Last week, Provost Curry and I published a welcome message to the University of Iowa community, one that outlined resources available to students, faculty, and staff as everyone is getting into the swing of the new year. It’s important that Hawkeyes know about all the ways they can seek assistance from the university; if you haven’t had a chance to read that message, you can find it here.

But now that Iowa City is buzzing with activity again, I also wanted to catch everyone up about all of the things that have happened on campus over the summer—as well as where I see the UI heading.

Quite a bit has taken place. The university received a record amount of federal research funding, demonstrating how highly regarded and valued Iowa’s researchers, scholars, students, and educators are in their fields. Iowa also played host to a number of summer programs for talented high school-aged students, including one for young artists and writers hosted by the Belin-Blank Center. Iowa City was a major overnight stop for RAGBRAI this year; plenty of cyclists were happy to be back on campus again and showed their Hawkeye pride. And, we’ve made extensive progress on our strategic plan, giving individual colleges even more control of their resources, which allows them to better tailor their programs to their students’ and faculty members’ needs.

For 2018, we’re following a work plan that will allow us to meet the year’s immediate goals within the greater strategic plan. The Path Forward Steering Committee, charged with advancing the UI Strategic Plan 2016–2021, set up a number of work groups, each focusing on a specific pillar of the plan—Student Success; Research and Discovery; Engagement; and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Collaboration. The groups came together to lay out the 2018 Work Plan, a roadmap for achievement.

After this eventful summer, including the progress we’ve made building on the strategic plan, Iowa is in a great place to launch into the fall semester. For new students, know that you’ll have plenty of opportunities to get involved in research—that’s a hallmark of the Iowa experience. From rocket science to journalism to health care, undergraduates do hands-on work in their chosen field. To returning students, I’m excited to see what you’ll achieve this year, whether it’s tackling more advanced coursework or preparing for the final stretch of upper-level classes, capstones, and theses. And to faculty, staff, and researchers, thank you for your outstanding efforts preparing courses, teaching and providing for our students, and pursuing groundbreaking research in your fields.

This is going to be a great year at Iowa, and it’s thrilling to see it all begin anew.