A Message from President James R. Roach

Teaching. Learning. Service to the community. All these have occurred consistently at Western Connecticut Sate University since our founding in 1903. This year, however, they have taken on a new meaning.

In 2001, we began planning for the celebration of the university's centennial, marking 100 years of educating students. As we planned for the celebration we were reintroduced to the mission, values and principles of our university. We began to appreciate once again the importance, necessity and significance of our everyday roles in fulfilling our responsibility to our students and to our community-- responsibilities that begin with teaching, learning and serving the community.

Our anniversary gives us a chance to reflect back on our achievements in teaching and learning, and to look ahead to promote programs that ensure continued academic excellence and physical growth and development. We have had the opportunity to do that this year and thanks to those who went before us, we are proud of how the university has evolved over the century. We are engaged in building a strong foundation for the next 100 years. In 2103, when others look back, we hope they will recognize the continuity of effort to build the university.