As I watched my grandfather work with people who were impoverished, I began to understand that to be truly human, one must serve.

I am suggesting that quality in undergraduate education means giving students a perspective that is global.

Research must continue to be the centerpiece of intellectual life, and our commitment to research must grow, because our problems are growing.

Literature is an inquiry into the deepest yearnings of the human spirit.

Our most consequential human problems will be resolved, not through competition, but collaboration... what we need in education is a learning climate in which students work together. In such an atmosphere, truth emerges as authentic insights are conscientiously exchanged.

We hear a lot of talk these days about teaching values in higher education. Frankly, I am not sure this can be accomplished through a separate course in morality or ethics. I am convinced, however, that values are sustained on campus by the honesty of our words, and by the confidence we have in the words of others.

In the end, excellence in education means excellence in teaching, and if this country would give the status to first grade teachers that we give to full professors, this one act alone would revitalize the nation's schools.