| Dear Faculty Friends and Colleagues, As our campus comes alive again with the start of the new academic year, I want to take a moment to extend a warm welcome back and to introduce myself as I conclude my first week as provost. Although I am new to WashU (I think I’ve been to five or six conferences here in the last couple of decades, but you shouldn’t be surprised if you see me looking lost on campus in the next few weeks), I am not new to academic life. I’ve spent nearly three decades in higher education—as a teacher, a scholar, and in many leadership and service positions, including dean of the University of Michigan Law School for more than a decade. Across all these roles, I’ve been drawn to questions of how we foster academic excellence, how we support and challenge one another in the pursuit of knowledge, and how we build scholarly communities that are both rigorous and collegial. These are questions I’ll keep asking here, and ones with which I know many of you have been deeply engaged for years. I chose to come to WashU in part because it takes its ideas and its people seriously. It is a university grounded in intellectual ambition, collaborative spirit, and a commitment to making a positive difference in the world. Already, in my first conversations with faculty, students, staff, and leadership in the past week, I have been struck by the strength of this community and the clarity of its purpose. This is a place that values research and teaching at the highest levels and that understands those pursuits to be strongly connected to questions of character, equity, and collective responsibility. At the same time, I recognize that this is a particularly challenging moment for higher education. Universities are navigating complex pressures—financial, political, cultural, technological, and demographic—all of which test our institutions and our values. We can’t take any of this lightly. But at the same time, it’s important to recognize that these challenges can help us focus our vital work. Now more than ever, we need to model what it means to pursue truth, foster dialogue, disagree productively, cultivate community, and educate with both rigor and kindness. I aim to be a partner and advocate for WashU’s academic mission in its broadest and best sense. That means supporting the excellence of our research and creative work; sustaining an outstanding and inclusive student learning environment; recruiting and retaining world-class faculty; and helping to ensure that the resources, structures, and policies of the university align with its aspirations. It also means showing up with a service mindset—one rooted in listening, collaboration, and a respect for the work you do every day in your classrooms, labs, studios, clinics, and communities. Finally, I believe strongly in transparency, communication, and accessibility. I plan to communicate frequently—to share updates, invite input, and do my part to demystify administrative processes and decision-making where I can. I’m also eager to learn about the people and the work that make WashU such a remarkable institution. I hope to meet many of you in the coming weeks—in meetings and informal conversations, in your departments and on campus walks, in events and shared spaces. Please don’t hesitate to reach out or say hello (or offer directions). Frankly, I’m curious about almost everything, especially this place and its people, and I can’t wait to hear from you. Thank you for all you do to sustain and strengthen this wonderful community. I am honored to join you and energized by the possibilities ahead. Best, Mark D. West Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs |