Mark S. Wrighton
Learning and Discovery
Below is the complete text of Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton"s Inaugural Address, presented at his Installation Ceremony in Brookings Quadrangle on October 6, 1995.
Members of the Washington University community and distinguished guests, I accept appointment as chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis. I do so with enthusiasm, mindful of the confidence and trust placed in me, the responsibilities before me, and the high expectations that accompany such an appointment. My promises are to do my very best for Washington University and to work hard to sustain the trajectory of improvement that has characterized this great University under the leadership of Chancellor William H. Danforth and his life partner, Elizabeth. It is an honor to be selected to follow such a distinguished and accomplished university leader-one who has contributed so much to the St. Louis community and to higher education in America. We are all fortunate to benefit from the new leadership role that Dr. and Mrs. Danforth will play in our community in the years ahead.
In these remarks I will outline a few key themes that will guide me as chancellor. These themes represent a synthesis of considerations drawn from conversations with the faculty, students, administrative leaders, and Trustees and from an assessment of the issues we face and the strengths we bring to our mission.
"Learning" and "discovery" are what take place at research universities, and this is an institution that values and encourages both. In my own career, inspiration has come from great professors, students, and colleagues who assisted me in developing the ability to learn and to discover new knowledge. Since coming to Washington University, I have been impressed with the rich and diverse undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs, which already have provided new and stimulating experiences for me.
Learning what others know is achievable by all who enter this University, though the learning process may take place at different rates and in different ways. But beyond learning what others know, we foster original scholarship, creative expression, and research. There is no greater reward than that associated with charting new territory for humankind. When this University was founded, St. Louis was the gateway to America's West. Today, learning and discovery represent our contributions to providing gateways to a brighter 21st century.
Early Impressions
Washington University is among the top research universities in America. The high standing we enjoy in this country places us among the leading universities in the world. There are tangible measures of our stature that put us among the top universities, such as excellent faculty and students, a large amount of sponsored research, and a sizable endowment.
But there are also some very special qualities that bring strength to this University. I have had the opportunity to explore Washington University from a unique perspective, and each day has been one of revelation. At every turn I have encountered exciting, friendly, and enthusiastic faculty and students. The administration and staff members are superb, and I have become aware of exceptional achievements of our community. We also enjoy an extraordinary level of support from our graduates and friends, not only those in St. Louis but also in other parts of the nation and world.
Perhaps most important is the high degree of mutual respect, integrity, civility, and community I have found. Learning and discovery are activities which sometimes involve controversy and disagreement, but it is clear that my high expectations for an intellectual community capable of open discourse will be realized at Washington University. The diverse community that comprises Washington University is an important asset. Its people are drawn from many backgrounds, from many states and countries, and differ with respect to race, ethnicity, and intellectual interest. This stimulating mix is one we must work to sustain.
Commitment to a total educational experience for our students also is evident. A large number of activities give our students experiences outside the classroom. These range from leadership opportunities in our residence halls and orientation programs to participation in intercollegiate and club sports to performing arts programs. Many of our students are involved in public service during their time here. Our University provides settings for student growth, in addition to formal educational offerings.
Academic programs of Washington University are impressive, both in scope and in depth. Architecture, Arts and Sciences, Business, and Engineering and Applied Science are elements of our academic enterprise with which I have had experiences, and I am confident that we have the strengths that will sustain our progress as a university. Art, Law, Medicine, and Social Work are new intellectual areas for me, ones for which I have not previously had responsibilities. One reward of serving as chancellor is the opportunity to learn more about these areas and to be a part of future achievements. Each of our schools has been, and will be, an important part of what makes our University a great place for learning and discovery.
Building on the Partnership with St. Louis
Our location in St. Louis, Missouri-the heart of America-is an advantage and one we can build upon. Friendly and supportive, St. Louis has a rich history, and Washington University will always be linked to this great community. We were founded in 1853 when St. Louis was the thriving economic center of an emerging nation, and our destiny was to become a great university for a great metropolitan region. In seeking to build on our location and origin, Washington University is developing an academic focus on the study of American culture. Outstanding programs in American history, literature, political science, economics, and business are all elements of what will attract outstanding international students to come and learn in America, and, importantly, will attract Americans to learn about America.
