We’re still a week away from the opening of classes, but the air is charged with anticipation.

Already we’re welcoming new students participating in Honors Primetime, Iowa Edge, and International Student Orientation. Starting midweek, other first-year and transfer students will arrive.

We expect this fall’s entering class to be the largest in university history. On Friday, the On Iowa! kickoff marks the official start of their UI experience—an experience that will shape the rest of their lives.

For most of us, this time of year feels familiar. We’re used to guiding lost families, translating building abbreviations, or explaining what a “Pentacrest” is. We’ve come to expect a sense of renewal—it’s part of the reason we do what we do.

But this is no ordinary year. It promises real change, challenge, and growth not just for new students, but for all of us. The charge we feel this year is especially powerful, especially inspiring.

We’re on the verge of new university leadership, a revitalized physical campus, and expanded options across the curriculum, from biosciences to entrepreneurship to big data. We’re thinking in new ways that make our work more efficient and more effective, and we’re entering the last phase of a historic fundraising campaign.

Any of these developments alone would be remarkable. Together, they’re unprecedented.

The students we meet this week will be the first to experience a different University of Iowa. We’ll be right there with them.