With all of the transformations that I've already noted, I see another transformation beginning. I want to preface this by saying again that we have become great since our reinvention in 1947 because our faculty has been ambitious in creating new knowledge and in sharing it with the larger world. Simply stated, we are a research university, and our expectations of our faculty are great.

Earlier, I noted that the arrival of the "49ers," coupled with the massive funding in the post-Sputnik era, served to transform this university. I see something similar going on today.

Much like the days when legislators Leroy Collins, Wilson Carraway, Mallory Horne and others helped this university, and when leaders of the Board of Control and Board of Regents -- James J. Love, Chester Ferguson and others -- pushed for new programs and facilities, we are blessed with legislative and Board leadership that cares about this university.

Today, we have a Chancellor who is offering us the great opportunity to make a significant leap forward as a research institution and a Board Chair, Tom Petway, who led our Commission of the Future, which reported last year with such ambitious suggestions. We have, in the local regent, Steve Uhlfelder, one of the most conscientious members of the board ever to serve, and the other members of the board show all signs of caring about FSU.

In the Legislature, there are a number of extraordinary leaders who want us to succeed. In the House, John Thrasher is simply the most engaged of any leader who we have ever been able to call our own graduate, and there are many other legislators who have demonstrated their strong support.

There is not full agreement among these people who are so important to our destiny. The principal divide is between those who urge us to concentrate on basic science and those who have a vision of a medical school at Florida State University.

As you know, we have been instructed by the Legislature to conduct several comprehensive studies on medical education and to bring back a plan that will provide for medical education that prepares students to serve the elderly and those in rural and other underserved areas, students are prepared to serve in the new health care environment so very much influenced by new technology, managed care and the pressures for increased access. That report is due by the middle of next month and, as it is finalized, we will attempt to answer the questions put to us by the Legislature.

The outcome of this study and the discussion and decisions that are sure to follow are not at all clear, but this is exactly the kind of discussion that will advance this university. Both the Board and the legislative leadership see that FSU has a most distinguished record of using new resources and developing new programs. I am optimistic that we will be able to bring important new science programs to this campus, no matter which direction is taken.

During the last legislative session, we greatly benefited from the Chancellor's idea that Research institutions should be freed from dependence on enrollment growth. The increase in our faculty resources owes much to the Chancellor and to the legislative agreement on this issue.

This demonstrated support by the Chancellor, the Board of Regents and the legislature comes at a very good time for us.

Thanks to generous donors, the state matching gift program and the scientific initiative of Dr. Bob Holton and his synthesis of Taxol, we are able to recruit new eminent scholars to lead the new faculty we are recruiting. Given the large number of eminent scholar chairs and the development of our Eppes Scholars program, I believe that we will bring to this university the leaders of research and innovation, and I expect that we will one day talk about the "99ers" with the same sense of awe that we have talked about the "49ers."

It is sometimes easier to see the transformation when we think about the hard evidence offered by physical structures, so let's assess that prospect.

In the next three years, this campus, which has seen so much change, will have an incredible infusion of resources.

In science, think of the impact of a new Psychology Building that is now being planned, the completion of new $50 million basic science building and, hopefully, a new Chemistry Building. There is a very real chance that, by this time next year, we could be looking at the beginning of a $100 million program to enhance our science facilities.

In the arts, construction of a new concert hall remains our top priority. It is the next step to implementing our ambitious Corner on the Arts program. We will continue to push for the private resources that will allow us to build this as soon as possible. It is the highest priority for our fund raising for capital construction.

We are getting the resources that we need to be a great research university, and if we will renew the vision the "49ers" brought with them, we will advance as a center for research and creativity.

We have talked about the transformation that has occurred when the faculty has embraced new missions and seized new opportunities. It is difficult to imagine a transformation more astounding than that achieved by this university over its history.

In the middle of the last century, a new institution of education was placed on a high hill west of Tallahassee. This location had been the site for public executions and was known as Gallows Hill.

This new college transformed the site from serving the most uncivilized aspect of American society -- one that, unhappily, extends into our day -- into a place to prepare students for a richer life, the very best aspect of America.

As with all transformations, we worry -- with reason -- about the threat to our traditional values that all changes pose. As I have thought about these threats, which I believe are real, I like to recall the story told by this university's great friend, Gov. Leroy Collins, who did so much to face the challenges of a state that was transforming itself -- building an integrated society, one that was more just and caring than the segregated society of his youth.

Author Al Burt recounts the tale in his recent book, The Tropic of Cracker:

Burt tells us that one of Governor Collins' favorite stories dealt with a piece of traditional furniture, an old-fashioned light fixture that held candles. When the days of kerosene lamps arrived, there was argument the fixture should be discarded, but because the piece was so beautiful, it was saved and adapted for kerosene. The argument was repeated when electricity came, but again its beauty won, and it was wired.

"This is what I believe in," Collins concluded. "The value of the old...the responsibility of adding new lights to old lamps. Every generation has this responsibility. Don't listen to them when they say we should throw the old system out."

And Gov. Collins did not throw out the things that were beautiful about Florida. He cared about its natural beauty and about its gentility. Yet he transformed this state and helped make it great.

FSU Seal

This story has special meaning when we think about our own Florida State University symbols, the torches of Vires, Artes and Mores.

As we have so many times, we should let new challenges light our torches and excite us with an eagerness to take on new missions and again transform Florida State University.

We should follow Governor Collins' example. We should bring renewed light to flame to our old but revered torches.