As a land-grant and sea-grant university, we are obligated not only to offer exceptional learning experiences, but also to prepare tomorrow’s leaders—not only to nurture our students’ immeasurable talent, but also to equip them to be pacesetters who drive innovation and lead communities.

In 2023, our faculty and staff positioned UGA among America’s top universities as they provided world-class instruction, skilled mentorship, and superb student services. U.S. News & World Report ranked UGA as one of America’s top-20 public universities for the eighth consecutive year, while several schools and colleges, as well as numerous graduate and professional programs, earned top-10 national rankings. The School of Law was named the country’s best value in legal education, while student life on our campus was rated among the top three nationally and UGA was again named the No. 1 military friendly institution among tier 1 research universities.

Pursuing active learning in the classroom and experiential learning around the world, our students seized opportunities to maximize their education. They completed nearly 29,000 hands-on learning experiences—a new record and a 15% increase over the prior year—and they pushed UGA to a No. 6 ranking for study abroad participation among U.S. doctoral institutions. Our students earned higher education’s most prestigious accolades, including our 28th Rhodes Scholarship, marking the second consecutive year our students were named Rhodes Scholars. We also ranked among the top five universities nationally for Boren Scholarships and were again named a top producer of Fulbright award winners.

Our donors, who are passionate about our mission and devoted to our success, invested generously in the University’s future. In 2023, our alumni and friends produced the second-highest fundraising total in our history, lifting our benchmark three-year annual fundraising average over $235 million, a new record. And the Athletic Association also received historic levels of private support, helping our student-athletes excel on college sports’ biggest stages. After our football team had won back-to-back national championships and set the SEC record for consecutive wins—29 of them—the team then secured a resounding victory in the Capital One Orange Bowl in December. Our women’s soccer team secured its first SEC championship in program history, while our women’s tennis team won its twentieth SEC title. UGA ranked seventh in last year’s Learfield Cup standings, our best performance since 2005, and our student-athletes earned their highest combined GPA ever.

These accomplishments portray an institution experiencing unprecedented momentum and flourishing like never before. Last fall, applications for admission and enrollment both soared to record highs. To address the unprecedented demand for our services, we have undertaken an ambitious plan to construct a new residence hall as well as a state-of-the-art dining, learning, and wellness center to help more students benefit from all that UGA offers. Renovations to the iconic Holmes-Hunter Academic Building on North Campus also continue. Upon its completion this fall, the facility will offer enhanced spaces for key student services while further honoring the contributions of UGA trailblazers Hamilton Holmes, Sr. and Charlayne Hunter-Gault.

We also are making strategic investments that prepare our students for success in a dynamic and interconnected global society. Today’s economy requires innovation, critical thinking, and the ability to communicate effectively across different modalities. Competency in writing is often cited as an indispensable skill prioritized by today’s employers. To meet this demand, and to equip our students to excel in the workplace, we are launching a new writing center in the Miller Learning Center, a hub of student activity, and expanding the writing center in the McBay Science Library, where services will be tailored to STEM majors. We also are bolstering programs and staff to help students hone their writing skills.

To advance our land-grant and sea-grant mission, we are ensuring that all students are provided with the resources they need to succeed in the classroom as they prepare for lives of leadership and civic engagement. In 2023, we received the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award for the tenth year in a row, reflecting our unwavering dedication to fostering a welcoming, supportive learning environment for all. We are proud that 75% of UGA students now complete their degree within four years, while 88% graduate within six years—figures outpacing many of our peer institutions. And we are thrilled that 96% of our students secure employment or enter graduate school within six months of graduation—a figure that far exceeds the national average.

But we aspire for even more. Today, I am reaffirming our pledge to do all we can to help every student—regardless of their family’s income—realize their academic and career goals. At my request, the UGA Foundation Board of Trustees has provided matching funds to stimulate even more private giving to support need-based and experiential learning scholarships in the coming year. These funds will augment the more than $180 million that we have raised for need-based and experiential learning scholarships since I became president in 2013. In the year to come, the University also will make significant investments to boost academic support and career services, including hiring additional peer tutors to serve students in our most challenging introductory courses and launching a new Career Center program aimed at enhancing job placement for our most at-risk students.

Finally, let me turn to the third pillar of our mission—service. As a land-grant and sea-grant institution, service is a part of our DNA, an indispensable component of who we are as an academic community. This means that we are compelled not only to consider the state’s needs, but also to extend our resources at every opportunity to help Georgia communities thrive—not only to emphasize Georgia in our expansive activities, but also to tirelessly direct our talent and energy to benefit the state we proudly call home.

During the past year, UGA Extension personnel served in each of Georgia’s 159 counties—just as they have for over a century—making more than 1.8 million face-to-face contacts with families, farmers, and agricultural producers, while our 4-H leadership programs served more than 150,000 Georgia youth. Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant provided education, research, and outreach to dozens of communities and thousands of residents along Georgia’s coast, while our Small Business Development Center—the first of its kind in the United States—helped create more than 400 new businesses across the state. The Archway Partnership continued to address locally identified needs, providing Archway communities with an astonishing return on investment of almost 3,000%. The Carl Vinson Institute of Government and its PROPEL program were recognized nationally for efforts to help rural communities strengthen workforce and economic development.

Because of these efforts and countless others across our institution, the University of Georgia generated a record economic impact of $8.1 billion on our state last year. And I have no doubt that our impact will only increase in the year ahead as we partner with other organizations to advance the state of Georgia. With significant private support, the Institute of Government will work with school districts, local governments, and hospitals throughout rural Georgia to expand cybersecurity infrastructure. The Fanning Institute has launched Youth LEAD, an ambitious program to provide college and career readiness for Georgia’s youth while building a pipeline of future leaders. And in concert with a host of state and federal partners, the University is working with agricultural producers to strengthen supply chains and open new markets, while helping farmers reap the benefit of innovations in precision agriculture.

And make no mistake: we will continue supporting industries vital to Georgia’s future. A case in point is the electric mobility, or e-mobility, industry. UGA is leveraging new instructional programs, seed grants, and an interdisciplinary hiring initiative to solidify Georgia as a hub for e-mobility development. Another example is the hospitality and tourism sector, which employs more than 400,000 Georgians. UGA is enhancing the industry’s competitive position through a relatively new, but rapidly growing hospitality and food industry management program that has already been named one of the nation’s best.

But our impact will not stop there—far from it. With its rapidly growing population, our state has a surging demand for more physicians, while Georgia’s rural and underserved areas, in particular, face a critical need for highly trained medical providers. As a land-grant university, and as Georgia’s flagship research institution, UGA is uniquely positioned to address this need and serve our state through world-class medical education, research, and community outreach.

The creation of the University of Georgia School of Medicine will build on the resounding success of the Augusta University/UGA Medical Partnership, which has been educating physicians in Athens since 2010. In addition, we are uniquely positioned to leverage our strengths in scientific discovery and innovation to advance medical education and continue to expand our biomedical research enterprise. UGA receives the highest amount of NIH research funding in the nation among public universities without a medical school, and our researchers are already developing cures and treatments for a host of diseases and chronic health conditions. UGA scientists already collaborate with other medical schools and research institutions in Georgia, and the addition of a new stand-alone medical school on our campus will strengthen those connections and enhance opportunities for future partnerships.

To accelerate the launch of the School of Medicine, I recently formed a team to devise a comprehensive plan that will guide the School’s formation and its path to securing accreditation at the earliest possible date.