Part of the regional impact from our mission is that nearly 32,000 graduates of Washington University live and work in the St. Louis area. Our growth as a national university brings new vitality to the region. About three decades ago, 85 percent of our undergraduate students came from within 25 miles of Brookings Hall. Today, more than 85 percent of the undergraduates are from outside the state of Missouri, representing all 50 states and more than 45 countries. Our graduate and professional students come from all regions of the nation and world. All make significant contributions to our community while they are here, and many of our outstanding students stay in St. Louis to pursue their careers. New businesses and professional practices have been started by our graduates, creating new employment opportunities for this region. We will sustain our efforts to reach out to the finest students and encourage their attendance at Washington University. Today, we have active interest in our undergraduate programs from more than 100,000 of the finest high school seniors in America, more than double the number at this time last year. We also will continue to draw outstanding students to our graduate and professional programs. Thus, we bring diverse and talented human resources to our region.
The partnership with St. Louis extends beyond our link with our graduates. We are fortunate to have many fine colleges and universities in the region with which we collaborate and share facilities. Collaborations also involve both large and small corporations, businesses, and professional practices. We find much that binds us together, providing opportunities to better fulfill our mission of education, research, and service.
Our relationships with St. Louis are symbiotic in many ways. University College provides formal educational offerings to a large segment of the St. Louis community, but our engagement goes well beyond such formal instructional programs. Our School of Medicine delivers state-of-the-art health care to many, while providing educational opportunities for our students. Our George Warren Brown School of Social Work engages its professional degree candidates in internships in the St. Louis area, delivering talented and caring people to address pressing social problems in our region and, at the same time, deepening the experiences of our students. The John M. Olin School of Business offers special programs for men and women employed in area corporations, programs ranging from seminars and short courses to Master of Business Administration degree programs, providing opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to interact with leaders of business and not-for-profit organizations. Internships with the School of Engineering and Applied Science afford other important links involving our students and faculty with St. Louis-based companies. Our School of Law students are engaged in work in the St. Louis offices of the Missouri Public Defender. Our Schools of Art and of Architecture provide a lively addition to the visual arts community, through exhibits of their own work and participation in the activities of the St. Louis community. Arts and Sciences enriches this community through a wide range of intellectual and cultural events, including lectures, seminars, and musical and theatrical events. Such activities also create opportunities for our faculty and students to work with a broader community than will be found on the University campus. Our Gallery of Art and Edison Theatre provide cultural enrichment for members of our entire community.
In short, the partnership of Washington University with St. Louis is multidimensional and synergistic, bringing benefits to all involved. Our partnership with St. Louis is part of our past, and our future success depends on this partnership. Founded at a time of westward expansion, we now have the vision of a St. Louis-based university where learning and discovery represent the gateways to enhancing the quality of life for St. Louis, America, and the world.
Internationalization: Links with the World
While firmly and inextricably linked to St. Louis, Washington University will remain among the leading educational institutions only if we are preparing our students to live and work in an increasingly international world. Rapid communications and efficient transportation have made it possible for people of the world to work across great distances. Indeed, St. Louis people and organizations figured prominently in the development of modern commercial air transportation. The "Spirit of St. Louis" is still very much alive in work by our School of Engineering and Applied Science to develop an information infrastructure that assists in bringing our world closer together.
Much of the developing world is far from the United States, but the impact of development may have large local consequences. For example, Asia represents a major market for American business. In another vein, there is the potential for major environmental deterioration arising from the development process itself and the attendant growth in the use of energy. The use of synthetic chlorofluorocarbons and the resulting effects on the ozone layer of the atmosphere are a sign that international cooperation will be required in the future as the developed and built world is extended. The School of Architecture will have special significance in preparing our students for work on development projects in emerging countries, but there are many educational needs that will be met by Washington University in preparing students for an increasingly international world.
An important element of internationalization includes the opportunity to work with students and scholars from around the world. The quality of our programs is attractive to outstanding students from other countries, and Americans who study at Washington University will have the opportunity to learn from them. A good balance of American and international students enhances the educational experiences for all and broadens the network of friends and potential collaborators. Developing strategic relationships with institutions in other countries will be vital to partnerships with the best students and scholars in those countries.
