IT'S A GREAT time to be a Wahoo. The weather is starting to cool, the leaves will be changing soon and fall break is just around the corner. But it's a monumental time in another sense, too. This weekend marks the official kickoff of the University's $3 billion Capital Campaign. We are entering an unparalleled period of University advancement and development. As your student member of the Board of Visitors, I'd like to share with you some of the things we have been working on.
The Board is committed to establishing the University as one of the premier institutions of higher learning. The Capital Campaign is going to provide us with the capital to reach this position and secure it for years to come. As the Board develops priorities as part of the 10-year plan, student needs and interests remain at the forefront. To this end, the University is constantly examining student safety and making daily improvements. ISIS is being completely overhauled and the academic advising program is receiving ample attention, as are efforts to encourage undergraduate research and study abroad programs. Finally, smaller class sizes continue to be a chief student concern and one that this Board takes very seriously.
The Board is also making great strides with respect to diversity. We saw remarkable gains in the number of contracts formed with small, women- and minority-owned businesses over the last year and have set our goals even higher. For the 12th year in a row, the University leads the nation's public universities in retention and graduation rates of black students, and Black Enterprise Magazine recently named us one of the "50 Top Colleges for African Americans." The Board continues its efforts to recruit and retain outstanding faculty members of all backgrounds, and AccessUVa remains a top priority as we seek to extend the opportunity of a University education to all deserving students statewide. On Nov. 2 to 4, the University will host its first annual Symposium on Race and Society with a special focus on Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. As the University becomes a leader in higher education, the Board is committed to also being a leader with regard to institutional diversity.
At 3 p.m. on Friday, the University will break ground on the South Lawn Project, ushering in a new era of physical improvements around Grounds. The South Lawn is a historic undertaking in itself, the product of countless hours of research and collaboration between Board members, students, administrators and Moore Ruble Yudell, the architecture firm tasked with its design. In addition, there are plans to build a new first-year dorm at Hereford College and to begin the replacement of dorms on Alderman Rd. The construction of a new School of Medicine will bring that facility on par with the rest of our Health Systems unit and attract the best medical students in the country, while the Cancer Center will serve as a space of cutting edge research and treatment, continuing to position the University as one of the finest hospitals in the nation. We are literally building a better university.
One of the most exciting things about being the student member of the Board has been listening to the ideas put forth by the Special Committee on Planning, a group tasked with developing a plan to take our University to the top. Their innovations are remarkable. The university now boasts a graduate program of Public Policy that will one day join the ranks of Harvard's Kennedy School of Public Policy. This, along with a proposed Center for Global Health, would establish the University as a premier institution of public service, as well. New and exciting ideas are being put forth every day. As university students, we are in the best position to see potential developments and improvements around Grounds and throughout the student experience. I hope you will consider sharing these thoughts with me in the near future. As I convey student opinion to the Board, it is my sincere aim to represent each of you. Your contributions are vital to the success of our university.
This is an incredible time to be a student at the University. We will each take a degree from a university that will soon be regarded as one of the best in the world. So tonight as we join in the celebration on the Lawn with 15,000 of the University's closest friends, take a moment to turn to your neighbor and say thank you to your friends that sit beside you -- the ones you already call your second family and to the professors that challenged you to get here and the administrators that make so much of our experience possible. Thank the Capital Campaign Committee and the Development Office for pulling this whole thing together and the Board of Visitors and its support for carefully charting the course of this University in light of such exciting developments. Finally, thank the countless alumni and friends who show their love for the University by making it better for students today. Then sit back, relax and watch the fireworks dance over our majestic Rotunda -- because it's a great time to be a Wahoo!
Lizzie Mullen is the student member of the Board of Visitors.
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