be, our students. We are constantly looking for ways to increase our students’ chances for success after they graduate from Auburn. We have the highest job placement rating of any university in the state. And that’s because students are our number-one focus. Auburn provides them with an exceptional education to prepare them for their personal and professional lives.

Our students engage, influence and lead at high levels, and our emphasis on service and leadership helps them develop the skills employers are seeking. Employers tell us that our graduates show up on day one with a tremendous work ethic, a willingness to learn and a strong character—traits we know are essential for success. Industry leaders seek out Auburn alumni for their professionalism, leadership, commitment to teamwork and for the immediate contributions they make in the workplace.

We’re aiming to prepare them not just for the jobs in demand today, but for the jobs that will be in demand tomorrow. By looking at what’s emerging, what’s going to be the next big thing, we make sure that our students graduate ready to lead. So, when another large corporation or innovative startup is looking for an ideal location to set up shop, the state of Alabama is at the top of the list because of the quality of the workforce.

Auburn students graduate with practical skills and they can contribute immediately to the economy. Our state is also at the top of the list because they know Auburn is a trusted academic partner that will deliver innovative solutions to the challenges they face.

Auburn plays a unique and very significant role in our state’s economic landscape. As a land-grant university, economic development is in our DNA. It’s what makes communities prosper and citizens thrive. We continue to be an economic driver for our state because of our commitment to excellence, our students who engage, influence and lead, research that delivers real-world benefits, and our community engagement that serves the social good.

Innovation is behind the forward momentum in our state, and game-changing innovations happen at Auburn every day. Partnerships are vital to the work we do at Auburn. Auburn is uniquely positioned as a land-grant university in the state of Alabama. It’s the mission of land-grant universities to be relevant to the state’s economy. To not just prepare the workforce for the demands of the marketplace, but to advance the workforce through innovations and academic discovery.

Ten or 20 years ago, universities tended to work in silos. We discovered that the best way to further our work on campus was to join forces with the partners who stand to benefit the most from our discoveries. Now, we work in tandem with partners who are investing in Alabama. We’re addressing the complex problems facing our state, region and nation, and we’re fulfilling Auburn’s land-grant mission in new and powerful ways.

A great example is additive manufacturing and our partnership with GE Aviation. So, when GE was looking to use additive in their jet engine manufacturing processes, they knew Auburn could help. And our innovations have helped GE streamline their production process and improve the efficiency of jet engine fuel nozzles. By working with GE, they’re benefitting from our years of research and discovery, and we’re getting to refine and improve our knowledge. It’s a win for our students because they’re learning from the people developing the technology. It’s a win for GE, because they’re increasing production. And it’s a win for the state, because GE is bringing more jobs and investing more money.

The aerospace industry is a huge contributor to our state, and it’s an area where the state of Alabama has taken the lead, and Auburn is working to ensure we stay in the lead. We have a partnership with NASA that leverages our additive manufacturing expertise to build components for the next generation of spacecraft. It’s incredibly exciting that Auburn is directly supporting our country’s efforts to send humans back to the Moon.

Another way we’re responding to an industry need is through our partnership with Delta. Airlines are facing a wave of retirements over the next few years, and they’re in need of the next generation of pilots who are trained using the latest technology. Auburn has trained pilots for more than 75 years. So, it was only natural that we joined forces. Delta now offers our students the opportunity to participate in the Delta Propel Pilot Career Path Program. Students who are selected are matched with a mentor from Delta, and they’re given a qualified job offer and an accelerated timeline to become a Delta pilot.

We’re also working with Delta to solve some of the challenges they face. Auburn is a leader in radio-frequency identification technology, or RFID, and we’ve been able to help Delta use RFID to improve the efficiency and safety of air travel. Now that they’re using RFID, airline employees can walk through the cabin of an airplane and in one minute, know they’re missing a life vest from seat 21D. Or it might say the oxygen mask on seat 14C needs to be swapped out. The process of checking and double-checking was time-consuming and costly, and there is always the possibility of human error. By leveraging RFID technology, we’ve addressed those two challenges the airlines were facing—and we’re saving them money.

Our relationship with Delta has been tremendous for our students, and it’s been an asset to them, for sure. And our partnership keeps growing. In November, we opened the Delta Air Lines Education building, so now our students are benefitting from the best facilities possible and they’re learning from the best.

Auburn is a huge contributor to our state’s innovation economy in other areas, too. We are zeroing in on several innovative ways to impact the health and safety of our citizens. We’re making groundbreaking strides in health sciences, cyber security, agriculture, advanced manufacturing, and many other areas that have practical impact.

A great example of this is the Auburn dog. Our Canine Performance Sciences program produces and trains dogs that are considered the gold standard in explosive detection dogs. Auburn dogs detect and follow the vapors that are released from explosives, weapons of mass destruction, deadly chemical agents and other safety threats.

These dogs are trained using technology developed at Auburn, and they’re being used to keep crowds safe at large-scale events like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. Amtrak uses them and so does the New York Police Department’s Counterterrorism unit. They’re at work in federal buildings across the country.

We’re keeping people safe in other ways, too. Our pharmacy school has partnered with the Justice Department on a forensic chemistry program. It helps law enforcement stay one step ahead of new drugs that are being abused. Opioid abuse is a widespread epidemic in our country, and Auburn is working hard to address it.

A lot of Auburn’s research is focused on addressing challenges that are felt around the world, we always place a priority on initiatives that stand to make a tremendous impact at home. We always ask, “What is best for our students?” And we always ask, “What is best for the state of Alabama?”

Our Rural Studio program recently teamed up with Fannie Mae to increase access to home ownership in some of Alabama’s most underserved rural communities. We wanted to make this partnership even stronger, even more impactful, so we invested seed money in the project. We’re combining teaching, research and service, and as a result, our communities are prosperous and have more opportunity. Our resources and combined talents can make a huge difference in our communities.

As a land-grant university, economic development is in our DNA. We really place a high emphasis on entrepreneurial activity. We are trying to create an atmosphere where ideas can percolate and really take off. Nowhere is this more evident than the growth we are seeing in Auburn Research Park. We’re offering organizations the chance to locate their operations adjacent to Auburn’s campus, so they have easy access to faculty expertise and talented students. We’re creating an area of convergence for research, innovation, entrepreneurship and the arts. It’s a new and dynamic ecosystem where the intersection of disciplines and talent can inspire novel solutions.

You might have heard that we are hiring 500 new faculty members. And as we recruit and onboard these new faculty members, we are being very strategic. We’re looking to add faculty who have existing relationships with private and public partners—faculty who have venture capital. We’re looking to bring people to Auburn who are doing great work in areas where we can make the most impact.

Auburn’s role in economic development makes communities prosper and citizens thrive. And research is behind the innovations that make our lives better. Our role as an economic driver extends far beyond the confines of campus. When we engage with our communities and partners, it improves the world around us.

And our most important partners are the people of the state of Alabama. We reach them through outreach and extension. I like to say that outreach and extension are the front doors to Auburn, and their efforts are extremely important in our communities. They hand-deliver our innovations and give Auburn a presence in every Alabama county.

Our award-winning cooperative extension continues to search for novel ways to serve our citizens. For example, more people in our region are interested in becoming farmers. Many of them are first-generation farmers. To help these budding farmers get started, Extension offers a free, online Farming Basics course. This groundbreaking approach to delivering best practices will make an impact on both new and experienced farmers.

Auburn’s Extension efforts are also nimble and responsive. After Hurricane Michael ripped through the Florida Panhandle and Alabama’s Wiregrass region last October, our experts responded to the very real and immediate need close to home. Auburn experts were on the ground to assess the estimated $204 million in direct damage and $307 million in agricultural losses.

Outreach is also on the ground in our communities to improve the quality of life for our citizens. Our initiatives are helping thousands of children in Alabama’s most underserved areas improve their performance in school and increase their college readiness. Outreach is forging new school partnerships to make attending college a realistic goal for hundreds of economically disadvantaged—but academically promising—Alabama students.

We reach more than 20,000 people each year through Outreach’s continuing education initiatives. Through tailored programming, Auburn is serving a variety of constituencies, ranging from veterans and their families, to our community’s senior citizens. An interdisciplinary team is tackling obesity, a problem faced by more than a third of our state’s population. We are committed to improving the quality of life in our state, and our resources and combined talents can make a huge difference here in Alabama.

We are also committed to expanding our role as a partnership university. The investments we’re making today in our state will allow us to collaborate with a broader range of organizations tomorrow. We are bringing on several accomplished leaders who are going to make partnering with Auburn even more attractive. This week, I’m excited to welcome our new Vice President for Economic Development and Chief of Staff Steve Pelham. You all know him from his work in the governor’s office as chief of staff.

We’re really excited to have his expertise and perspective at Auburn.

