During Move-In Day last month, some enterprising students producing a live video approached me for an interview. Among the questions they asked me, they wanted to know my advice for our newest students.

In that moment, candidly, it hit me that we were welcoming students who would graduate in 2021 in what will be the University’s 101st year. It seemed like just yesterday that I first toured the campus and found such things as key offices, including human resources and alumni relations, located in trailers; a visible absence of any “smart” technology in the classrooms; and signature facilities like the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science, Westside, and Celentano Halls, and the David A. Beckerman Recreation Center distant and seemingly unrealizable dreams.

The biggest change since that visit in 2004 is the dramatic increase in the number of high-achieving and talented students who look to the University to help them shape their lives and their careers as they build a foundation for success.

This fall, we welcomed more than 1,450 first-year students, the largest incoming class in our history. Our undergraduate student population is almost two and a half times larger than when I first came to the University of New Haven, now close to 5,000, and we are stronger and better for it.

This growth has led to significant investment in our campus. In the past decade, we have dedicated more than $250 million to capital improvements, enhancing the student experience and emphasizing our commitment to providing the best education possible. These investments in upgrading existing and building new facilities would not have been possible without the enrollment growth that we have experienced.

Close to 40 percent of our 255 professors joined the University in the last five years alone; and we have more than doubled the professional staff in several key areas, including our Career Development Center, an office that has been ranked among the best in the country by The Princeton Review. In this unit, for example, we have gone from one half-time position to six full-time employees. Again, these investments in faculty and staff are the direct result of our growth over the past decade.

So, why should we continue to grow? The simple answer is this: We ask you to mature and develop as educated individuals and future leaders, and it is incumbent on us to continually advance as an institution.

I ended my impromptu interview on Move-In Day by telling the Class of 2021 that the most important thing they can do as students is to continuously set and then meet audacious goals.

During my tenure, thanks to the dedication of scores of individuals – including you and the tens of thousands of students who came before you – we have done just that as an institution. We have become one of the best universities in the country, and our drive to improve is stronger than ever. That is our commitment to you: to continue to strive for and obtain great things as an institution.

Of course, there will be growing pains as we continue to enrich what is taking place on campus and fortify our place in the global marketplace of higher education. In the end, what is most exhilarating for me, and everyone on campus, is that so many of you have chosen to join us for your academic journey. We are especially excited to have a front-row seat as witnesses to all that each of you is sure to accomplish here and in the future.