USD President's Report 1999

Dear Friends ,

The needs of society wil l be addressed in a time when the state and the nation wi ll be experiencing significant demograph ic change , described by Professo r Michael Gonzalez . Recognizing this , we are trying to educate a diverse student body to become leaders in a multicultural international society. At the same time that we are learning to benefit from dramatic social change , people are becoming ever more closely linked through technology. Professor Dan Rivetti explores the possibilities and limitations of new financial mode ls. With the rapidly evolving growth of the Internet, we are wo1·king on upgrading and enhancing the technological capacity of the university. Perhaps leadership is the greatest need we face in the future . Professor Mary Scherr observes that the future calls for leaders with a deep spiritual foundation. The faculty futur ists recognize the complexity of the changes ahead of us and, with Professor Michae l lchiyama , call for research and scholarship directed towards resolution of the problems and issues we face. One of the most striking features of the millennium is the way in which it rem inds us that time and human endeavors are connected by date to the birth of Christ. We begin the year 2000 A .D ., Anno Domini , the 2000th year from the birth of Our Lord. Other abbreviations and terms of reference (BCE and CE, before and after the common era) are used to recognize that time touches all of humanity , not just Christians. We know that the efforts to provide an actual date for the birth of Christ are limited in accuracy. Yet, however we count the years or record the days, it is sure ly appropriate to acknowledge the historical impact of the birth of Jesus Christ and to seek spiritual guidance for the years , centuries and millennia ahead .

Although the cosmologists know the century will not end and the new mi llennium will not actually begin for another year, seeing the numbers flip over on our ca lendars from 1999 to 2000 gives us a feeling of historical transition. This sense of history is enhanced at USD because of our celebration this year of the 50th Anniversary of the charter of the university. We look at our relatively brief past with a sense of awe at the accomplishments of our predecessors. Photographs of the campus in the r94os show a grassy mesa adorned with only cacti and an occasional shrub . Photographs of the same mesa today delight us with the activity of our students , the beauty of the campus and the architectural serenity of the year IOOO , we realize that scholars and leaders in that era cou l d not have even begun to anticipate all of the changes that would occur in the millennium ahead. Yet even though people then thought the new year would bring the end of the worl d , the globe kept spinning on with new opportunities and growth. Wlien we look back to the year 1900, even the greatest visionaries could not appreciate the changes that would transform society during this century. We know our efforts to foretell events are short-term, and that the best we can do is to identify trends and needs. In this issue of the President's Report , I want to share with you some of the insights of our facu lty about the future, and illustrate those visions with profiles of some of the alumni and students who are shaping that future . The future as predicted by our faculty will be a challenging time. As professors Patricia Roth and Robert Fellmeth recognize, concern for the children and for our aging society is a cle a r priority which influences our educational and professional programs. the buildings . We look to the year 2000 and the millennium ahead with a sense of optimism and antic ipation of a favorable future. Wl1en we look back to the world in

Warmest regards ,

Alice B. Hayes President

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