Before I turn things back over to Jackson, I close with this. Auburn is moving forward. I say it often, but I want everyone to know. Auburn is moving forward, and we are committed to moving our partners forward, including the state of Alabama. Together, we are headed for a bright and prosperous future.

Thank you again for inviting me to speak to you today. It was great to be with you.

• We capped off an incredible year by achieving one of our biggest institutional goals: attaining Carnegie R1 status. This boost to Auburn’s prestige will create even more opportunities for our students, faculty and staff through new partnerships and funding, increased visibility, and more.

• The campus community continues to work toward our goal of fostering a diverse and inclusive environment. Our Critical Conversations speaker series brought thought leaders to Auburn to spark this crucial dialogue, and upcoming events like this month’s Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Week are helping us become an even more connected community.

• And because of these accomplishments and endeavors—and many others—the Auburn Family spirit continues to soar. We cheered for our football team as they closed the season with a tremendous, record-setting bowl win. The early-season success of our basketball teams leaves no doubt that 2019 will be another fantastic year for Auburn athletics.

It’s a great time to be at Auburn. Our accomplishments are many, and our future is bright. Welcome back—we’re glad you’re here.

War Eagle!
Steven Leath
Auburn University President

It is my honor and privilege to report on the state of our university. Because of your efforts and the collective excellence of the Auburn Family, the state of our university has never been stronger.

Actually, the state of the university is not an accurate representation of today’s remarks, because what we’re talking about, and what you’re most interested in hearing, is what the future holds for our great university. Auburn is on the move, and today, we’ll talk about how we are working to maintain — and maximize — our forward momentum. Janet and I have been at Auburn for nearly 18 months now, long enough to see the signs of progress that are sweeping across our campus. While it might not always seem so, things are moving at a quicker pace, with a sense of increased urgency. I like to think it’s a renewed commitment to our land-grant mission. It’s doubling-down on our instruction mission. It’s an acknowledgement of our charge to discover practical solutions to the world’s immediate problems. In March, we articulated a vision for Auburn, a vision that is ambitious, and one that requires us to strengthen our commitment to better serving the state of Alabama. We indicated that our goal is for Auburn to become a world-class academic, research and service university in the true spirit of our landgrant heritage, and to become an undisputed go-to destination for that special caliber of student, faculty, staff and development partner driven to make a meaningful impact on the state of Alabama, the nation and the world.

So yes, as a university, we have set our sights on something greater. Fortunately, we are entering this new era for Auburn from a position of strength. The university is coming from a period of successful leadership under Dr. Gogue. But now, we face a bigger challenge. We must capture the momentum of a university on the move. And that’s what we’re doing.

But let’s back up a little bit. Let’s talk about what it truly means to be a land-grant university. When Justin Morrill, a congressman from Vermont, envisioned this new approach to education and the government’s role in it, it was a forward-thinking idea conceived in reaction to a radically shifting economy and society. At the time, universities were only accessible to a privileged few. As the son of a blacksmith, Morrill knew firsthand the importance of a practical education, one that focused on bringing practical solutions to provide the workforce the skills to fuel the modern economy. Land-grant universities have broadened their focus to include more than just agriculture and mechanical arts, but their roles as creators of economic opportunity are as strong today as in 1862.

While land-grants were created to fill a societal need, students were — and still are — at the center of the instruction, research and outreach mission. And it is with the students that I start today.

For us to fulfill our mission, we must seize opportunities to expand our reach. It’s how we will harness our forward momentum. Our students are our institution’s best ambassadors because they combine their knowledge with a desire to serve the greater good.

Here are a few quick facts about our student body:

• Our enrollment reached 30,440 this fall. This number, while the largest in our institution’s history, increased in part because we have strong retention rates and more of our own employees are pursuing degrees at Auburn.
• We didn’t increase our number of freshmen. We did, however, admit and enroll a more academically prepared class than last year.
• Almost 60% of Auburn undergraduates are from the state of Alabama. We educate more students from Alabama than any other university in the world.
• 12.3% of our new freshmen and 31.8% of our new transfer students are first-generation college students.
• Applications were up by 21 percent last year. The demand for the Auburn experience remains high. But data also tell the story of opportunities we can seize. As an Alabama land-grant university, we can seize the opportunity to reach more students in our state, to make an impact at home.

What opportunities am I talking about? Let me give you more context. Better decisions are made when more voices and perspectives are heard, and that’s why Auburn should prepare students to be citizens of the world. And this requires an education that mimics the real world. Diversity and inclusion should not just be considered a goal. Rather, it should be considered a value essential to the success of our students and our university. Demographers say we are only five to six years away from a noticeable decrease in the number of high school graduates here in the Southeast.

So, when it comes to crafting enrollment goals, we must be mindful and strategic. We must more fully seize opportunities that exist with dual enrollment, transfer and nontraditional students. To do this, we are overhauling our student recruitment efforts, including the way we market Auburn to prospective students. We’re being more intentional about the way we create academic opportunities, making sure they’re inclusive and meet the needs of all types of students. This includes exploring more partnerships with two-year schools and expanding our online programs. These efforts will ensure we continue to recruit, enroll and retain the special caliber of student we want at Auburn. After all, by engaging with our students, we are recruiting and building relationships with our future alumni.

An opportunity to gain diverse perspectives and better serve our state is in front of us, but African American enrollment has been stagnant. In response, the Offices of Inclusion and Diversity and Enrollment Services are strategically developing and implementing programs to strengthen the pipeline into Auburn for both in-state and out-of-state students. Through a series of recruitmentbased efforts, we are exploring a tailored approach to reinforcing our brand among multicultural, diverse and first-generation prospective students. And, Enrollment Services is working to increase access for Pell-eligible and first-generation students to minimize one barrier to reaching all of our state’s top students.

Our Critical Conversations series has helped spark a very important dialogue on campus, but we must not let our efforts stop when the speakers leave campus. We must all seize opportunities to ensure diversity and inclusion.

The Auburn student experience is our institution’s crown jewel. We consistently earn high rankings and garner praise for our unparalleled student experience. Year after year, studies show that our students are satisfied with their choice after their first year at Auburn. Our research also shows that they remain satisfied with their choice after graduation. That’s not to say that we aren’t facing challenges. For example, we cannot accommodate every incoming freshman student who wants to live on campus. To tackle this problem, Dr. Woodard and the Student Affairs team have proposed an option that would potentially replace the Hill with new residences in the northwest part of campus. Their holistic plan would replace more than 1500 beds with new, modern residences. If their proposal is approved, we could free up the space currently occupied by the Hill, which would help us accommodate future university growth. We’re considering the best way to serve our students, and this very promising plan is still under evaluation. Another issue we face, one that is a hot topic for everyone in this room, is parking. The demand for parking for students, faculty and staff is at an all-time high.

Due to growth and progress on campus, spaces are limited. I’ve tasked Chief Operating Officer Gen. Ron Burgess with commissioning a study to determine the best approaches to solve this challenge in the long-term. I’m pleased to report that process is underway.

We have had issues on campus and adjacent to campus that have impacted our students’ safety. We are actively addressing our students’ security, and our efforts range from equipping every Tiger Transit bus with cameras, to recruiting former FBI supervisory special agent Kelvin King to lead our campus safety efforts. For us to carry our important momentum forward, we must continue to set aspirational goals.

We must identify ways to streamline our operations that will increase our efficiencies. And we must build an operational model that advances student success. These efforts are critical to providing the best student experience in higher education, and ensuring that while here, our students are transformed from inquisitive scholars to engaged citizens.

To help accomplish our goals, we are constructing an operational model to better serve our students. We recently restructured the Division of Student Affairs to provide a more holistic approach to advancing student success. This includes the transition of units like housing, career services and academic support services to Student Affairs, so from Camp War Eagle, to graduation, to the time they launch their careers, our students are surrounded by tools designed to help them succeed.

And faculty are fundamental to our students’ success. You, our faculty, remain at the core of our land-grant mission. You drive Auburn innovation by fulfilling the instruction pillar of our mission. For us to bolster the student experience, elevate our research enterprise and raise our national profile, we must ensure we can recruit and retain faculty members who, along with those in this room, will make up the best faculty in academia.

It’s also essential that we demonstrate to faculty how much they are valued, whether they’ve just joined the university or they’ve been at Auburn for decades. I enjoy learning about your work, and I’m always ready to discover ways our shared governance can continue to make Auburn an even better university. There’s always room for improvement, and here are a few ways we’re working to strengthen the connection with faculty.

This semester, I began hosting informal faculty lunches. In fact, we just had a lunch together a week ago. I called on deans and chairs to nominate faculty from all ranks and disciplines. It’s important there is a culture of trust among the administration and faculty, and an informal, unstructured dialogue is very helpful to ensure we maintain shared institutional goals. It’s also incredibly helpful for me to learn firsthand of issues you encounter in your roles and to get your perspectives on issues, as it has been 10 years now since I sat in your chairs. This setting afforded me that opportunity. I am already looking forward to continuing this new tradition.

As you know, we are focused on hiring 500 tenure-track faculty. We are adding research-active faculty to enhance our scholarship mission. And in some cases, we will strategically hire full-time teaching faculty to better serve our students. We will hire in disciplines where need is great and demand is strong. These new hires will be research- and scholarship-focused, but we will ensure that our culture of fostering a great student experience is not diminished. We are well on our way to having the first 100 on board by the end of the semester.

In a lot of cases, prospective faculty have spouses or partners with independent careers, often in academia. To make Auburn more attractive to these prospective faculty members, we are developing a true Dual Career Services program to assist in partner hiring and onboarding. This new initiative helps place spouses or partners in a position at Auburn or other area employers, and it helps build a new network of contacts to help acclimate them to the community. As an added bonus, it will bolster our efforts to build a more diverse faculty. We already have agreements in place with local partners, and I’m pleased to say we will be announcing those agreements soon.

We must also place a value on faculty engagement. We should enable you to share your expertise with our community and reward you for doing so. To elevate Auburn’s position, we must also elevate the stature of our faculty. You are doing exceptional work at Auburn, and we want to ensure we seize every opportunity to tell your story.

As a major research university, our charge is to pursue groundbreaking discoveries that hold the promise to prosper the human condition. Many of the best things that happen at Auburn start with research and scholarship. It is the spark behind our drive to become a world-renowned land-grant university, and it drives economic prosperity in the communities we serve. Right now, Auburn scientists and scholars are working not only on campus, but across Alabama and around the world. We have a presence around the globe, from East Alabama to East Africa. Our research and outreach efforts go where the tough problems exist, so we can effectively and efficiently unearth longterm solutions, meet real-life challenges and offer opportunity. By crossing disciplines, transcending cultures and spanning continents, Auburn researchers develop, refine and apply their knowledge. To realize our full potential as a land-grant university, we must drive innovation and discovery. To fuel our ambitious, strategic initiatives in scholarship and research, we must invest. Our emphasis on research will serve to augment classroom teaching and experience. It will not, as some have worried, diminish it.

That is why, in June, we announced the PAIR initiative, which invests $5 million in seed money to 11 interdisciplinary research teams. Their projects address challenges right here in Alabama, and some that affect the global population. This fall, we welcomed 25 top-tier PhD scholars through the Presidential Graduate Research Fellowship program. They’re partnering with you in both established and emerging areas of research. Over the next three years, the program will grow to include 99 scholars. These new fellowships are a significant part of our goal of becoming synonymous with solutions. We must continue to invest in our future through research. Our advancements will sustain and elevate our reputation as trusted, go-to partner for solutions. Many of the best things happening at Auburn begin with research, with the spark of an idea fueled by the desire to discover. It’s what powers our drive to achieve Carnegie R1 designation, and it’s the catalyst for economic opportunity in our state.

Auburn research is on the move, and our ambitious and innovative scholars are taking us to new heights. Today’s world moves at a rapid pace, and our economy is knowledge-based, which makes our research enterprise incredibly attractive to industry partners. We must look for and seize every opportunity to leverage the power of Auburn’s academic discovery.

We’re dialed in to industry and the unique needs of tomorrow’s marketplace. Working with our leading private and public partners, we are addressing many of society’s most challenging issues in the fields of cyber security, health sciences, design and sustainability, advanced manufacturing and more. Auburn partnerships impact our state’s workforce, and they keep our economy moving forward.

Each year, our research and innovations attract new funding, high-skilled jobs and industries to the state. Partners reach out to us not just because of our reputation, but because of our worldrenowned experts, our state-of-the-art facilities and our exceptional, inquisitive students. Our recent partnership with Boeing is an excellent example of an opportunity seized. Boeing funds student interns who work at our Huntsville research center. Because of the caliber of our students and the academic preparation they receive at Auburn, our relationship with Boeing affords our students hands-on learning opportunities that will set them apart in the in-demand aerospace industry.

We’ve also joined forces with NASA to employ 3-D printers to build components for the next generation of spacecraft, which will support our country’s mission of a human return to the moon. And we’ve partnered with Delta as one of eight colleges offering the Delta Propel Pilot Career Path Program. Each student selected for the program is matched with a Delta pilot as a mentor, and the students will receive a Qualified Job Offer from Delta that details a defined path and an accelerated timeline to become a Delta pilot.

Partnerships are vital to the work we do at Auburn. We rely on support from our partners to offset costs of our strategic initiatives. In turn, our collaborations stand to significantly expand our reach. Moving forward, we are committed to expanding our role as a partnership university. The investments we’re making today will allow us to collaborate with a broader range of organizations tomorrow. Nowhere is this more evident than the growth we are seeing in Auburn Research Park. We’re offering organizations opportunities to locate their operations adjacent to Auburn’s campus, so they have easy access to faculty expertise and talented students. Together with our partners, we’re addressing the complex problems facing our state, region and nation, and we’re fulfilling Auburn’s land-grant mission in new and powerful ways.

But we must not forget our most important partner — the people of the state of Alabama. And we reach them through outreach and extension. I like to say that outreach and extension are the front doors to Auburn, and their efforts are extremely valued by the university. They distribute our innovations and give us a presence in every Alabama county.

Our award-winning cooperative extension continues to search for novel ways to serve our citizens. For example, more people in our region are interested in becoming farmers. Many of them are first-generation farmers. To help these budding farmers get started, Extension offers a free, online Farming Basics course. This groundbreaking approach to delivering best practices will make an impact on new and seasoned farmers alike.

Auburn’s Extension efforts are also nimble and responsive. After Hurricane Michael ripped through the Florida Panhandle and Alabama’s Wiregrass region last month, our researchers joined forces with Extension to respond to the very real and immediate need close to home. Auburn experts were on the ground, assessing the estimated $204 million in direct damage and $307 million in agricultural losses. A wealth of recovery information was accessible online, ranging from safety tips for
those involved in cleanup and debris removal, to sources of financial assistance for farmers impacted by the storm.

Outreach is also on the ground in our communities to improve the quality of life for our citizens. Our initiatives are helping thousands of children in Alabama’s most underserved areas improve their performance in school and increase their college readiness. Outreach is forging new school partnerships to make attending college a realistic goal for hundreds of economically disadvantaged — but academically promising — Alabama students.

We reach more than 20,000 people each year through Outreach’s continuing education initiatives. Through tailored programming, Auburn is serving a variety of constituencies, ranging from veterans and their families, to our community’s senior citizens. An interdisciplinary team is tackling obesity, a problem faced by more than a third of our state’s population. Our award-winning Rural Studio program recently joined forces with Fannie Mae on the 20K Initiative, which aims to increase access to home ownership in underserved rural Alabama communities. We are committed to improving the quality of life in our state, and our resources and combined talents can make a huge difference here in Alabama. But these efforts take money and support, and we are so very fortunate to have a vast network of committed donors who believe in our mission and are always willing to contribute to areas where there is a need.

As you know, we recently completed a tremendously successful fundraising campaign, raising more than $1.2 billion — an amount unprecedented in Auburn history. But our efforts are not done. In fact, they’re still ongoing. Our development team is actively focused on stewarding new donors, showing them the incredible impact of the Because This is Auburn campaign. We’ve been traveling to donors throughout the region to demonstrate the impact of their gifts and commitment, and this is helping to generate excitement about our future. The continued generosity of Auburn’s donors is truly inspiring. After their tremendous participation in our campaign, they continue to find incredible interest in Auburn’s ongoing efforts, and they remain enthusiastic about where we are headed. Our forward momentum is strong. Over the past few weeks, I joined Jane Parker for events in Huntsville, Birmingham, Washington, DC, and other areas where we have a high concentration of donors. We continue to travel the state and beyond to outline the vision and plan for Auburn’s future. This will begin a conversation regarding the resources needed and required to not only meet our goals, but continue our tradition of far exceeding them.

We are fortunate to have generous donors, and we are fortunate to have the backing and support of our state, as evidenced in our recent legislative session. Our alumni represent us well in Montgomery, and we’re proud to count our governor and lieutenant governor as Auburn graduates. However, we must seize every opportunity to be more efficient and more nimble. When we make decisions, we must always ask, “What is the right thing to do for Auburn? And what is the right thing to do for the state of Alabama?”

In previous years, we have operated with an unconstrained budget model. This model was developed to describe and support operations at a static moment in time. And while competition for resources continues to rise, campus units still received more funding than in previous years. However, we don’t live in an unconstrained world. We must modernize our budget, especially if we want to achieve our goals of elevating the student experience, research, discovery and scholarly activity. Moving forward, budget development guidelines will point us to a unified goal of year-round planning and analysis, strategic prioritization and efficient stewardship of resources. They will be developed in conjunction with our forthcoming strategic plan. After budgets are submitted, they will be discussed and defended. This ensures the process is more inclusive and transparent. We’ve also asked units to identify areas of opportunity to become more efficient. While we’ve asked central units to identify the 5 percent of their budget that could be streamlined, it is imperative this is viewed as an opportunity to think strategically about long-term investments, operations and resources, and as a chance to truly set priorities and free up resources for them.

