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.