'Freedom of scholarly
inquiry is our greatest privilege'
This is the text of
John Hennessy's remarks at Monday's announcement.
A little over eight years
ago, Gerhard Casper, at the announcement of his selection
as Stanford's ninth president, jested that he had been
selected because of his ability to pronounce Stanford's
motto, "The Winds of Freedom Blow," as it
appears in German -- a feat that I shall not try to
duplicate today.
I have always taken our
motto as an invitation to free and open inquiry in the
pursuit of teaching and research, and as an encouragement
to be bold in seeking out new knowledge. In my own work
this invitation has led me to pursue new avenues in my
own research in computer architecture; to engage in
technology transfer through a startup; to initiate a
major overhaul of our curriculum in computer architecture
at both the graduate and undergraduate levels; and to
coalesce my thoughts about how to teach computer
architecture into two coauthored texts.
The freedom of scholarly
inquiry granted to members of the academic community is
our greatest privilege; using this privilege boldly
should be our objective.
Last night, I was reminded
that we encourage this boldness of inquiry not only in
our faculty, but also in our students. At about 9 p.m.
Dana Mulhauser, a student reporter for the Stanford
Daily, arrived at my home off campus to ask about
rumors of an action by the Board of Trustees scheduled
for today. Her arrival reminded me that the Winds of
Freedom blow through all parts of Stanford.
For the past five and a
half years, initially as chair of computer science, then
as dean of engineering and most recently as provost, I
have had the opportunity to work with an ever-widening
circle of faculty, staff and student colleagues. This
engagement with faculty, staff and students from across
the university has been one of the most challenging and
intellectually engaging tasks that I have undertaken at
Stanford, and one that I have thoroughly enjoyed. Thus,
when the presidential search committee called me to talk
about my interest in helping to tackle the challenges
facing Stanford, I responded enthusiastically.
The challenges are real --
especially the challenge of building our academic
programs and continuing to attract the best faculty,
staff and students given the high cost of living in the
Bay Area. But more important, the new millennium brings
for Stanford opportunities to take advantage of our many
strengths. Let me mention three important opportunities
before us.
First, the opportunity to
build on the remarkable enhancements we have made to our
undergraduate program through Stanford Introductory
Studies. From freshman seminars to Sophomore College to
the new Introduction to the Humanities, much has been
accomplished, but there are possibilities to further
improve the undergraduate experience. In thinking about
the overall structure and direction of our undergraduate
program, I offer a statement made by Leland Stanford,
which characterizes my views as well:
"I attach great
importance to general literature for the enlargement of
the mind and for giving business capacity. I think I have
noticed that technically educated women and men do not
make the most successful businesspeople. The imagination
needs to be cultivated and developed to assure success in
life."
A second opportunity is to
build on the breadth and depth of our excellence in
science and engineering with programs like the Clark
Center for Biomedical Engineering and Sciences.
A third opportunity before
us is to strengthen and enhance the arts and humanities
by building on the successes of the Presidential Chairs
in the Humanities, the Presidential Lectures in the Arts
and Humanities, and on the addition of the Cantor Center
to the campus.
Pursuing these
opportunities and making Stanford the best it can be is a
task that will require the engagement of the entire
Stanford community: faculty, students, staff, alumni and
friends. I look forward to working with this community in
pursuit of these opportunities, and I thank the search
committee and the Board of Trustees for their confidence
in asking me to play this critical role at this
auspicious point in Stanford's history. SR
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