Emory and the Economy

Message from President Jim Wagner to the Emory Community on September 1, 2009

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Dear Emory Community,

Welcome to the new academic year. To the newest members among our students, faculty, and staff who have arrived from all over the globe, welcome to the Emory community.

During the period of orientation for new students and the beginning of undergraduate classes, I had the opportunity to witness in an unexpectedly personal way the human dimensions of Emory. In addition to seeing the mixed emotions of excitement and sadness that hung in the air as students moved into their rooms and said goodbye to loved ones, I experienced first-hand the concern, along with hope and comfort, as Emory University Hospital staff provided care and healing for one of my family members.  It was a reminder to me that these mixtures of sadness and concern, balanced by excitement and hope, exist at Emory all the time. And, all the time, we prove to ourselves over and over again that the noble purposes of this place and the excellence and goodness of the people here make it possible for excitement, hope, and comfort to triumph over fear, concern, and sorrow.

Beyond such personal moments that we all experience, we at Emory are experiencing as a community a time of new regulatory pressures and fewer financial resources. Moreover, our nation and the world are dealing with the state of the environment, the future of healthcare, the fragility of our economy, and the just use of military action. All of these matters demand our attention and contribute to our anxiety. At Emory, we have had to respond to some of these pressures with new systems and refined policies, each one appropriate and necessary (and also, for some, very time consuming, and we owe them thanks for working so diligently). In some cases, we have also asked ourselves to do with less—or simply to do less (and thus employ fewer colleagues) in one area so that we can focus and excel in another.

Happily, we are rediscovering what we already knew: as necessary as it is to reduce budgets, build excellent systems, update policies, and reorganize, Emory truly draws its manifold blessings from human determination and faith in what is good in each other. These human qualities carry us a long way in meeting the personal and collective challenges of our times, and in continuing to pursue what is noble in our vision and mission. How fortunate we are to be part of a community that does not imagine that excellence and leadership and competitive advantage must come at the cost of goodness, but rather that goodness serves to ensure our excellence. With determination to preserve this combination of greatness and goodness, we will meet our social obligation to reach out through teaching and service and provide access to others seeking a destination to receive knowledge and healing for this season of challenges and for years to come.

It remains a genuine privilege for me to have been welcomed among you as part of just such a distinctive community.

With very best wishes for the new academic year,

Jim Wagner