I would like to take this opportunity to welcome everyone back to WPI for the 2000/2001 academic year. This is going to be a major year for our school in many ways, and I want to encourage everyone to take advantage of all the opportunities that this university presents.
This academic year marks the transition from one millennium to the next. Although this distinction might seem an arbitrary one, it coincides with a very significant time in WPI's development: the completion of the campus center this spring will open a new chapter in the history of this school. The center is the culmination of years of surveying, planning, and effort by students, faculty, and administration. I recently spoke to Jim McLaughlin, the new director of the campus center and student activities, and I am extremely excited about programming and activities already being planned for the campus center. Keep in mind, though, that however much that administration and student activities invest in the center, it will never be "home" until we, the student population, make it so.
The Campaign for WPI and the Strategic Plan continue to go forward. The campus center is only one step in the growth of our university, albeit a very tangible and significant one: an early centerpiece in a $150 million effort to propel WPI ever upward among top-tier colleges and universities. In future years, more academic and social spaces will be created, along with new academic and social programs to fill them. Current and future students will be the ones implementing and benefiting from these changes. We the students, both individually and collectively, do and will have powerful voices in the implementation of these changes.
WPI is unique in many ways, and we can hardly be said to be "average" in any category at all. Our academic and social programs and the students, faculty, and administration involved in these programs are all extraordinary. As a student community, we have talent, initiative, and drive, and we attend one of the greatest universities in the United States at the dawn of a new millennium. Good luck this year. Contribute all you can to, and take all you can from, WPI's rich academic and social fabric. As Newspeak has changed to Tech News, Morgan Dining Commons has improved immeasurably, as the Campus Center nears completion, and as we personally advance as students from one year to the next, keep in mind that the best has yet to come.