UA News

UA President Robert N. Shelton gave his State of the University address Thursday, emphasizing the vision and values necessary to sustain the institution's future success.

In the midst of a national economic downturn that hit Arizona with much voracity, University of Arizona President Robert N. Shelton said the time calls for creative ideas and new approaches.

Click here to view the speech on the Arizona Public Media Web site.

During this third State of the University address, Shelton spoke on Thursday about budget reductions the UA has and will continue to face while also speaking to ways in which the community is already acting in creative ways to counter economic concerns. 

"Over the past two years, America has been through the most profound economic upheaval since the Great Depression," Shelton said, noting that the UA's state appropriation was cut by nearly $100 million during that time.

"We were required to cut nearly one-quarter of our state-appropriated budget, and it had to be done quickly," he added.

Deans, faculty members, staff, appointed professionals, students, alumni and others were consulted during the Transformation Plan to determine how to proceed, he said.

"Now, sadly, we will need to continue that dialogue. I say sadly because the challenges in Arizona will undoubtedly persist for the next couple of years," Shelton said.

"In July of 2011, when the federal stimulus funding expires, we face a perilous cliff," he said. "Let no one on this campus underestimate how steep that cliff may be."

But Shelton also noted ways in which the UA community and its supporters have been especially creative, also spotlighting some of the institution's accomplishments.

Shelton spoke about private gifts to the University in the past year totaling more than $140 million, the UA's added investments in need-based aid for students and the introduction of the Arizona Assurance program, which offers a tuition-free education for qualifying Arizona residents. 

UA researchers were proactive in pursuing competitive federal stimulus funding and have already received more than $80 million in awards with more expected to come Shelton noted while speaking to an audience of hundreds of people, including UA students, faculty, staff, alumni and donors.

Also, new majors, schools and institutes were born out of the UA's Transformation Plan to meet the needs of the state while also advancing knowledge about some of the most pressing contemporary issues, including those related to the "environment, health and human understanding," he said. 

In introducing Shelton during the event at the Student Union Memorial Center, Arizona Board of Regents member Fred Boice talked about the current economic and political challenges. 

"When Robert (Shelton) came to the University, the demand for higher education was skyrocketing, and the resources were declining," said Boice, one of the regents to attend the address.

Despite the challenges, Boice pointed out that the UA's enrollment has increased along with the diversity and academic ability of its students. He also noted that new programs have been developed along with record-setting philanthropy at the UA since Shelton's arrival. 

"These are tough times," Boice said, "but we have the right man to lead us." 

In speaking to the audience, which also included elected officials, former UA presidents and others, Shelton emphasized the continued need the kind of committment to education and creativity the UA has exhibited in order to succeed in an ever-changing world. 

"When it was built, the University stood on the frontier of our nation, as America pushed its physical boundaries to the West," said Shelton, whose address was streamed live on the Arizona Public Media Web site.

"Today, the University of Arizona stands on the frontier of a world of ideas," Shelton continued. "It is a world free of borders, in which our faculty are redefining where disciplines meet, where knowledge grows, where the future is built." 

The world, Shelton emphasized, is changing, becoming more globally competitive. So, too, are the ways in which technology is being used, influencing the ways in which information travels.

However, the need to invest in education remains, he added. 

"The story this year at the University of Arizona is not just about budget cuts," Shelton said, "it is about exceptional people making a difference in the lives of students and in the future of Arizona."

At the core of what the UA's mission and what the institution purports to do are three words: "access, quality and discovery," Shelton said.

"It is those three attributes that are central to everything that defines the University of Arizona experience," he said. Chiefly, the institution's motive is to provide a quality education to students. 

He noted that, the University is nothing like a factory assembly line that can be stopped at a moment's notice; that the University must be invested in its students and the future of the state of Arizona.

"Universities are, after all, unique enterprises. People who do not know better often say that universities should just be run like a business," Shelton said. "But, in fact, they are not. They cannot be."

Shelton said the University must continue to nurture its creative thread; that it is "one of the central things we do at a university."

He spotlighted the work of individuals at the UA working to improve travels to Mars; those who document, analyze and teach the endangered Hiaki language; researchers creating cures for diseases; those developing solar technologies; individuals who are improving food growth in arid lands; those advancing education and new ways of teaching, among other pursuits.

"It is through the collective creativity of the people on this campus that we will find the solutions to the problems we confront," Shelton said. "It is through that collective creativity that we will, as a campus community, redefine who we are."

And, he said, the UA "will not compromise on quality" despite an uncertain economic future. 

Shelton said: "We will hire, retain and nurture those scholars whose creativity will alter the world, uplift the state, shape the education of those who come here and inspire all of us to draw on our personal humanity to improve our society."

Shelton spoke with marked determination, adding that the UA will "lead the nation in integrating access, quality and discovery. So the cuts be damned, we have the creativity to do it."