At the beginning of this new year, I’d like to think about the University of Iowa’s future by considering our past.

Those that steered this institution before us dealt with change and uncertainty just as we do. In September 1971, then-President Sandy Boyd delivered an address to the faculty that many of us have read many times. It puts the present moment into proper context for me.

Within his address, President Emeritus Boyd stated, “Because of the imagination and resolve of prior generations, this university has flourished. In turn, it has benefited the students and teachers who have labored here and through them has advanced society.” He continued, “Whatever the specific circumstances of our daily contacts with each other as students, faculty, staff, alumni and public, we must always consider the future as well as the moment. . . .We are in a time of social dissension and economic uncertainty. We must not destroy the vital assets of our society. Among these assets is the University of Iowa. We betray our future if we regard this university as a wasting asset—to be drawn upon and never replenished.”

The specific ways that the university of the past weathered challenges are different from those of the present, but they are metaphors for how we will endure and flourish into the future. Just as I hearken back to President Emeritus Boyd’s tenure, so too did he look back at his predecessors. We could follow this regression to the founding of the university, and it isn’t the particulars of each historical moment that matter so much as the pattern itself: We stand here today because of prior generations and the resolve that they showed in the face of challenges. It is our charge to allow future generations to stand because of our resolve.

Here’s how we’re rising to the challenge of our own historical moment: We have a strategic plan that researchers, educators, and administrators have been implementing over the past 12 months, a plan that is allowing us to focus on education, research, and scholarship. In order to deliver on this plan, new revenue and redirected effort are necessary. The university has committed to funding a third of the strategic plan through efficiencies and redirected efforts that will impact the outcomes of student success, research, and scholarship.

The way that we deliver on the strategic plan is as important as the specific objectives. During this week, as we celebrate the leadership and vision of Martin Luther King Jr., we remember that our strength is in our diversity and collaborative style. Our different skills and experiences make us stronger, more resilient, and better able to achieve our goals.

I am certain that we will deliver on our promise. It is in the best interest of our state, our students, and their families to invest in their future by investing in university. This is an investment that we do not ask lightly. We know that resources are scarce, but we must not fail the future generations by focusing on a short-term win while mortgaging our future. Our predecessors didn’t, and that’s why we are here. Amid the difficulties of today, we must have our eye on the future.

We may not know exactly what the next chapter looks like, but we do know that the University of Iowa is contributing to a better future by accomplishing our mission of education, research, and scholarship. Each of us has a role to play in accomplishing that mission, and though the ways in which we do so have changed over time, we will not waver. For the good of our state, nation, and world, this institution will and must endure.