President Gary L. Miller welcomes the UA community back to the 2023-24 academic year, shares some updates from summer activities on and off campus and expresses gratitude for those who supported students and colleagues in their work, and offers a reminder of upcoming welcome and other UA-themed events.
Hi, everyone!
I am thrilled to welcome you to The University of Akron for the new academic year.
Whether you are returning to UA or you’re new to the University, I am so glad we are all together for what should be an exciting term.
To the students who recently moved into their residence halls, I hope you had a smooth experience.
To our freshman and transfer students, I hope you’ve been able to take advantage of the many opportunities to get to know the University and the City of Akron.
Our returning students will notice some new academic and extracurricular programs, new services and new opportunities that will continue our tradition of a strong campus community.
I know many of you had an enjoyable and very productive summer break.
It was a lot of fun to follow the UA social media channels, where students shared photos and videos of their incredible summer experiences.
There were Zips all over the world doing field work and research, exploring new places and representing the University.
The UA Zips Racing Team, for example, was in Germany at an international competition.
A group from the Department of History traveled to Greece.
MBA students from the College of Business were in Morocco.
A UA student majoring in civil engineering and minoring in Spanish lived in Spain with a family and took classes at a university there.
School of Education students spent time in Ireland.
Biology students conducted aquatic species research in French Polynesia.
These are special opportunities and learning experiences, and I thank the University faculty, staff and contract professionals who supported these students in their travels from the planning stages to their arrival home.
Back on campus, we wrapped up major renovations to Crouse Hall, which now houses our physics and geosciences departments.
We learned some great news about our regional economic impact, and received data that showed another year of strong career outcome numbers for our graduates.
We hosted a special commencement ceremony for a 93-year-old student who became our oldest-ever graduate.
And we had at least one surprise wedding engagement on campus.
I’m very grateful to my UA colleagues who oversaw all of these on-campus events and activities.
We’re continuing to plan some events for the next few weeks to get us off to a great start and help us really build our community for the coming year.
For those who love baseball, we’ll be at the Guardians game on Sunday, Sept. 3, for a UA-themed day.
Later that week, our annual fall kick-off will be on Thursday, Sept. 7th, starting at 5 p.m. on Main Street in front of Lock Three.
We’ll have free food, drinks, music, UA swag and much more.
The fall athletics season has started, and the Zips football team will have its home opener on Saturday, Sept. 9th.
Additional information about these activities and many other welcome events is available on the UA calendar.
As the semester begins, I am certain that the excitement from our busy summer will carry over into the fall.
Again, welcome back to what will be a terrific year ahead.
And go Zips!