Make the Most of a New Semester

September 1, 2020

Members of the Rutgers Community,
 
As we begin the 2020-21 academic year, I want to welcome all the newest members of the Rutgers community—including transfer students, graduate, medical, and professional students, and first-year students, as well as the faculty and staff for whom this will be their first full year. As a newcomer myself, I am thrilled to be part of this beloved community and excited to begin this year with you. Welcome also to our returning students, faculty, and staff, with special thanks to all of you who have worked so hard to prepare our campuses and our courses for the special challenges of this fall semester.
 
Please know that I have high expectations for you, and that you should in turn expect my own best efforts to build a strong community. My sense of the presidency demands of me a commitment to be accessible and accountable; to listen to and support you; to embody and advocate for the values of our community; to challenge you and engage you in striving for excellence, and then to amplify that excellence. I look forward to meeting and working with many of you across the university in the days and months ahead.
 
Yesterday, I took part in New Student Convocation for Rutgers-New Brunswick, and the remarks I recorded for the event touched on the crucial role that universities like Rutgers can play at critical moments in history like we are living through right now. I encourage you to watch the video or read the text of my talk, and I welcome your comments. As I said in my first-day remarks, I will not shy away from uncomfortable conversations about addressing our nation’s systemic inequities, and I look forward to that dialogue.
 
Over the past eight months since accepting this job—and more immediately since July 1—I have been motivated and heartened by all that I have been learning about Rutgers and the special place it holds for so many people. I hope and trust that you will contribute to our success in the coming year and that you will make the most of your opportunities to excel—in your studies and extracurricular pursuits as Rutgers students, in your research and teaching on the Rutgers faculty, in the programs you develop and the services you provide as Rutgers staff. This is an unusual and challenging year, to be sure, but I remain steadfast in my belief that it can be exceptional all the same.
 
Sincerely,
 
Jonathan Holloway
President and University Professor