Now, I want you to hear this: One of the easiest ways to improve our efficiency is to shift our focus to one of collaboration, not competition. We are all on the same Auburn team, and we are all working toward shared goals. Our campus culture must be one of facilitation and full of people who find solutions.

The more efficient we become, and the more streamlined we function, the more resources we have available for the programs we provide that serve our students, our communities and our world. To be clear, these savings will not be repurposed for administrative costs. We will turn the savings and efficiencies back to our students and faculty.

And that brings us to our strategy for the future, our framework to becoming the best university we can be. To make the most of our forward motion, we are engaged in a strategic planning process that will provide us with a roadmap for our future. Your colleagues, Drs. Guertal and Tatarchuk, and the entire strategic planning committee, have demonstrated incredible leadership in this effort. They’ve reflected on where Auburn has been and where it is today, and they’ve carefully considered our goals and values in relation to where we should be — and will be — in the future.

After an in-depth situation analysis, comprehensive listening sessions and scenario planning, we are engaged in strategy formulation. We’re looking into the future to see how external forces and internal drivers shape what Auburn may look like in 20 or 30 years. This aspect of the process is critical to determining our strategic directions as they relate to our mission. We will develop metrics and a means of implementation to hold ourselves accountable.

My hope is that this strategic plan will help us to achieve our goal of elevating Auburn’s national visibility. Those of us here share an understanding of our institution’s stature and impact. Now, we must be bolder in how we tell our story. My role is to work in collaboration with those who share our goal of positioning Auburn as a world-class institution for instruction, research and outreach.

I want to make clear that our strategic plan is not just a plan — it’s a pledge. It’s a pledge to our students, faculty and staff on campus. It’s a pledge to our alumni, partners and communities away from campus. It’s a pledge that we will live up to our Auburn values and traditions.

As we move closer to implementing this plan, we must renew our commitment to our landgrant mission, we must heighten our sense of urgency, and we must look with fresh eyes for every opportunity to leverage our collective strengths. Our future success will be determined by our responsiveness to today’s challenges and how quickly and effectively we seize the opportunities that are waiting for us. Our efforts take time and investment. They take passion, imagination and creativity. It’s what’s required of us as a great university that’s striving to be greater, and we enthusiastically embrace this challenge. When we’ve accomplished our current goals — and then set new ones — we stand to define what it means to be a forward-thinking, life-enhancing land-grant university. And that is how we achieve Auburn excellence.

Thank you. I appreciate you giving me the time today to report on the state and future of Auburn.

At Auburn, we are focused on discovering solutions that make a meaningful impact on our communities, state and beyond, and we remain committed to becoming an even more powerful driver of our state and region’s economy. To accomplish our goals, we are partnering with a growing list of private and public partners on bold, life-changing initiatives to solve real-world challenges.

Just two of the many examples include partnerships in the field of additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing. In August, U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby announced Auburn was awarded a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST. The funding will enable Auburn researchers to advance the additive manufacturing industry by improving techniques and increasing knowledge of this revolutionary technology.

Additive manufacturing is transforming industries ranging from aviation to medical instruments to automotive, and Auburn is recognized as a leader on the national stage for our efforts. Thanks to Sen. Shelby, the state of Alabama is providing national leadership in developing and refining these technologies that foster economic opportunity, improve quality of life and strengthen our country’s infrastructure. Auburn has also partnered with NASA to advance additive manufacturing for uses toward space travel, and we have a strong partnership with GE Aviation, which uses additive manufacturing to make jet engine nozzles at its facility near the university.

Auburn is making a significant impact in other areas that stand to boost our economy, including our state’s booming aviation and aerospace industry. Through the newly launched Delta Propel Pilot Career Path Program, we are working together with industry leader Delta Air Lines to address a nationwide pilot shortage. The initiative pairs Auburn aviation students with a Delta pilot mentor, and students receive a Qualified Job Offer from the company, detailing a defined path and an accelerated timeline to become a Delta pilot.

With a recent $6.2 million grant from Delta, the Delta Air Lines Foundation and the Jacobson Family Foundation, a new Delta Air Lines Aviation Education Building will open this fall at Auburn, featuring an Air Bus 320 airliner simulator. The gift is also providing funding for the university’s Radio-Frequency Identification, or RFID, Lab. It will also create endowed faculty professorships within Auburn’s Department of Aviation, home of one of the longest standing public flight programs in the country — and the only one in the state.

Beyond that, Auburn’s Huntsville Research Center connects our research capabilities with the needs of Huntsville’s government agencies and industries. And as we broaden our scope of collaboration, we seek to join others in the pursuit of game-changing technologies that serve the greater good in areas such as cyber security, health sciences, military defense, additive manufacturing, agriculture and bioscience systems and robotics.

Auburn has a proven record when it comes to contributing to the state, adding $5.4 billion to Alabama’s economy in 2016-2017. From an entrepreneurial standpoint, Auburn is kick-starting breakthroughs with a LAUNCH innovation program that advances the commercial potential of technologies and other intellectual properties developed at Auburn.

To sum it up, Auburn is on the move! We are open for business and ready to team up as a collaborative partner. To join Auburn and learn more about our drive to inspire, visit auburn.edu/auburninspires. Also, I invite you to connect with me @AuburnPrez on Twitter and on LinkedIn.

Thank you for your continued support, and War Eagle!

President Steven Leath

Auburn is a special place. Especially for those of you who were born with a love for this campus, but it’s also special to guys like me, who fairly recently were introduced to the people and traditions that make it so unique.

There were so many things about Auburn that impressed me from the first moment I stepped on campus. And I have to say that one thing that really sets Auburn apart is the students. Together, your contributions to our campus are exceptional. Each of you brings your own unique talents and skills, and each of you has a commitment to making not just yourselves better people, but a commitment to making Auburn a better place than you found it.

We also all chose Auburn as the place where we wanted to spend the next season of our lives. There are probably several reasons you made the very important—and I think, very wise—decision to move to the loveliest village on the Plains.

How many of you came to Auburn because you want to be a leader? Well, you’re in luck, because Auburn is a place where leaders are made. We have a distinguished tradition of guiding young men like you into accomplished graduates who go on to engage, influence and lead in their communities and in the world around them throughout their entire lives.

You’re here tonight because you’re an engaged member of our campus community. And whether you realize it or not, each of you holds a considerable amount of influence among your peers. And you’re here because you want to become a stronger leader, someone people follow because they can count on you to make smart decisions.

And that brings me to one of the things I love most about Auburn—The Creed. While having a creed or a set of shared beliefs isn’t unique to Auburn, the concept of the Creed and what it means to all of us here most certainly is.

The Creed defines what it means to be an Auburn man or woman. If you apply the principles and the guidelines laid out in George Petrie’s wise words, you will be the manifestation of everything our institution has aspired to be since 1856. Simply put, living the Creed means you are embodying the essence of the

Auburn Spirit. It defines who you are and what is expected of you as an Auburn man.

I think this is a timely topic, because this year we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Auburn Creed. Isn’t it amazing that words and ideals put on paper nearly a century ago still resonate so strongly with the Auburn Family? It’s just as applicable to you as a freshman as it is to me as a university president.

But the Creed is more than just words on paper—it’s words to live by. There are three themes in the Creed that I think are especially applicable to you during your time at Auburn. And they encompass these three things: culture, actions and accountability.

First, let’s talk about culture. And by this, I am referring to the culture that you create around you. This is the one with which you identify. This is your ability to walk into a room and add value through your ideas, your comments and your presence. In every situation, it should be your goal to create a culture defined by engagement, kindness and responsibility.

The culture with which you wish to surround yourself is evidenced in all aspects of your life. The values your parents instilled in you from a young age, the values of your fraternity, the values of your friends. I strongly encourage you to use your college experience as a time of reflection and discovery. Figure out who you really are as an individual. Determine what matters to you. Discover the things that unleash your curiosity and ignite your determination. Once you create and define your own culture, it will be easier to remain true to who you are. 

And that leads us to action. Now that you’ve discovered the things that make you who you are and determined the type of character you want to have, you must put this into action. How are you going to shape yourself into a person who will leave a legacy that will make you proud? You can start by examining those around you, those who want to be around you, those you want to be around. Do they align with the leader you’re trying to become? You must be prepared to put action behind your values, and stand by it.

And after action comes accountability. How do you hold yourself and others accountable? Do you shrink away from those who don’t align with your values, or do you stand up for what you believe? Talking the talk means nothing if you’re not prepared to walk the walk. And sometimes, this is hard to do. Going against the grain is never easy. It requires courage and the belief in something bigger than yourself. I challenge you to dig deep to find this in yourself. I promise you that it will serve you well throughout your life.

