2005: The Will to Believe 
State of the University Address
Ann Weaver Hart, President
September 2, 2004
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Welcome
What a pleasure to be with you this afternoon. As we begin a new year at UNH, I am reminded of Charles Murkland, our first president. He was passionate in his fight to introduce broad educational principles to what was then known as New Hampshire College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. President Murkland believed that the liberal arts would complement existing agricultural programs, and that the combination of the two would best serve the state. We see the results of that vision at UNH today.
This past Friday, more than 3,500 new students—graduate and undergraduate—joined the university community. Our collective commitment and dedication to this university drew them here.
In that spirit, I am pleased to recognize the 2004 UNH Faculty Excellence winners.
We honor these faculty members for their excellence in teaching,
research and public service. All were nominated by colleagues and
students, and they represent every school and college within the
university.
The 2004 recipients are: Jeffry Diefendorf (History), Distinguished
Professor; Ross Gittell (Management), Outstanding Associate Professor;
Charlotte Bacon (English), Outstanding Assistant Professor; Carole
Barnett (Management), Jean Brierley Award for Excellence in Teaching;
Tom Laue (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), Excellence in Research;
Barbara Krysiak (Education), Excellence in Public Service; Charles
Goodspeed (Civil Engineering), Alumni Association Award for Excellence
in Public Service; and Ihab Farag (Chemical Engineering), International
Engagement Faculty Award.
And the school and college Teaching Excellence winners are: Raymond
Cook (Civil Engineering), College of Engineering and Physical Sciences;
Robert Barcelona (Recreation Management and Policy), School of Health
and Human Services; Piero Garofalo (Language, Literature and Culture,
Italian), College of Liberal Arts; John (“Ted”) Kirkpatrick
(Sociology), College of Liberal Arts; Nicholas Smith (Philosophy),
College of Liberal Arts; Frank Rodgers (Microbiology), College of
Life Sciences and Agriculture; Barbara Jago (Communication Arts),
UNH Manchester; John Becker Blease (Accounting and Finance), Whittemore
School of Business and Economics; and John Bozak (Forest Technology),
Thompson School of Applied Sciences. Congratulations to you all
for your outstanding achievement.
Please plan to attend this year’s Academic Convocation on
September 14th in the Richards Auditorium to hear from Professors
Diefendorf, Bacon and Barnett, on the challenges they have faced
in articulating what it means to be an integrated academic in the
face of modern career pressures.
This is the season when we look back and reflect on how successfully
we have met the goals set for the past year and set goals for the
coming year that build on that foundation for success.
Before I begin, however, I want to acknowledge the wonderful creative
accomplishments of the photographers whose work I have used for
this presentation: Lisa Nugent, Doug Prince, Perry Smith and Gary
Samson.
Last year was eventful in many ways. Our combined efforts resulted
in the University of New Hampshire being named to
The Kiplinger 100 (November 2003), where we were named in the top 100 best
values in public colleges, and among the top 50 public universities
by U.S. News & World Report (August 2004).
The accomplishments of students, faculty and staff have left me
with many stories from which to choose. I’ll share just a
few today, knowing there are many, many more. Please keep sharing
and bringing them to my attention.
I have organized my remarks this afternoon around the strategic
themes of the Academic Plan—discovery, engagement, community,
effectiveness and resourcefulness. These five themes represent our
blueprint for the future.
