January 3, 2022

Dear UD Community,

Happy New Year! My wife, Eleni, and I hope that your holiday break was safe, enjoyable and filled with special moments with family and friends. We are so excited to be starting 2022 with all of you, the outstanding members of the University of Delaware community.

Together, and through incredibly difficult circumstances, we accomplished so much in 2021 to continue advancing our institution. So many classes, research projects, athletic competitions and campus events — including Commencement and Twilight Induction — returned to in-person status last year, thanks to your ongoing efforts to protect yourselves and each other from COVID-19. Even more so, you continued to achieve excellence in myriad ways by always seeking creative solutions to unprecedented challenges. I invite you to enjoy this video celebrating our amazing Blue Hen pride in 2021.

The start of a new year is also a time to imagine how we can shape the future. We have experienced tremendous changes over the last two years in the ways we teach, learn, work and relate to each other — changes that will continue to reverberate here on campus and throughout the world for years. In many ways, the pandemic reminded us of strengths that we sometimes take for granted: our culture of collaboration and perseverance that connects us as a community … our commitment to innovation that helps us respond to rapidly shifting circumstances … our core values and our deep sense of responsibility to ensure equity and protect the health and safety of one another.

Whatever challenges the new year brings, we will always rely on our strengths to overcome obstacles and turn them into opportunities to advance the University’s mission of education, research, and public service. We will continue cultivating an ecosystem of accessible, lifelong learning. We will help improve lives and solve problems through our bold explorations and discoveries. And we will constantly challenge ourselves to bridge the many cultural, economic, and technological divides in society to better serve others.

As we enter 2022, I could not be more optimistic about our future together at the University of Delaware. Eleni and I wish you great happiness and success in the new year and always.

Sincerely,

Dennis Assanis President