From Jim Ryan: To Alumni, with Gratitude

When I began to write this letter at the beginning of the summer, I planned to tell you about the Cavalier Fund, a promising initiative that removes financial barriers to student participation in UVA’s extracurricular opportunities, and which was made possible by the generosity of donors to UVA’s Honor the Future Campaign—an extraordinary effort that has exceeded $6 billion. 

Being in this job has taught me to expect the unexpected, but I hadn’t predicted that I would need to resign suddenly and earlier than I had planned, which makes this my last letter to you as president. As I said in my message to the community, I am heartbroken to be departing in this way. Serving as UVA’s president has been the honor of my lifetime. That said, I cannot leave without writing to thank you—our alumni—for everything you do to make UVA the best community in higher education. 

In my view, UVA’s alumni network is simply unparalleled. As a group, you are as accomplished as you are generous with your time and your resources. You give back by supporting those who follow in your footsteps. You meet with and mentor students and young alumni who are interested in your fields. You host or attend watch parties, admitted student events, and receptions for alumni around the country and the world. You lend your expertise to others by participating in panels or speaking to groups. You return—with enthusiasm and sheer joy—for Reunions, for football games, or to show off Grounds to your loved ones. You even write to me regularly to share your own ideas about how to make this place even better! To put it simply, you show up for this community. For all of this and more, I am incredibly grateful. 

This is a challenging time for higher education. I nonetheless remain optimistic about what’s next for UVA, for many reasons, but here I’ll mention three. 

The first is that we have completed a campaign that has enabled us to strengthen our foundation by investing deeply in the two most essential ingredients for an outstanding university: great faculty and great students. Thanks to the generosity of more than 250,000 individual donors, we raised more than $1 billion to support faculty and students. These investments will pay dividends, both literally and figuratively, for generations to come.  

“In my view, UVA’s alumni network is unparalleled. As a group, you are as accomplished as you are generous with your time and your resources. You give back by supporting those who follow in your footsteps.”

Second, I have seen this community step up, time and again, no matter the challenge. There is no question that higher education is now facing intense criticism. But UVA is objectively in a very strong position and has an incredible story to tell, which has the benefit of being true and confirmed by data and rankings: This place changes lives, it leads in creating leaders, it produces groundbreaking research, cares about and protects free speech, offers great value and a return on a family’s investment, and delivers world-class healthcare. I know that all of you will help to tell our story. 

And finally, I’m optimistic because of one of our best traditions: the passionate and respectful exchange of ideas among those who love this place. I’ve said before that UVA often feels like a big family—loving but occasionally raucous. We do not always agree, which is to be expected in a diverse and intelligent community like ours, but we care for and respect one another because we believe deeply in this place and its mission. Like the Lighting of the Lawn, or walking the Lawn for Final Exercises, or streaking the Lawn—the devotion of alumni to UVA is a tradition that I hope and trust will never falter. 

I will miss being your president, but most of all, I will be forever grateful to all I met along the way, including our incomparable alumni. I hope to see you around Grounds again before too long. In the meantime: Thank you. 

James E. Ryan (Law class of ’92)
Former President of the University of Virginia