“Dare mighty things,” UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., told a group of approximately 70 new faculty members on Tuesday as he welcomed them to campus at a new faculty orientation event organized by the UNMC Office of Faculty Development.
Dr. Gold was quoting from President Theodore Roosevelt — “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure . . . than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”
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UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., addresses the new faculty members. |
The new faculty members were attending the “A Successful Career Starts Here” presentation.
“As I reflect on my 18 months here, it’s very difficult for me to describe how fulfilling, how satisfying, how energetic, how remarkable this community is,” Dr. Gold said. “And by that I mean not only the university community, but the communities that we serve.”
He described UNMC as a mission-driven organization, focused on education, research and clinical care.
“What are we going to do? We are going to transform lives. Why are we going to do it? For a healthier future. How well are we going to do it? We’re going to lead the world,” he said. “Those are pretty simple words to say, but the more challenging part of that is to live the mission on a daily basis.
“Where the rubber really hits the road is where you figure out how, when and where you individually own the mission. Because an organization that is mission driven means that every individual in the organization owns the mission.”
New faculty members also were greeted by College of Medicine Dean Brad Britigan. M.D.; Keith Olsen, Pharm.D., chair of the College of Pharmacy’s department of pharmacy practice; College of Dentistry Dean Janet Guthmiller, D.D.S., Ph.D.; College of Public Health Dean Ali S. Khan, M.D., M.P.H.; and College of Allied Health Professions Dean Kyle Meyer, Ph.D. College of Nursing Dean Juliann Sebastian, Ph.D. greeted new faculty in a videotaped message.
Small-group sessions focused on topics such as finding a mentor, integrating technology into classroom teaching, how to build a local and national reputation and other subjects.
“We are here together to dare mighty things,” Dr. Gold told the new faculty members. “To take appropriate risks, to be responsible to our mission.”