Our Schools of Business and Law are obviously large stakeholders in educational programs that prepare our students for life and careers in a highly internationalized world. But internationalization will involve programs of language, literature, history, culture, economics, and political science. Currently, further development of programs related to Asia is a focus, but there are other important areas of the world as well. In the future, initiatives might focus on South America, Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, or the former Soviet Union. While highlighting possible initiatives in emerging and developing regions of the world, it is important to sustain our excellence in education and research involving Western Europe. Our top-ranked Department of German, in Arts and Sciences; international scientific collaborations in earth and planetary sciences, in Arts and Sciences; and research relationships between European-based pharmaceutical companies and the School of Medicine are but three elements of academic activity that encourage us to build on our traditional strengths in humanities, physical science, and biomedical sciences.
Our efforts in internationalization must be led by strong intellectual leaders among our faculty. There are opportunities for each of our schools, and some of these opportunities have been identified in an intense Project 21 planning exercise that started prior to my appointment as chancellor. Through this process our National Councils will continue a critical role in developing consensus regarding future opportunities. The objective will be to contribute to the development of Washington University as one of the world's most respected centers of intellectual activity.
Commitment to Excellence: People, Programs, and Facilities
A great university is characterized by an excellent student body and by an excellent faculty. These are enduring characteristics of all great universities. Attracting and retaining distinguished faculty and having the opportunity to work with the most outstanding students depends on having across-the-board excellence in other elements of the University, including its staff and facilities.
It has been my good fortune to find dedicated, hard-working, and distinguished people at Washington University. In this highly competitive world, it is essential that we work to properly recognize and reward all members of our community. We must sustain our efforts to recruit outstanding faculty and to retain them as their careers develop and flourish. Our special efforts to attract and retain women and members of underrepresented minority groups are ones which will be encouraged, and our continuing faculty will play a larger role in these efforts. The academic leaders-deans and department chairs-have a responsibility in this regard, but all faculty share the responsibility to enrich our faculty with greater diversity.
Our faculty are dedicated to the important mission of teaching. Assisting others in learning is a core responsibility we have to our entire constituency. Extraordinary commitment to teaching will be nurtured and rewarded.
The considerable investment placed in Washington University by our students and their families, by our corporate, government, and foundation sponsors, and by our graduates and friends will bring larger returns if we strive to improve all that we do. A world-class institution will only be world class if it is excellent in all aspects of its operations. Thus, there is an important role for every member of the Washington University faculty and staff. We who work in a university enjoy the privilege of contributing to the development of tomorrow's leaders by working with students, and it is gratifying to see our entire community contribute to an atmosphere that facilitates learning and discovery.
Facilities for education and research must be of the quality needed to attract and retain the best faculty and to engage our distinguished students. Much of the physical plant of Washington University is both beautiful and of the dimension and quality needed to meet today's needs. However, there are some buildings and spaces that were built for another era and do not meet today's education requirements. These deficiencies will be reviewed and improvements made.
Information resources for learning and discovery are also vital to our success. We have strong libraries, but the future promises a rich elaboration of the sources of information. We must become adept in accessing and contributing to the expanding information marketplace. As leaders in the development of computing and communications, we should also emerge as leaders in the application of these resources to our education, research, and service missions.
The guiding principle underlying our commitment to excellence will be that for Washington University to be great, every one of our schools must have an opportunity to excel in its area of intellectual activity. But excellence cannot be established by drawing down the resources of one school to directly assist another. Rather, the commitment to excellence demands the expansion of support for academic units which are not blessed with the most affluent alumni. Thus, securing new support for our Schools of Art, Architecture, and Social Work will be a priority. Uniformity of excellence will bring both distinction and distinguishability-both essential in being recognized as one of the best universities. For our students and graduates, we will work to sustain our path to excellence so that you will become even more proud to be linked to Washington University.
We will be successful when we draw together as one institution, unite in our efforts to seek excellence, and partner internally to address complex, interdisciplinary problem areas. One example of this spirit of cooperation is the development of plans for biomedical engineering linking our School of Medicine with the School of Engineering and Applied Science. There are many other examples of internal partnership upon which we thrive: Law and Arts and Sciences; Business and Social Work; Architecture and Business; Art and Architecture, to name a few relationships among our academic units. Our internal partnerships strengthen the University as a whole, expanding our educational impact.
