An annual report usually provides an institution with an opportunity to look back over the previous year's success and indulge in a bit of sentimental reflection.

Not this time. (Well, okay, we did look back just a little. Click here to check out last year's financial highlights.)

But, primarily, Tulane is looking to the future, to the excitement of opportunity, to a great exploration of ways to not just continue being one of the best and brightest lights in American higher education, but to become a true standard-bearer among 21st-century universities. To be a leader, never a follower. A place where ideas come to life and dreams materialize. A truly distinctive university with the initiatives, priorities and goals that guide us in striving for ever-increasing quality in all that we do.

Our vision is relatively simple. We want Tulane University to be one of the truly outstanding universities in the United States, regardless of what means are used to measure performance. We want people a decade from now to think a number of things about Tulane:

• Tulane University offers an uncompromisingly high-quality undergraduate experience.
  
• Tulane University has been able to focus its resources into its educational and research strengths-such as environmental sciences, urban studies, health sciences/biomedical research and international studies in Latin America and Asia-in order to truly excel in those areas.
  
• Tulane is known among its peers as a university that is connected to its community in ways that reinforce all we do as an institution, using our home city and region as a living classroom in programs that support our educational and research goals.
  
• Tulane's professional education and graduate programs are among the best in their fields.
  
• Tulane is known among its peers for its outstanding management and leadership, as well as its financial stability.
  
• Tulane University is a caring, nurturing, intimate place with a well-defined, shared vision of its goals and a commitment to educating the whole student.
  

At Tulane, our future begins now. Join us on the journey.