Letter from President Kelley Dear Members of the University Community, Marcia and I have enjoyed meeting many of you and getting to know the campus, city, region, and state. We are honored to have been named your first lady and president. Thanks in part to my friend Ed Carlson of anatomy and cell biology, I have known about UND for some years. And as I have learned more, I have become even more impressed. The University truly is a remarkable place, with strengths in so many areas. I look forward to working with you to maintain and build upon those strengths. My priorities will be academics, research, and scholarship at all levels. We will continue to enhance UND’s already strong institutional values, such as inclusiveness, understanding of and respect for diversity, integrity, and excellence in learning. I will work to increase scholarships and other support for students and raise endowments for professors and chairs. This will make us more competitive in both arenas and raise UND’s stature. I plan to work with faculty and other partners to find new ways of enhancing our strengths. I’d like to foster more cross-disciplinary collaborations, such as the UND Center of Excellence in Unmanned Aerial Systems, which results from synergies among the Odegard School, engineering, nursing, and psychology. We are a University with many complex parts. My goal is to build an integrated, well-managed organization in which we all work together toward our common goals. I believe that continuing to focus on excellence and building on our strengths will bolster enrollment, aid in economic development for the state and region, and further enhance UND’s reputation. I look forward to facing these challenges with your help. Together, we can make UND’s next 125 years even better. -- Robert O. Kelley, President.