Setting Priorities: Necessary Response to an Era of Constraint
The opportunities before us clearly outstrip our resources to achieve them. No great university would really want it any other way, because to have more resources than desired would signal a situation where ideas, not resources, limit what is accomplished. We are grateful that this University is not one limited by ideas and opportunities. However, being limited by resources brings us to the inevitable conclusion that we must set priorities. Indeed, it is likely that care in setting priorities will be the most critical element in sustaining the growth in stature of Washington University. Both the priorities we set and the processes used to define them will be important to our success. Efforts to set the key priorities will be ones engaging our faculty, students, graduates, and friends.
During the process leading to my election as chancellor and in the months that have followed, it became clear that the resolve of Washington University to move to the next level of achievement among universities will require that special attention be directed toward enhancing Arts and Sciences. It is in this area that we find nearly two thirds of our undergraduate majors, and it is this entity that coordinates all of the University's Ph.D. programs. Moreover, all undergraduates enrolled in the professional schools of Art, Architecture, Business, and Engineering and Applied Science receive much of their undergraduate education from Arts and Sciences. Excellence in Arts and Sciences is essential to success for Washington University in the 21st century. Plans for further development of Arts and Sciences at Washington University are not fully formed, and students, faculty, other academic leaders, and Trustees must work to develop the specifics.
But an emphasis on Arts and Sciences does not diminish our need to enhance the stature of our other schools. Indeed, in order for Washington University to advance, we must achieve a greater degree of uniformity in our quality. An excellent set of professional, graduate, and undergraduate schools working cooperatively will lead to our collective advancement as an institution. By emphasizing Arts and Sciences we strive to enhance what is at the core of our University, and success will bring greater distinction to all of our schools-allowing us to attract and retain the best faculty and improving our opportunities to continue to attract an ever-stronger student body.
Facing Complexity: Addressing Real Problems
Washington University is destined to achieve some of the most challenging and worthy goals of humankind. Our excellent faculty will be preparing leaders solving tomorrow's problems, but while students are here, we need to work with them to address today's problems. A 30-minute visit to our School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics, which provides neonatal intensive care at St. Louis Children's Hospital, reveals the complexity of the problems we face. The premature infants receive the best care science and technology can provide, while hopeful parents anxiously watch. The total cost can exceed $40,000 for each infant. Learning that a significant fraction of the premature births could be avoided by better prenatal care for the expectant mother reminds us of the difficult social problems within just a few miles of our School of Social Work. These and others of the world's problems are ones that are not solved working alone over a long night at the library, in a studio, in a laboratory, or in a residence hall doing class assignments.
The vexing problems and challenges we face are ones that are multidisciplinary in character, requiring concerted, synergistic effort from many intellectual perspectives. Cooperation and collaboration will be needed, and there will be important outcomes in terms of the educational achievements of our students and the original contributions they, our faculty, and staff will make. Some areas of contribution will involve improving human health, sustaining the environment, developing economic strength, fostering world peace, and enhancing the quality of life.
These lofty areas of contribution are ones which fit the essential criteria for successful University initiatives: The problems are ones which spark intellectual interest and creativity; they are significant; there are excellent faculty who can take leadership roles; students find these areas to be meaningful ones in which to learn and contribute; and there is ample room for highly individual contribution within the framework of a well-structured interdisciplinary partnership. No important problem is too complex or too difficult to tackle, and we will apply our creative efforts to problems of practical and intellectual significance.
Learning and Discovery: Gateways to the 21st Century
Whatever progress is made in solving the problems confronting our global society, we can be assured that well-educated people will be key-people working individually and cooperatively and people working in many areas and with many backgrounds and perspectives. We need people who will encourage understanding of the problems we face; we need people to create approaches to solving problems; we need people to implement solutions; and we need people to help us better appreciate our world and our own creativity. The Brookings Hall arch as the entrance to the Quadrangle is a tangible gateway to an institution with an important mission. We have the responsibility to encourage learning and discovery-the figurative gateways to a 21st century better than the 20th.
I pledge to work to build a brighter future for those who follow us, and I ask your support in this effort. May the "Spirit of St. Louis" move among us in our quest for knowledge and creative contributions that bring benefits to society. Let us set this day of inauguration as our day of commencement toward achieving our mission. Our work awaits us. Let us begin.
Mark S. Wrighton
Chancellor and Professor of Chemistry, Washington University in St. Louis
E-mail: Wrighton@wustl.edu
Washington University
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Phone: 314-935-5100
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