I often have said that to be a college president, you need a thick skin, a good sense of humor, and nerves like sewer pipes.

I am not a scientist. I have never analyzed the far reaches of the solar system through the lens of a telescope nor scrutinized cancer cells under a microscope.

So if a college education is indispensable, the challenge as I see it is how to make it more accessible.

You can’t trust those damn Catholics.

I believe that it is higher education's purpose and calling to keep open the door to the American dream.

I believe everything learned in college is an answer to a question that someone has posed. Questions get posed differently and the answers that come back transport us to places we never knew existed.

Being president of a major public university is the most political nonpolitical office around.