Observations
By UW System President Katharine C. Lyall

Measuring our results

During the 2001-2002 academic year, UW institutions graduated nearly 28,000 capable, eager, and enthusiastic seniors, launching them into a world of change in which they will contribute in many ways.

This year's graduating class are the first UW students who applied for admission on-line; they were the first to use our new systemwide integrated library system; over their educational career they have moved from PCs to laptops to Palm Pilots; in high school they used to get their music from tapes and CDs; now they listen to music on the Internet and use Napster to create their own music.

When the Class of 2002 was entering grade school, the most popular college majors were in the arts & sciences; as they complete their college careers, the most popular majors are the life sciences, business, and education.

Over the past four years, the Class of 2002 has watched the "graying of the faculty" as hundreds of valued senior faculty and staff retired, and they've seen the arrival of hundreds of younger professionals, some not much older than their students.

The probability that members of the Class of 2002 will die from diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, heart disease, and many other afflictions has been measurably reduced by recent university breakthroughs in stem cell research.

Service learning has become more important as students have increased the hours of volunteer time they invest in campus, community, and worldwide work projects.

The Class of 2002 has seen the nation's sense of security shaken; some students have had friends called up from reserve units to help protect our airports or to serve in Afghanistan. The idea of "service" has taken on new meaning and significance.

It is hard to imagine a more exciting future or a more challenging set of opportunities for our graduates. We need to remind ourselves, amid the more mundane struggles over budgets and politics, . . . this is what we do best! And this is why our universities are such critical assets for Wisconsin's future.