Greetings —
and welcome back — from
Green Bay's University of Wisconsin!

I hope you had a pleasant summer, one with plenty of quality time to spend with your families and enjoy all that our beautiful state has to offer in this special season.
      From my vantage point, this is one of the most exciting and rewarding times of the year. Last week, we marked the return of all faculty and staff to campus at our Fall Convocation. This annual event provides us with an opportunity to greet newcomers, recognize outstanding performance and even have the chancellor say a few words about the state of the University.
      Then, on Thursday, Cyndie and I joined dozens of others from the campus community in one of our great traditions: Freshman Move-in Day. I’m always captivated by the range of emotions we see as we help our freshmen move into their new home for the next nine months. There are lots of tears as students say good-bye to Mom and Dad, brothers and sisters. But there’s also an unmistakable air of excitement as they prepare for the next chapter in their young lives.
      Finally, after the Labor Day observance, we open our classroom doors for another academic year. This year has all the makings of a banner year at Green Bay’s University.
      Just look around the campus. A year ago, this month’s issue of Chancellor’s FYI had a photograph of the Kress Events Center starting to take shape. One year later, its state-of-the-art fitness center already is open, and construction crews are putting the finishing touches on other parts of the building.
      The Kress Center — a lasting tribute to the type of partnership that makes a university great — will do so much for student life and for our NCAA Division I athletics program. I can only begin to express my heartfelt gratitude to the students, alumni, community friends and elected officials who made this achievement possible. And I can’t wait for a series of events later this fall when we all will come together to dedicate this sparkling addition to the campus landscape.
      Now the construction equipment has moved to another part of campus as we transform our University Union into one that will help us better connect learning to life through activities all across campus. With our attractive residence halls, the Kress Events Center and the new and improved Union, our student life facilities will be among the finest anywhere.