Message from the President-elect

To members of the Northwestern community,

Deeply honored by the recommendation from the Search Committee and the selection by the Board of Trustees, I am humbled and excited to serve the Northwestern University community. 

During this challenging time for higher education, many of us have been anxious about the uncertainties and distressed by the turbulence. But we also believe in and are inspired by the resilience and the character of the Northwestern community. Let us together continue the trajectory of stabilization that President Bienen and the team have embarked on, preserving an environment where each individual can thrive and excel in the discipline you choose. 

Now let us start a new chapter in the long chronicle of Northwestern University. Now is the moment to protect and advance the freedom to seek truth, as is stated in our motto and featured in our University seal: “Quaecumque sunt vera: Whatsoever things are true.” Now is again the time to “take a Northwestern direction” and look to our future.

Through the past one and three-quarters centuries, generations of Northwestern students and colleagues have elevated this University to international preeminence: outstanding in interdisciplinary undergraduate learning, in the most highly regarded graduate and professional studies, and in comprehensive, impactful research. And each day at Northwestern, poems are written, dances are performed, games are won and lives are saved. Our purple is proudly unique, and there is no university quite like Northwestern.  

Therefore, my first priority is to listen and learn about Northwestern’s distinct culture and this community of scholarly and creative minds, because what matters most is the “who” before the “what.” I want to engage with as many members of our community as possible: students and parents, faculty and staff, alumni and donors, neighbors and partners, as well as all trustees. I will come to every one of the 12 colleges and schools, cheer every one of our 21 sports teams, visit our clinical partners at Northwestern Medicine and beyond, and participate in every cherished campus tradition. 

When this community comes together as Wildcats, we give each other hope: hope that we share in our purple. Go ’Cats! 

Mung

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