I’ve heard it said that there are two types of leaders. The first kind of leader is transactional. It’s the most common type of leader. They have respect from those around them because of the status they’ve attained or the level of education they’ve accomplished. And there’s nothing wrong with being a transactional leader. You’re surrounded by them every day in your classes and even in your fraternities. But they’re transactional because they’re easily replaced and most often forgettable.

But there’s another type of leader—the transformational leader. Transformational leaders understand the influence they have and the great responsibility that comes along with it. They’ve worked hard to get where they are. They’re rarely satisfied with the status quo, and they have the respect of their peers that enables them to change things for the better. They’re not just focused on the authority they have or the perks they’ve received as a leader. Instead, transformational leaders are focused on serving the greater good. Empowering those around them to be better. They recognize that the loudest voices aren’t always the most important ones. They have a vision that is grounded by tradition, but they always keep their eyes focused on the future. And they’re determined to make the future better than the present, because they have learned lessons from their past.

I challenge each of you to strive to be transformational leaders. To remember the hard work put in by those who came before you, but to recognize that there are some who have made sacrifices that you could never understand. And I want you to pull those people up. I want you to give all of those who follow in your footsteps as Auburn men something to aspire to. I challenge you to not just abide by the Creed, but to define it by your actions on campus, off campus, in your careers, with your family and friends, in every aspect of your life.

I’d like to close with a story from 75 years ago. After more than 50 years of service to Auburn, George Petrie was ill and grieving the loss of his beloved wife. He realized the time had come to retire from the university he helped shape—the university he loved dearly. Those around him feared his spirit was broken.

An old friend who had been Petrie’s teaching assistant many years before, A.B. Moore, would often write to Petrie. And in 1943, Moore wrote a letter that some think sparked Petrie to write down his personal philosophy—a set of guiding principles that we now know as the Auburn Creed.
In that letter, Moore said to Petrie:

“Men make institutions. The character and traditions of every institution are largely determined by a few stalwarts who give their all to it. … Your name will always be associated with its success and its best traditions.”

I challenge you all to consider Moore’s words. Your choices and actions will shape what Auburn is and what it stands to become. Stay true to your values. Act according to those values, and hold yourself accountable in all aspects of your life. If you do those things, you will forever be a part of our traditions and our success. You will be Auburn men.

Thank you all for inviting me to speak to your group. I wish you the best of luck during your time here at Auburn, and I look forward to hearing reports of your success.

War Eagle!

I had planned to speak to you earlier this year … but the snow kept us from getting together. On a warm day like today … it’s hard to imagine a time with snow on the ground in Auburn!

I like to spend about 40 percent of my time outside the office engaging with the campus community, alumni clubs, business leaders or civic groups. One of the reasons I like to spend time engaging with groups like OLLI at Auburn is because it gives me the chance to meet and talk with great people. It’s an added bonus that you are friends of Auburn University.

It’s always great to be with a group of dedicated and engaged citizens because it’s your involvement and participation that helps make Auburn such a wonderful place for us to live and learn. And OLLI at Auburn is such a special group to me because it offers our community members a vibrant lifelong learning experience. These opportunities—coupled with expanding Auburn’s impact—is music to the ears of a university president!

I find it easy to talk about Auburn, it’s truly an extraordinary university and I am proud to be a part of it. It’s certainly a privilege to serve as president.

Janet and I have been here a little over a year, so while we’re not brand new to Auburn, every day we discover something new about the university and our community that makes us even more thrilled to call Auburn home.

Since arriving at Auburn, I’ve had the chance to talk about my long-range goals. And it starts with enhancing and strengthening the student experience. Let’s face it—we’re all students, regardless of where we are in life. So, I especially appreciate your commitment and participation in OLLI at Auburn.
There are a lot of things that make Auburn truly special, and it starts with our students.

At Auburn, we educate students who go on to engage, influence and lead, and we are committed to continue offering our students a first-class education that will help them achieve both professional and personal success.
In fact, Auburn has the highest job placement rating of any university in the state, so that means that 9 out of 10 Auburn graduates get jobs. Employers tell us that our graduates show up on day one with a tremendous work ethic, a willingness to learn and a strong character—skills that are essential for success. An Auburn degree can truly be transformational for our alumni.

But the power of higher education is not only evident in students’ lives and their success. Colleges and universities contribute tremendously to economic growth and regional prosperity. Universities like Auburn bring prosperity to our communities by creating practical solutions through research.

At Auburn, we are focused on discovering solutions that make a meaningful impact on our communities, our state and beyond. It’s amazing what Auburn scientists and engineers are doing that benefits the world around us.  They’re bringing solutions to the challenges that Alabamians face every day.

Auburn is a driving force in our state’s economy, and we want to make a bigger impact. We are preparing students for the workforce they enter when they graduate, and we’re also preparing them for the workforce they’ll be a part of in the middle of their careers. So we are constantly looking for ways to respond to where our economy is headed.

We’re making groundbreaking strides in health sciences, cyber security, agriculture, advanced manufacturing and many other areas that have practical impact. But we can do more. So, Auburn has several new initiatives in place to advance and accelerate our research endeavors.

One example is the Presidential Awards for Interdisciplinary Research program, or what we call the PAIR program. With 5 million dollars in seed money, the 11 teams are moving toward discoveries that will make a meaningful impact on the lives and economic futures of Alabamians.

For example, one of our PAIR teams is leveraging additive manufacturing, more commonly known as 3D printing, to help make medical implants safer and more affordable. Another team of researchers is working to help make housing more accessible to poor citizens living in our state’s rural areas. And another one of the PAIR teams is studying the positive effects of olive oil on those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

The goal for all of the PAIR teams is to secure external funding. With additional resources, these innovative researchers will deliver practical solutions. Solutions that have the potential to make a mark on the lives of citizens right here in our community and throughout the state of Alabama. We’re well on our way to seeing a return on our investment, and we’re expecting great things from the PAIR teams.

Auburn is also increasing funding for our graduate researchers. We welcomed 25 top-tier PhD scholars to campus this fall. These exceptional scholars are recipients of Presidential Graduate Research Fellowships, and they’re partnering with Auburn faculty make advancements in established and emerging fields of research.

To support our scholars and foster innovation, we’re recruiting 500 scholarship- and research-focused faculty over the next four years. We’re recruiting innovators, problem-solvers and those who have existing relationships with private and public partners.

We are also committed to our land-grant mission of outreach. To fulfill this commitment, we must increase access to educational opportunities and lifelong learning across the state, including OLLI at Auburn. Because when we expand the capacity of individuals and communities, we encourage innovation and create new opportunities to elevate our economy and our quality of life. OLLI at Auburn is one of the best examples of our dedication to improving the quality of life for people across diverse populations.

Another thing I learned after arriving here is the commitment I see every day to Auburn excellence. And I see that same commitment in OLLI.

To ensure we remain committed to Auburn excellence and to advancing our land-grant mission, we are engaged in a strategic planning process that will create the roadmap to carry Auburn into the future. We just finished a series of 14 listening sessions across the state, and we received valuable input from stakeholders inside and outside of the Auburn Family. We’re kicking off another series of sessions on campus this week. This feedback and input will help as we continue to address our regional challenges, while embracing emerging opportunities to address the growing economic needs of our state. 

Another crucial part of our new strategic plan focuses on improving our outreach efforts We want to ensure we’re continuing to serve our communities in inspiring, innovative and transformative ways. This commitment to outreach is at the top of my mind and will continue to be a priority as we move forward with the plan.

As we think about where Auburn is headed in the future, it is most certainly inspiring to see your efforts to expand volunteerism and professional development. There are many examples—too many to list this morning—but your efforts are noticed and appreciated. We’re looking for ways to strengthen our partnership and the expand the opportunities this partnership can bring.

I understand that the fall term has a wide array of academic, social and service-focused programs. I trust you will enjoy the fall term. And I wish you all the best.

Now, I’d like to ask you: What should I know about Auburn? What’s on your mind?

Thank you all for inviting me to speak with you today. Thank you for being such active and engaged members of our community. War Eagle!

Since we were last here together, a new academic year has begun. Roughly 4,800 new freshmen arrived on campus in August. The demand for an Auburn degree is high, which is evidenced by the 21 percent increase in applications this year.

We continue to deliver a tangible value to our state by fulfilling our instruction mission. Nearly sixty percent of our freshman class are Alabama residents, and this is an increase over last year.

We also welcomed the most academically talented class in Auburn history. There was an increase in the average ACT scores and GPA of incoming first-time freshmen, which tells us that while more students want to enroll at Auburn, we’re enrolling the best and the brightest.

Our FTE count this fall is 27,486, with total enrollment at 30,440. While the number of first-time freshmen didn’t increase, our retention rates are up among upperclassmen. This is a key indicator of academic strength. Increased retention rates show that Auburn continues to offer students the classes and services they need to succeed.

