It’s a great pleasure to speak with you today.  You are part of a very select group at TCU — just 30 out of our 1,610 freshmen are participants in the Chancellor’s Leadership Program.  You were chosen for this elite program because of your past achievements — but even more so for your potential to do great things in the future.   Needless to say, we are proud you are Horned Frogs!

As a member of the Chancellor’s Leadership Program, you will have opportunities that other students don’t… But we also expect more from you.  We expect you to become an agent of change, to make a difference in the world and in the lives of others.  We expect you to learn how to be a powerful presence in the world, to produce results.  And academic achievement — and later professional achievement — will be the foundation upon which you will build that powerful presence.

As you face your first round of midterm exams and the opportunity to select your classes for the spring semester, you might be feeling the weight of TCU’s expectations of you… of your family’s wishes and dreams for you… and of your own high standards.  I’m delighted to have this opportunity to share some thoughts with you about attaining academic excellence at TCU.  These are not nuts-and-bolts observations about how to study, manage your time or sign up for next semester’s courses.  You’ll get those later in the program.  These are some of my observations after spending many, many years working in universities and at least a decade studying for my bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.

First, take advantage of the support your professors want to offer you.  If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be teaching at TCU.  This university is a place where priority is given to the people. It is a place where relationships matter… where intellect and ideas flourish… and where people grow and prepare for a life of contribution.  This is a very hands-on process.

The close mentoring relationship between faculty and staff and students like you is at the center of the TCU experience.  Getting to know your professors well will greatly benefit you.  In fact, if you miss out on this part of the TCU experience, you will miss out on a vital part of what makes this university distinctive.  So how do you make it happen?  If you have a question after a lecture or while doing some reading, take the time to ask your professor about it after class or during office hours. You’ll get the information you need to better grasp the material and give your professor the opportunity to see your interest and enthusiasm.  Even if you have a perfect understanding of the class material, your professors can still help you push yourself to do your best.  For example, they can give you suggestions for related reading or help you explore and choose topics for an assignment.

In addition to teaching their classes, almost all of our professors are involved in research, and many in turn involve their students in that research — whether the subject of that research is MEMs, the science of creating microscopic machines, or teaching literacy to elementary school students. That involvement has enabled many students to leave TCU having had their names as co-authors on papers published in professional journals.  Involvement in their professors’ research has also launched many TCU students on their own undergraduate research projects — an incredibly satisfying experience and an invaluable asset when applying for graduate work and employment.

Needless to say, when you need letters of recommendation for internships, graduate school or jobs, you’ll be more than just a face in the crowd or even a line of straight A’s in your professors’ grade book.  The better they know you, the better letters they can write and the more they can help you.   But even more important, the closer your relationship with your professors, the richer your college experience will be.

I’d like to share a rather humorous story that illustrates a point.  At TCU, we even have an award for faculty and staff members for mentoring students.  When I announced the winner of that award at Convocation last month, I didn’t tell this anecdote because it seemed a little over the top… but it illustrates how much your professors want to help you.  The student nominating the professor for the award commented:  “Perhaps the most telling story of this professor’s mentoring was for a fellow student who was trying to figure out a present to get his mom for Mother’s Day. The professor recommended he make something.  When he asked what, she suggested a quilt.  And she then taught him how to make it.”  Well, it doesn’t have to go that far… but your professors do care about you and want to help you achieve your best.

Second, get a well-rounded liberal arts education.  It’s important to prepare for a career and, of course, to be able to get a good job when you graduate.  But you really should set your sights even higher.  Last week, CBS evening news anchor Bob Schieffer was here to speak to students in the Schieffer School of Journalism, which TCU named in his honor this year.  Mr. Schieffer said that when his daughters were small, they asked him if he had wanted to be on television news when he was a little boy.  He had to tell them that TV hadn’t even been invented when he was a little boy!  And he noted that the Internet hadn’t been invented when Bill Gates was a little boy.  You may some day be wildly successful in a career that doesn’t even exist today.  Or it might be a career that you have yet to consider but you discover through taking a variety of courses in a variety of subjects. I certainly didn’t plan to be a university chancellor in my freshman year at Mount Union College!

So how can you prepare for something you don’t even know about? As Mr. Schieffer told the journalism students last week, you can’t go wrong by getting a solid liberal arts education.  By studying the humanities and social sciences, you’ll learn to read critically, to think analytically and to communicate effectively — transferable skills that apply to any career.

But liberal arts studies do more. You’ll be introduced to the great thinkers of the ages, develop the historical context that leads to an understanding of our world, and experience other cultures and other times as they come alive through literature, languages and anthropology. In fact, the humanities and social sciences address the central question of what it means to be human.

A broad liberal arts education in the humanities and social sciences will prepare you to recognize problems and to think strategically about solving them.          Most importantly, the liberal arts will teach how to ask — and to answer — the question “why.” Grounding in the humanities and social sciences will provide you the ideal foundation for ethical leadership as well as for additional specialized professional training.

In this new century, in an era when technology is changing all aspects of life and education is becoming increasingly specialized and career-oriented, the definition of “an educated person” still rests on a background in the liberal arts.  Our democratic society depends on citizens who share and sustain a commitment to common values within a diverse culture and a dynamic economy. In addition, you must be educated in a way that will help you develop sound judgments about profound issues that are emerging from scientific discovery and technological development.

My third suggestion may surprise you.  This afternoon, you will be talking about building on your strengths to attain academic achievement.  You have the benefits of being tested to find out what those strengths are.  You can go to strengthquest.com and find a vast amount of information on how to build from your strengths.  But I would like to offer one counterintuitive thought — especially for high achievers like you:  If you never fail at anything, you aren’t taking any risks.  And stepping out of your comfort zone on occasion is required if you are going to make the most of your education.

Don’t avoid a class because you might not make an A in it.  Don’t pass up an opportunity to learn about something that is totally foreign to you.  It may be the best class or your most interesting experience ever.  Or not.  But at least you will have shown the courage to try.

One of the greatest inventors of all times was Thomas Edison.  He once observed:  “I have not failed, I have only discovered 10,000 ways that didn't work.”  I’m not suggesting you pursue 10,000 ways that don’t work unless you become an Edison too.  But a few won’t kill you — and you may learn more from that bold step or two than from all your quick successes.

And before I take your questions, I’d like to tell you how proud I am that you are participating in the Chancellor’s Leadership Program. We expect you to learn how to be a powerful presence in the world, how to produce results. We expect you to put the theories of leadership to work in your own life, and we believe you can begin right now.

The great anthropologist Margaret Mead famously said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

At TCU, we believe that we all are  “learning to change the world.”

I expect nothing less from you.