Letter from the President

Clarkson University President
Tony Collins.

Defy Convention. It is more than a marketing message. It is the mindset of people who know how to span boundaries, ask essential questions, create ingenious solutions, lead innovation, benefit humanity, and challenge the status quo. It is the driving force behind successful teams who combine ingenuity across areas of expertise to achieve results. It is one of the factors that has set Clarkson graduates and our educational approach apart since our earliest beginnings and continues to be reflected in our evolution to excellence.

The highest order of attainment in the higher education Carnegie classification system is to be recognized as a national research institution. Clarkson is the eighth smallest of 250 universities to achieve this designation and through its convention-defying mindset, offers a unique educational environment for enterprising students interested in pursuing rigorous programs in arts & sciences, engineering, business and health sciences. While we attract faculty who are committed to world-class research, we remain unique because our education remains focused on the undergraduate experience for our 3,000 students.

To leverage our resources and advance our reputation, we have strategically aligned many of our academic activities around five signature areas that span across our undergraduate and graduate major program offerings. These include advanced materials, environment and energy, biomedical science and engineering, global supply chain management, and entrepreneurship.

This issue of Clarkson magazine highlights Clarkson's influence in the environment and energy arena. We begin with our alumni. Earlier this summer, my wife, Karen, and I visited Robert Fanch '69 and his family at their resort ranch in Colorado, which is a world-class model for sustainable economic development. Alternative energy research is making its way from our laboratories to the marketplace and alumni are often key partners in these exciting new ventures. Our curriculum in green supply chain management represents how our signature areas are interwoven across campus as well as how this boundary-spanning approach infuses the classroom experience. And this summer, Clarkson hosted some of the world's most preeminent scientists, engineers, business leaders, and educators at prestigious international conferences that accentuated our leadership in these signature areas. Our agility and willingness to create this depth and breadth in focused areas of expertise is unique in higher education.

In our Reunion coverage and other features, we further illustrate how members of the Clarkson community defy convention by actively challenging boundaries, pushing the status quo, and leading innovation in their personal and professional pursuits. We have started a Web site for alumni and other members of our community to share how they defy convention. See the inside back cover for a sample of what is already posted and log on to www.doyoudefy.com to tell us your story.

Tony Collins
President