In November 2016, on the occasion of his investiture as the 17th chancellor of the University of Mississippi, Chancellor Jeffrey S. Vitter charged the audience to envision and embrace Ole Miss’ “destiny as a flagship university … to desire more, to give more, to be more, and to leave more behind.” Chancellor Vitter used the occasion of his investiture to announce a number of ambitious goals, including the University’s intent to lead the way in addressing important research challenges in the state and world by capitalizing on multidisciplinary synergies. His remarks stressed the University’s renewed commitment to revolutionize its community engagement through M Partner, a program of formal partnerships with communities throughout Mississippi designed around core community needs and goals. Embracing the University’s strong legacy in the arts, Chancellor Vitter described a forthcoming cultural gateway to enhance and draw together arts and cultural programs.
In closing, Chancellor Vitter exalted the unifying importance of the University Creed, the importance of its people as the singularly most important driver of every flagship goal, and the unlimited potential of the University to make lives better. His clarion call to the University — that “the next chapter in the life of this magnificent university sits squarely in all of our hands” — exhorted all to “imagine what we can do and how far we can go.”
