January 3, 2018

Dear University of Delaware community,

Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed a joyful and relaxing holiday break and are ready for the exciting year ahead.

Working together as a community, this past year has been one of both accomplishment and commitment, with steadfast focus on student success. New people, initiatives, facilities and partnerships, as exemplified by the highlights in this short video, are enhancing the UD experience for every student and helping us all to make a meaningful impact on the world.

2018 begins as a year of limitless opportunity in our quest for excellence. We are opening doors for students — undergraduate and graduate — to learn, travel, explore and chart a fulfilling path to the future. We are striving to build a more diverse and welcoming campus and ensure that our classrooms and labs are led by the most talented and inspiring faculty and staff. We are fostering a spirit of discovery, innovation and entrepreneurship across our curriculum, scholarship, partnerships and programs.

Our Delaware First philanthropic campaign is enabling us to accelerate the pace of investment in our intellectual and physical capital. We are enhancing and expanding our faculty base of great talent across the University. We are breathing new life into our storied buildings on The Green and our athletic fields, while also creating new buildings on the burgeoning STAR Campus. We are bridging academic disciplines to address society’s biggest challenges. And we are continuing to cultivate an ethos that values the interconnected relationship of education, research, scholarship, personal development and engagement.

This is a very special time for our great University, and together, we are creating an exciting future. As we embrace the UD motto that Knowledge is the Light of the Mind, we prepare our students to be even more creative, inquisitive and interdisciplinary to illuminate a world of possibility that may have never before been imagined.

At this dawn of a New Year, I am truly inspired by all of you. Together, we will continue to build a University that defines success by the values we shape and our abiding commitment to serve others by sharing our talents, our energy and our knowledge.

Eleni and I are so proud to be part of our amazing UD community, and we send you our warmest wishes for health, happiness and success in all your pursuits ahead!

Sincerely,

Dennis Assanis President