Each academic year renews the organic cycle of learning and teaching that energizes the University community and excites our intellect, emotions and sense of commitment to personal goals and our larger society. For those of you new to Ann Arbor, I'm particularly eager to extend a warm welcome, since I myself came here just a year ago, after 28 years in Seattle at the University of Washington. The University and Ann Arbor are a wonderful combination, with a diverse population, a broad range of great musical, dramatic and arts offerings, and attractive natural settings in the Matthei Gardens, the Arboretum and the campus. Learn about the history of the University, including the prominent names recognized on buildings and in learned and artistic works. Be curious about prominent alums and faculty: Arthur Miller, W.H. Auden, Robert Frost, Harold Shapiro, Albion Walter Hewlett, James Neel, Francis Collins, Keith Black, Tom Harmon, Charles Woodson, Gerald Ford, Marina Whitman, Madonna, Mike Wallace and many, many others.
I will focus my remarks on the life sciences, which will attract many of you in your undergraduate, graduate and professional education. Advances in the life sciences are shaping our lives and our concepts of ourselves in philosophical, sociological, humanistic, legal and ethical contexts. Advances in the life sciences are reshaping our thinking and our research in medicine and related health fields, in agriculture, ecology, anthropology and psychology. Genetic algorithms and directed evolution are being applied in chemistry and in engineering and architectural designs. In turn, life sciences depend upon developments in numerous other fields, from mathematics and information theory to engineering, physics, behavioral and social sciences, and business.
This past spring, President Lee Bollinger appointed a special Commission on the Life Sciences, with 19 prominent faculty members from across the campus, the majority from outside the health sciences. Provost Nancy Cantor and I are confident that this group, with input from students, staff and faculty throughout the University, will propose a bold framework and ambitious recommendations for the life sciences here and nationally. We want to look beyond the present acceleration of knowledge and techniques in neurosciences, genetics, immunology and cancer biology - over the present horizon, one might say, to anticipate what might be exciting in the period five to 20 years from now. If you have ideas you'd like the Commission to consider, please share them!
All of you should think of ways to learn about the life sciences. Some of you will be aiming for majors in biological, psychological, chemical and health sciences areas. Others will be looking for diverse academic experiences as part of the distribution requirements. Some will be keen about the social and philosophical ramifications or the applications in engineering and complex systems. I urge you to make a special effort to talk with students with these diverse reasons for being curious and getting immersed in some aspect, to broaden your own education and your and their views of the connections of concepts and of scientific methods.
Meanwhile, many of you are embarking on periods in your lives independent (in space, if not finances) of parents and family. You have a special opportunity to form and sustain good personal habits that will give you a better chance of a healthy and enjoyable life. I've learned on coming to Michigan that the general population health risk profile is not favorable - compared with the rest of the country, Michigan residents are more likely to be physically inactive, overweight, smokers, diabetic, have high blood pressure or high cholesterol, use alcohol excessively, and be dilatory in having their children or themselves immunized against preventable diseases. No wonder medical care costs are relatively high!
Learn about healthy personal behaviors, and develop them for your own benefit; learn about unhealthy personal behaviors, and build your own resistances to them. Help your peers; avoid unattractive peer pressures. Use the athletic facilities; take the stairs. Use the University Health Service to your advantage, including counseling about coping with very common feelings and problems that represent uncertainty or depression or anxiety, much of it well grounded!
You should know that the University has one of the premier medical care, medical research and medical education centers in the nation and an excellent health management organization, MCare. There are opportunities for students to volunteer in our hospitals and health centers, as well as in numerous community social agencies and initiatives in which our employees are commonly volunteering, too. There are research opportunities for undergraduates across a remarkable range of laboratory, clinical, technological, social, behavioral and policy areas. And there is superb medical care, should you or your families or friends need such services. Many of our activities are collaborative with other schools and colleges throughout the University, especially in the health sciences, of course.
Finally, give yourselves a lot of opportunities to lighten your mood, lighten your load, smile, laugh. As Norman Cousins and Art Buchwald say, "Humor is therapeutic." Have a good time - there are many venues here, from sports, drama, music, open lectures and residence halls to community activities. Meet lots of students from other backgrounds. Encounter and engage your teachers of all kinds. Make the most of your time at this great University. Go Blue!
Gilbert S. Omenn is the executive vice president for medical affairs, chief executive officer of the University Health System, and a professor of medicine, genetics and public health
09-08-98
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