Within the enrollment data, there is a stronger showing of Auburn employees who are enrolled at the university. It’s very inspiring to know that our instruction mission comes full circle, transforming the lives of staff members who are committed to serving our institution.

We’re always focused on the safety of our campus community, and we remain vigilant when it comes to preventing the tragic and unfortunate incidents that can happen at a university of our size. While we have witnessed some very difficult issues and incidents, we’re committed to constantly improving our campus safety procedures. There is always work to do. To that end, I am pleased to report that our entire Tiger Transit fleet—70 buses—are now equipped with a bus surveillance system that is monitored remotely.

Football season is off to a great start. We started strong with two huge wins, one over another top-10 team and another over an in-state rival. Our student-athletes are performing well on and off the field, and we’re looking forward to great things from them this weekend and all season.

I also want to applaud our women’s soccer team. For the first time in program history they are 7 and 0. And we learned on Tuesday that the team is ranked number 9 in the country—the second-highest ranking in the program’s history. They face Mississippi State later today in the SEC opener, and we wish them luck as they battle the Bulldogs here in Auburn.

I have several additional items, so I’ll jump right in with an update on new personnel and ongoing searches. I’m thrilled to welcome two new leaders to Auburn: Frank Ciluffo and Kelvin King.

Frank Ciluffo will officially begin his new role directing the McCrary Institute on Monday. He is a globally renowned cyber expert, and was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve in the Department of Homeland Security after the September 11 attacks. Frank brings the stature and expertise that will take

Auburn another step forward as a leader on the national stage of cybersecurity. Welcome to Auburn, Frank.

And Kelvin King joins us after a 27-year career with the FBI. His extensive law enforcement experience will be invaluable as he leads Auburn in keeping our campus safe. Kelvin has lived and worked in our community for part of his career, and for the past five years, he’s served as the supervisory special agent in charge of the bureau’s Montgomery office. He is highly respected among law enforcement agencies. Welcome, Kelvin.

I also want to extend my sincere appreciation to Chance Corbett for his service as interim executive director for the Department of Campus Safety of Security. Thank you for all you’ve done—and continue to do—to keep this campus safe.

National searches are still underway for the Vice President for Enrollment Services, Vice President for Research, Chief of Staff and Vice President for Economic Development. We are getting closer to selecting the exceptional leaders for these key positions.

If all goes according to plan, we will be able to announce the selected candidates in the fall. I will keep the board informed of any updates.

Also of interest to the board is our ongoing strategic planning process.

We just completed 14 off-campus listening sessions, and we will commence with on-campus sessions next week. I made it a priority to ensure that I or one of my senior-most team members—Provost Bill Hardgrave, Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Bobby Woodard or Chief Operating Officer Ron

Burgess—was present at each listening session. The dialogue at the sessions has encompassed critical institutional priorities and is laying the groundwork for our eventual plan. The sessions I have attended have been incredibly insightful, and I hear the same from all who joined us. I know members of the board have also been active participants at the sessions and individual interviews. Your participation in the group sessions is greatly appreciated.

The sessions have enabled a variety of voices to share their diverse perspectives on where Auburn is headed and what the Auburn of the future will be. Our faculty leaders Drs. Guertal and Tatarchuk are doing a great job. A final draft of the plan will be presented at your meeting in February 2019. It’s an exciting time to be here at Auburn, as we stand at the cusp of a new era.

Now, I want to talk a little about our alumni.

Our alumni have incredible talents and expertise, and they are valuable stakeholders in Auburn’s future. I’ve been thrilled to have the opportunity to attend a series of premier alumni events recently, including Black Alumni Weekend and an event at Delta’s corporate headquarters in Atlanta. I applaud Gretchen

VanValkenburg and her team for continuing to offer inspiring ways for our alums to deepen their connection to Auburn.

I very much enjoy engaging with off-campus stakeholders like our alums, but it’s also essential to spend time with stakeholders on campus.

In this instance, I’m talking about our faculty. I enjoy learning about their work and am always ready to discover ways our shared governance can continue to make Auburn an even better university. There’s always room for improvement, and here are a few ways we’re working to strengthen the relationship with our faculty.

This semester, I began hosting informal lunches with faculty at my home, and the first one was last week. I called on deans and chairs to nominate faculty from all ranks and disciplines. It’s important there is a culture of trust among the administration and faculty, and an informal, unstructured dialogue is very helpful to ensure we continue have shared institutional goals. It’s also incredibly helpful for me to learn firsthand of issues faculty encounter in their roles and get their perspectives on issues of interest to me. This setting afforded me that opportunity. I am already looking forward to the next lunch.

And also last week, Janet and I hosted the Promotion and Tenure dinner at our home. We decided to elevate the event this year by hosting it at our home because our faculty are extremely valued, and they’re an essential component of our land-grant mission. We had a fantastic time honoring their accomplishments, but most importantly, it gave Provost Hardgrave and me the opportunity to engage with some of our most successful faculty.

Our faculty are doing great things, and they are making great strides in our work to elevate Auburn’s profile.

You’ve heard me mention PAIR before, so I’ll give you a brief update on the future of Auburn research.

Auburn’s investment in the PAIR teams had multiple objectives, and one was to serve as seed money. The teams were expected to secure new, external funding. I’m pleased to report we already have a great initial return of 60 percent on our investment.

A few weeks ago, we learned that one of our PAIR teams is the recipient of a grant from the US Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology. This $3 million grant will help a PAIR team focused on additive manufacturing further their research that’s focused on improving the industry.

The funding gives Auburn the unique opportunity to innovate and empower engineering industries. It will propel the growth of our state’s manufacturing sector. It will help us in our goals of becoming a go-to partnership university, continuing our service as an economic engine for the state and raising our national visibility as trusted resource for forward-thinking solutions.

To remain on the move, we must continue to adapt to the changing needs of our students and faculty.

Over the summer, 47 projects were completed. That’s huge! Auburn’s poultry science department is internationally recognized and the Miller Poultry Research and Education Center will significantly advance the university’s standing as a global leader in poultry research, instruction and outreach. We’re very proud that the administrative building has been completed and we’re making progress toward completing the overall complex.

The Auburn Research Park is growing, and it’s a hub of entrepreneurial innovation and activity.

Other projects completed this summer include the Harbert Family Recruiting Center and the Gavin Engineering Research Laboratory, both of which are beautiful additions to our campus that we will celebrate later today.

There is growth and progress at every turn on campus. It’s important to remember that while we’re expanding and improving facilities and programming, we are committed to remaining true to our traditions and the things that make Auburn so special to all of you.

We also want to share with the world those things that make Auburn so special.

To achieve this, we’re working diligently to position Auburn as a national leader in instruction, research and outreach. A major part of this effort involves placing Auburn leaders and faculty experts in high-profile forums and organizations that serve to create partnerships and opportunities.

Innovative minds and great talent are all around us at Auburn, and we will earn a national reputation for our commitment to excellence.

In closing, I thank you for all you do to keep Auburn moving forward. Thank you for your time.

I’m happy to respond to any questions.

I have a special appreciation for what you do. As some of you may know, I majored in plant pathology, and after earning a PhD, I moved into the academic world. I was an extension specialist, then a professor of agriculture, and later oversaw agricultural research in North Carolina.

While we were in North Carolina, Janet and I started a Christmas tree farm specializing in Fraser firs. It’s still going strong after 20 years, and my son runs it today. And I have to say, that in addition to shooting my bow and hunting, getting out on our tree farm is one of my favorite things to do.

Another one of my favorite things to do is talk about Auburn. I am honored to serve as president of such an outstanding university.

Auburn is the largest land-grant institution in the state. And when land-grant universities were established in 1862, they were designed to support a more hands-on curriculum. They emphasized practical training to prepare the workforce to adapt to industrial innovations and teach citizens to understand and appreciate the role of agriculture in their state’s economy.

Today, Auburn continues to serve the citizens of our state through providing exceptional instruction, groundbreaking research, and broad community outreach.

Our core values are consistently demonstrated by our continued efforts to develop new partnerships and collaborations—all focused on the changing needs of the communities and industries we serve.

Auburn’s number-one contribution to the industry is preparing students who will lead not just in today’s workforce, but also the workforce of the future.

The backbone of Alabama’s forests and wildlife enterprises is Auburn’s School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences. The school prepares qualified professionals by generating new knowledge and technologies to provide science-based solutions for real-world challenges.

The forest industry directly supports nearly forty-two thousand jobs in Alabama—putting 2.1 billion dollars in the pockets of Alabama’s workers. Alabama’s forests account for 69 percent of the total land in the state. And due to growth in innovations and technologies, the sector has the potential to expand even more.

Auburn is ensuring our industry will continue to have the innovators ready to lead as it expands and adapts to the marketplace of the future. Over the past three years, the School's undergraduate and graduate enrollment has grown by almost 50 percent, and it is poised to grow by another fifty percent.

