Look at the mission statement of just about any research university, and there you will find at least a lip-service tribute to pursuing excellence both in undergraduate education and in research and graduate education.

It's not that easy to do, and few universities are really able to accomplish such a goal. Large research universities that put a premium on cutting-edge research often do so to the neglect of their undergraduate programs. Smaller schools recognized for the undergraduate education they offer generally do not have the resources or faculty to invest in serious research.

At Tulane, we truly have the opportunity to enjoy the best of both worlds. Our relatively small size and low faculty-student ratio allow us to offer a highly respected undergraduate experience, and our status as both an AAU and a Carnegie 1 research university means that our faculty researchers are doing the kind of path-breaking research that attracts the kind of outside support needed for successful programs.

But we're not content with just being good; we want Tulane to be considered among the leaders in the next century. To do that, we must focus our undergraduate experience on a strong liberal arts and sciences foundation. We must continue our tradition of having senior, full-time faculty members teaching undergraduates from their first semester on campus until their last. We must develop an experience that develops each student as a whole person-not just in classroom learning, but in terms of knowing how to think and having the skills to be successful citizens of this rapidly changing world. We must be attentive to all aspects of the undergraduate experience, in addition to what occurs in the classroom. We must continue our efforts to tie this experience, wherever possible, to the unique cultural and intellectual dimensions of New Orleans and this region. Recently adopted programs such as the freshman writing seminars, First-Year Experience, service learning, Lagniappe Program and Living/Learning Communities should be expanded and new ones developed to touch the lives of all our students. And we must experiment with different learning methods that will keep us flexible and ready to respond to the vast changes being wrought by advancing technology.

In the areas of research and graduate education, in addition to continuing to attract and retain the best faculty members, we must commit- philosophically and financially-to support the research and graduate education enterprise, to reward success in high-quality research and graduate education, to increase and strengthen interdisciplinary programs, to work to increase the amount of competitively awarded, federally funded research in the sciences and engineering, and to strengthen the infrastructure that will help our researchers get what they need, whether it's funding or facilities. We must continue to strengthen those areas in which we have the best opportunity to truly excel-in environmental science, urban studies, health sciences/biomedical research and international studies, with a focus on Latin America and Asia. In addition to these overall goals, each college and school also will be setting goals for excellence in professional and graduate education.

By fostering collaboration between disciplines, encouraging the use of undergraduate involvement in research, and focusing on programs in which we already are strong or where the potential exists for excellence, Tulane can accomplish the truly remarkable among American research universities today: an exceptional undergraduate education at a top-level research university.