Tomorrow is the ninth anniversary of 9/11.  Most of us can remember where we were and what we were doing the moment we heard about the planes flying into the World Trade Center buildings and the Pentagon.    Unlike normal days where we go about our business, many of us knew our lives would be changed forever.  Our sense of security at home, a sense reinforced by years of geographical isolation from the world’s conflicts, was altered.

The number of deaths that day in New York was 2,819.  Of that number, 343 were firefighters and paramedics, 23 were NYPD officers, and 37 were Port Authority police officers.  The crash at the Pentagon killed 125 people including 55 service members.  The death toll of passengers and crew members from the four planes was 246.

The quest to reduce the impact of terrorism and subsequent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan has resulted in 5,661 deaths through September 5.  Hundreds of thousands of our country’s active duty, reserve, and guard service members have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, many for multiple assignments.  Thousands of intelligence community members have been deployed as well.

We salute the memories of the fallen as well as salute the efforts of everyone who has been deployed in the fight against terrorism.  Tomorrow morning, pause for a moment and think about the hundreds of thousands of heroes who have sacrificed life, limb, and personal safety for our security at home.

The end of August, first of September represents the start of the traditional fall semester at most colleges and universities.  Freshmen arrive with the excitement of attending a new school and meeting lots of new friends.  Returning students arrive with tales of summer’s experiences and a spirit of renewal for their academic quest.  The campus has been spruced up with summer maintenance projects, some of which have been completed just days, or even hours, before the first freshmen arrived.

As you know, we have no physical classrooms at AMU and APU.  Our campus consists of 15 administrative buildings for our leadership and staff in Charles Town, West Virginia and Manassas, Virginia.  Over 90 percent of our students are not first time freshmen transitioning from high school to college.  Yet, for some reason, many of our adult students choose to come back to college in the fall.  Even though we accommodate the schedules of many working adults with 12 monthly semester starts, the fall is usually a busy time of the year for us.

Hosting a back-to-school picnic or cocktail party is more than a little difficult for a university with students in all 50 states and 100+ countries.  Virtually, I welcome you to our university and hope that you will find our continuing efforts at academic and social integration helpful.  As technology changes and improves, effectively shortening the distance between people, we hope that our abilities to integrate students academically and socially improve as well.

Welcome back and thanks for making us your choice for college.