For the past four years, nearly 100 percent of forestry students from the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences land jobs in the industry after graduation. For the alumni here today, that should make you very proud. Our exceptional track record of preparing industry-ready graduates demonstrates the value of your Auburn degree.

And I hear from those of you who employ Auburn grads that our students show up on day one willing to roll up their sleeves and get to work, and they have the skills necessary to contribute and lead.

The School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences maintains several core programs designed to educate future forest professionals. Our land-grant mission requires us to be forward-thinking in order to prepare us for the global economy of tomorrow. We’re developing new, innovative undergraduate degree programs in anticipation of where the industry is headed.

We see the importance of our role as a leading provider of instruction for emerging forestry and natural resource professionals. Our students and alumni and the work of our researchers … are major contributors to the forestry profession, but we are determined to do more. We are building the capacity for growth by advancing our academic programs and research.

Because of environmental concerns and evolving technologies, we’re seeing a shift toward the use of sustainable forest biomaterial for everything from packaging and automobiles to pharmaceuticals and commercial construction.

In response to companies’ changing demands, the sustainable biomaterials and packaging major was established. The program prepares students for the packaging industry—the third-largest industry in the world. Packaging is expected to become a trillion-dollar industry in the next few years. Graduates of this program will be ready to lead in a sustainable, bio-based economy.

Geospatial technologies have impacted every aspect of our lives—from digital maps and location services on our phones to the management and maintenance of forests and agriculture lands. They are also used to forecast potential markets for retail and development.

To respond to this societal need, Auburn developed the geospatial and environmental informatics degree. It’s one of only a few programs of its kind in the Southeast that prepares students for in-demand, high-tech careers where “big data” drives decisions.

The demand for unique sporting experiences and adventures provided by outdoor enterprise continues to grow. Auburn’s new wildlife enterprise management degree is a cross-disciplinary program that will prepare students for what promises to be an expanding sector of the nature-based economy. It combines the principles of wildlife management with business management, marketing and hospitality. The program is one of only two of its kind in the country.

As I mentioned before, land-grant universities were designed to emphasize a hands-on curriculum. And for our students there is no better place to experience hands-on learning than the more than 5,300 acres that make up the Solon Dixon Forestry Education Center. Solon Dixon is a foundation for experiential learning and research efforts in natural resource fields.

Auburn students are afforded the opportunity to spend summers completing practicums at Solon Dixon, where they are immersed in learning about forestry, wildlife and natural resource management. It’s one of the finest facilities of its kind in the country, and it’s another thing that sets Auburn apart from our peers.

Auburn has always had a practical research focus, one that is centered around our commitment to benefit our society. But we’re aiming higher, and we are increasing our efforts to deliver a practical, meaningful impact on the lives of Alabamians.

To do this, we are increasing our engagement with private and public partners, including those in the forestry profession. Auburn has a long tradition of being a go-to in our state for providing innovative solutions to social, economic and environmental issues. Many of these issues directly impact our natural resources and agriculture.

A great example is Auburn researcher Dr. Lisa Samuelson. She is examining the longleaf pine ecosystem, and she’s trying to discover the key to creating more drought-resilient forests and help sustain crucial plant and animal habitats.

Dr. Samuelson and her team are examining above and belowground mechanisms that control tree growth and survival. Their work will have a practical impact on your industry by increasing awareness of the consequences of drought on longleaf pine forests and helping improve the management of forests in the Southeast.

Auburn researchers are helping to create resilient forests for the future, which will make a tangible impact on both the forestry community and our society.

Auburn has several new initiatives in place to advance and accelerate our research endeavors.

One example is the Presidential Awards for Interdisciplinary Research program, or what we call the PAIR program. With 5 million dollars in seed money, the 11 teams are moving toward discoveries that will make a meaningful impact on the lives and economic futures of Alabamians.

The PAIR teams are also set to make an impact on forestry and the natural resource sector. One of the projects we’ve funded is working on ways to incorporate science-based climate information and prediction into planning, policy and practice. This team is aiming to improve climate resilience and risk management practices in agriculture and natural resources.

The goal for all the PAIR teams is to secure external funding. With additional resources, these innovative researchers will deliver practical solutions—solutions that have the potential to make a mark on the forestry industry. We’re well on our way to seeing a return on our investment, and we’re expecting great things from the PAIR teams.

Auburn is also increasing funding for our graduate researchers. We welcomed 25 top-tier PhD scholars to campus this fall. These exceptional scholars are recipients of Presidential Graduate Research Fellowships, and they’re partnering with Auburn faculty make advancements in established and emerging fields of research.

To support our scholars and foster innovation, we’re recruiting 500 scholarship- and research-focused faculty over the next four years. We’re recruiting innovators, problem-solvers, and those who have existing relationships with private and public partners.

Many of these faculty will be focused on solving the challenges that face your industry and its impact on the Alabama economy. These new faculty will help support our research endeavors while reinforcing and advancing our instruction mission.

These efforts will undoubtedly continue to attract high-ability students to our programs and allow Auburn to produce leading researchers and professionals that will advocate our state’s role in the forestry industry.

We are also committed to our land-grant mission of outreach. To fulfill this commitment, we must increase access to educational opportunities and lifelong learning across the state. Because when we expand the capacity of individuals and communities, we encourage innovation and create new opportunities to elevate our economy and our quality of life.

We also place a high priority on our extension efforts. Extension is part of the fabric of our university. Extension professionals connect the work Auburn researchers do with the people across Alabama. By taking our innovations and sharing them with Alabamians, extension improves the quality of life in our state.

I know Extension also plays a crucial role in what you do. It helps growers tremendously by providing education and management tools to help improve sustainable forest management practices and increase profitability, and it provides tools for recreational and multiple-use land management. Auburn continues to work closely with Extension to continue to deliver solutions with meaningful impact.

I hope you can see how Auburn is not only sustaining our state’s future economy, but building a foundation for future growth and prosperity—particularly in the forestry industry. It’s our shared goal, and we will not lose sight of this.

To ensure we remain committed to advancing our land-grant mission, we are engaged in a strategic planning process that will create the roadmap to carry Auburn into the future. We are soliciting feedback and input from stakeholders across Alabama to help Auburn continue to address our regional challenges, while embracing emerging opportunities to address the growing economic needs of our state.

From our efforts, I hope you can see how Auburn is not only sustaining our state’s future economy, but building a foundation for growth and prosperity—particularly in the forestry industry.

I want to close by expressing my appreciation for all that you do to keep Alabama moving forward. Together, we are headed for a bright future.

Thank you for having me tonight. Thank you for your partnership with Auburn.

Historically, the participation of black alumni at public universities is low, so to see so many devoted Auburn alums here tonight is fantastic. I see some familiar faces, and I look forward to meeting some new ones this weekend!

I also extend my appreciation to the committee of alumni who were integral to the planning of this exciting weekend, and I hear you have planned a few days full of fun, fellowship and Auburn spirit.

And congratulations to tonight’s honorees. It’s inspiring to see so many alumni represented and so many accomplishments honored. You make valuable professional contributions, and we are very proud of all you’ve achieved.

It’s been 54 years since Harold Franklin first enrolled at Auburn, making history and setting the bar as a true pioneer. He embodied the finest characteristics of an Auburn man. He believed in hard work, he had a spirit that was not afraid, and he accomplished great things because he stayed driven and focused. And when I look around the room, that’s what I see here.

You’re committed to Auburn and your dedication to seeing the university we all love succeed was evidenced by your support of our latest fundraising campaign.

To commemorate 1964, the year Harold Franklin enrolled at Auburn, you set a goal to secure donations from 1,964 individual donors. You aimed to raise $3.5 million.

In December, at the close of the Because This is Auburn Campaign, we found out that you not only met your goals but you exceeded expectations. More than 2,000 black alumni donors contributed more than $4.2 million to Auburn. That’s huge!

I’m so appreciative of the opportunities I’ve had since arriving at Auburn a little over a year ago to support and advance a campus culture of inclusion and diversity. I firmly believe that better decisions are made when diverse voices and perspectives are at the table.

This is a hallmark of my administrative style as seen in my cabinet meetings, but I need additional diverse voices. In the past 12 months, the composition of our senior leadership has already changed. I’m not going to name them all, but you know who some are. Our leadership team is really hitting their stride, and I firmly believe it’s due to the diversity of voices that are being heard.

We’ve made some strategic investments to elevate and advance diversity and inclusion at Auburn. Dr. Clayton and her team are working hard to move these initiatives forward, and it’s been exciting to see the outcomes of the successful partnerships OID has forged on campus.

Dr. Clayton has been an energetic leader in the almost two years she’s been at Auburn. She is leading the effort to propel us to where we want and need to be in making Auburn a more welcoming place. The senior leadership continues to look to her for ideas and innovation on how to achieve those goals. I continue to value and seek her perspective and leadership as we move forward.

