State of the School, May 10, 2006

Lee Bollinger, President, Columbia University
I join with Alan, Gerry and others who have spoken about Allan, and I'd like to say a few things myself. It's something when you think about a person like Allan, and what are the first things that come to your mind? Well, this is somebody who is just incredibly caring. Whatever his attentions are, it's just an enormous amount of his personal being that is thrown into this. And as I have said before, I have seen this at the very, very local level with his projects on maternal mortality and protecting children and mothers with AIDS, and I have seen it with individual faculty members, and I have certainly seen it with respect to the School. I have never encountered a Dean who was more passionate and more of an advocate for his or her school than Allan. It just reflects, I think, a person, as I began by saying, who, whatever he turns his attention to, puts his full 100% caring person behind that. So now it's time, I think, the feeling has been, Allan, over the past few months time, for all of us to care for you. I think that you have felt that sense on the part of people all around the world, all around the country and certainly in the University and most certainly in this School. That is, a sort of sense of obligation, a sense of responsibility for returning the care that you have given to everybody is very, very powerful. I said, as Allan mentioned, that we began an effort to try to raise funds as a tribute to Allan and to the School. And this, again, is Allan's wish. He wants to try to do whatever he can to try to help the School. We will have a celebration for Allan in June, of course around a conference in Global Health. So Allan, on behalf of the University I want to say we love you, we care for you, and we will continue to do so.

Thank you.

Alan Brinkley, University Provost
I'm here today to help open this annual meeting and to be standing here next to Allan Rosenfield . If anyone were to ask academics what the three most important elements of university life today are, among them would be the following: interdisciplinary, internationalism, and public service. If there is any school anywhere in the University that better exemplifies those three things it's the School of Public Health . This is a school, more than probably any other school, unless you include entirely the School of Arts and Sciences, that covers so many disciplines and so many fields and does it in such an extraordinary way. There is collaborative research across departments within the school, collaborative research with other schools-health sciences, basic sciences, social sciences. This is an extraordinary center for interdisciplinary work, and a real source of pride to all of us in the University. This is also of course an exceptionally global school both in the focus of its research and in the actual activities around the world. From Bangladesh to Africa , to various parts of the United States , to the extensive activists the School has in helping work in the public health of our own communities here in Northern Manhattan . Of course it goes without saying there is probably no school at Columbia that is more committed to and more effective in providing a public service than the School of Public Health . This is one of the great achievements of this school-the actual field work and out reach that members of the faculty and staff of the School of Public Health do in reaching out to help people to improve their health and their lives in New York , in the United States , and around the world. This school is a real example, I think, of how academia can combine the great missions that universities believe that they should fulfill, teaching, research, and public services. And to do it in a creative and innovative way is really a model for all of us. I can't stand here today without saying something about Allan Rosenfield , and I know that many people have been and will continue to be saying many things about Allan Rosenfield over the coming weeks and months, but I want to say first what a tremendous personal pleasure it has been for me to work with Allan over the three years I have been in this job. How much I look forward to continue working with him over the next months and beyond. But also as we all know this school is really the creation of Allan Rosenfield , not literally-there was not a school here when he began as dean 20 years ago-but it was nothing like what it is today. It is now one of the great schools of public health in the world. It is the work of Allan Rosenfield and many others of course, but of Allan above all that got us to this point. I know there are many challenges facing the school going forward and there are many new things that will happen in the coming years and decades, but for this school to have gotten to the point where it is, which is an extraordinary achievement, is really most of all attributable to a single person, and that man is seating behind me.

There is really nothing more to say than thank you for inviting me to be here today and to say to Allan what an honor it is to be here to hear his State of the School address.

Thank you.

Dr. Gerald Fischbach, Executive Vice President for the Health and Biomedical Sciences and Dean, College of Physicians and Surgeons
This is one of my favorite assemblies of the year, and I'm glad to be here again this year. But I'm not going to dwell on the School. You all know my feelings about it. I wanted to remind everyone that Allan's interest in global health began very early in his career when he worked in Thailand , soon after his training completed. For all great careers, I have found, certainly in medicine and science, there is a certain coherence to one's interests, an enduring concern, and this concern has been a passion of Allan's, and he has built this school based on that vision and passion. It's really quite remarkable. Allan, I do believe that we are in a difficult time, as you mentioned earlier, for money reasons-for space reasons, for the fact that there's going to be a change now, a search going on, which is always an unsettling time. I think that my successor, Lee Goldman, who will be a fabulous Executive Vice President, will work hard for this school, will inherit a great tradition and will contribute, along with the President of the University, to finding a wonderful leader for this school. It is also a difficult time personally, and we are all thinking about it and we aught to just say it. I join Bud Rowland in saying, and I'm sure I'm speaking for everyone in the room, "We Hate ALS." It's a terrible disorder and it's going to require all of the qualities you possess in spades: your passions, your wisdom, your savvy, knowing how to get things done, and your resilience to move on and deal with this. Everyone in this room is going to depend on you during this transition. As you said in one of the sentences in your announcement this morning, you want to contribute, continue to contribute to the excellence of this school, and everyone is going to count on it. This is usually the time of year you hang up your skis and begin playing tennis, but we all know that there are other things to do, more important things to look forward to, and with Clare and Paul and with this whole extended family I'm sure you are going to work as hard as ever in the coming months. And Allan, I'll do everything I can to help you do it.

Thanks.