But I know Auburn can and must do better in the makeup of our faculty, staff and students. And it is one of the university’s priorities moving forward. I like to say that we’re a continuous improvement model. We realize we have work to do, especially with respect to our undergraduate population. And I don’t have to tell you this, I know our African American alumni are very tuned into these numbers, and I and members of our Board are as well.

Around the country, the number of high school students approaching college-age is declining. We’re fortunate in the South, because that reality has not yet affected us. Plus, we have an incredible opportunity to improve our outreach efforts to African American students and we’re being very intentional and strategic about this. In other words, we have not gone as deep into a great pool of potential students as we should.

As you may know, we are in the process of developing a new strategic plan—a roadmap that will carry Auburn into the future. And improving our outreach efforts to be more inclusive is top of my mind and will continue to be a priority as we move forward with the plan.

I’ve also tasked my cabinet with developing and implementing strategies that will help us increase the number of African American students who not only enroll at Auburn, but long before applications are due, I want them to view Auburn as the institution of choice.

And you can continue to help us show the value of an Auburn education. This room is filled with Auburn success stories. As leaders in business and industry, as architects and healthcare providers, as community leaders and influencers, you are some of the best ambassadors we could ask for at Auburn.

Again, thank you all for being here tonight. I hope you enjoy your weekend, and thank you for being such great supporters of Auburn University. War Eagle!

Before I get started, I want to thank Governor Kay Ivey for her efforts to bring much needed changes to in-state travel reimbursement. These improvements have streamlined the pre-approval and reimbursement process so it’s more user-friendly, straightforward and efficient. And the changes make it easier for you to do your jobs.

The faculty is at the core of our land-grant mission. You teach and mentor our students, you lead our groundbreaking research efforts, and your innovations bring visibility to our great institution. I am grateful for your commitment to Auburn. And please know I am committed to ensuring you have the resources and support you need to keep moving Auburn forward.

To move Auburn forward, we must have a roadmap. Our strategic planning process is underway. Our statewide listening sessions kicked off yesterday, and I’m confident that this series of discussions will focus us on the key directions and goals that will take Auburn to the next level. We want to learn from those inside and outside of the Auburn Family where we can make the biggest impact.

Your colleagues, Beth Guertal and Bruce Tatarchuk, are doing an extraordinary job leading this important process. Our strategic plan is essentially a framework for our future. Auburn has a bright future, so we must be intentional and strategic. We must maximize the momentum of a university on the move. We will present a final draft of this plan to the Board of Trustees in February 2019, and I am looking forward to working with the faculty as we put our plan into action.

My hope is that this strategic plan will help us to achieve our goal of elevating Auburn’s national visibility. Our goal is to position Auburn as a world-class institution for instruction, research and outreach. We’re diligently working toward this goal.

I’m happy to report that the 11 teams that are part of the Presidential Awards for Interdisciplinary Research initiative, or PAIR, are hard at work and hitting their stride. They’re boosted by $5 million in seed money, and they’re working to secure external funding and build a reputation with potential partners. This will enable Auburn to make an even more meaningful impact on our state, our nation and our world.

We want everyone aware of the caliber of work done here at Auburn. We are working to raise our profile, so others view Auburn as an institution synonymous with solutions. Will this be easy to accomplish? No. Are we going to do everything in our power to make it happen? Yes.

The last time we were together I mentioned some big changes to our central administration. I’m happy to report these key leaders are hitting their stride. As chief operating officer, Ron Burgess’ insight and leadership experience is tremendously beneficial. Jamie Hammer brings significant expertise as our new general counsel. Bill Hardgrave is exceeding expectations as provost. Bobby Woodard is excelling as senior vice president of student affairs. And we couldn’t have asked for a better ambassador and leader than athletics director Allen Greene.

We’re planning to bring even more fresh perspectives and seasoned leaders to Auburn. We’re currently engaged in national searches for a Chief of Staff and Vice President for Economic Development, a Vice President for Enrollment Services, and a Vice President for Research. We hope to extend offers to exceptional candidates by the end of the year.

With your help, Auburn is going from great to greater. Thank you for the chance to speak with you. And thanks even more for everything you do for Auburn. You are the best examples of the commitment to Auburn excellence.

War Eagle! And I’m happy to respond to any questions.

We are here tonight to celebrate our outstanding PAIR teams, who are taking Auburn research to new heights in critical areas like health sciences, additive manufacturing and the environment.

Academic research is dear to my heart. As you probably know, I have a strong background in research. I began my career as bench scientist and then oversaw agricultural and life sciences research at NC State.  Later, I oversaw research for the UNC system.

Because of my background, I have a true passion for what you do. And I’m committed to continuing to find innovative ways to provide the support and resources you need. We share the goal of putting Auburn on the map as a go-to for real-world solutions.

All of you here tonight — our PAIR teams — you play a key role in elevating Auburn’s research profile.

We created the PAIR initiative to tap into the tremendous talent that’s here at Auburn, to attract other top-tier researchers to our great university and to help you secure new, external funding that will help transform your ideas into real-world, practical solutions.

We received a tremendous response when we put out the call for this initiative — 101 proposals were submitted.

Narrowing that field down to just 11 projects was a challenge, for sure, but I’m confident that we have an exceptionally strong selection of collaborative, multidisciplinary teams, and you’ll work together to inspire, innovate and transform our great state and beyond through your groundbreaking research. 

We made this $5 million investment because we realize your potential to transform this university. We have the goal of elevating Auburn to Carnegie Research One classification, and I am pleased to report that, partly due to your efforts, we are well on our way to achieving this milestone. In fact, members of our additive manufacturing team funded through PAIR were awarded a prestigious NIST grant just last week.

It is your research that will help us maintain our momentum, as you focus your efforts on solving some of the major challenges facing our world.

I am confident that the teams represented here tonight will achieve tremendous things, and I look forward to seeing your results.

And I’ll end with this — I cannot stress enough how important your work is to our university. You are building a foundation for not just your meaningful research, but a foundation for the discoveries of those who will come after you, those who will build upon and advance what you’ve done.

We are committed to ensuring we have the resources and infrastructure you need to excel, and we are committed to recognizing and rewarding the best of the best.

I am truly grateful for all you do to enhance Auburn’s reputation, and, more importantly, to benefit our society.

And now, we will highlight the work of each team, and here to help us do that is our Interim Vice President for Research Dr. Jennifer Kerpelman.

You are embarking on an exciting journey that’s full of “firsts.” Many of you are experiencing your first class on a college campus. You’re living away from home for the first time. You’re reaching your first milestones independent of your family.

Any time you do something for the first time, regardless of how well it goes or doesn’t go, you learn. You grow. Every “first” is an opportunity to make you a better, stronger person. I know I have certainly learned from my “firsts” this past year. Do not be afraid to venture out of your comfort zone.

I have the pleasure of encouraging you as begin your own exciting journey of possibility. Some of my favorite experiences at Auburn have been the ones I have shared with students. You add so much life and energy to our community. You fill this campus with great ideas and limitless potential, and you make Auburn an inspiring place to be.

You enrolled at Auburn to prepare for life and at the same time to get a degree to help you land a terrific job. But while you’re here, we want to not only prepare you for life after school, but to help you figure out how you might transform the world around you.

You are bright, determined and ready to work harder than everyone else. This is what Auburn is. As the Creed says, we believe in work, hard work!

They say you only get one chance to make a first impression, so start strong. Get involved, become engaged, make good decisions, and you will thrive at Auburn.

Stay after class to talk one-on-one with your professor. Visit the Davis Arboretum or the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art. Make a new friend when you greet them on Hey Day. Connect with the folks at the Career Center. And on Saturdays this fall, soak up the best game-day atmosphere in all of college football.

Students who are involved are students who succeed. By getting involved on campus, you’ll form meaningful, two-way relationships with mentors who will support you throughout your career, friends who will be there to celebrate your accomplishments, and friends who will also be there to encourage you when you need it the most.

On that same note, try find balance between what you want to do with what you must do. And to achieve that balance, there are times you’ll have say “no.” By not overextending yourself, you’ll avoid getting burned out. And, you’ll be able to devote the best of you to the things you’re passionate about and the things to which you can really contribute.

It is easy—very easy—to feel overwhelmed by everything around you: your studies, your new friends, happenings on campus. College is exhilarating, but it can also be stressful.

Please know two things. First, you are not alone. And second, we are all here to help. The faculty and staff of our university are committed to helping make your experience here a successful one. Take advantage of the resources Auburn offers to help you succeed.

The years you spend on the Plains will be some of the most wonderful and memorable years of your life. I can’t wait to shake your hand on the day you receive your Auburn degree and thank you for the difference you’ve made. Until then, I look forward to seeing you on campus, hearing about your experiences, and watching you fulfill your potential.

Welcome to Auburn. War Eagle!