One of the greatest challenges we faced during the 1980s was the need to address the demands of an aging physical plant.  Central Campus buildings, many fifty to seventy years old, have served the University well.  Thousands of students have skipped up stairs, rushed down halls, and scooted out doors, on to other commitments, leaving behind scuffed walls, drafty windows, and heating and cooling systems of a by-gone era.

Many of our buildings also needed retrofitting to meet the educational needs of today and tomorrow.  Modern research methods require more space than was allotted decades ago.  Changing teaching styles demand flexible classroom spaces that accommodate small seminars and group projects as easily as large lectures.

WeÕve accomplished this massive program to rebuild, renovate, and update all our campus buildings through a $1.5-billion effort.  Fueling our success has been a combination of low interest rates, favorable costs for labor and materials, strong state support for capital improvements, and financial contributions from some of the UniversityÕs auxiliary units.  

At the same time, weÕve laid the groundwork for future expansion of the Ann Arbor campus through land acquisitions for the East Medical Campus and the South Campus, and weÕve whittled down a backlog of deferred maintenance that had accumulated during the 1970s and 1980s.  WeÕre working to ensure that such large backlogs donÕt grow in the future.

Substantial efforts have been made to improve the appearance of the campus, by day and night.  Many more lumens of light bathe campus landmarks and illuminate sidewalks and footpaths, creating a safer environment for all members of the community.  Colorful plantings of annuals and perennials amid carefully shorn shrubs delight visitors and campus regulars alike.  Dozens of gardens dotting all corners of the campus are part of a new master plan for landscaping that was introduced as part of recently completed construction projects.

Not as obvious as the flora to the casual observer are the miles of fiber optics that have been installed throughout campus, linking libraries, research laboratories, and even residence hall rooms to the information super highway.  Through information technology, weÕve paved the way to cooperation and collaboration with individuals and institutions thousands of miles beyond the borders of the Great Lakes.

Until it was recently spun off, the Internet was managed at the University of Michigan.  Our leadership role in the earliest days of the NSFnet as it evolved into National Research and Education Network has confirmed our current prominent role in linking together more than three million computers, 25,000 networks, 1,000 universities, 1,000 high schools, and more than twenty-five million people worldwide.

The University has emerged a national leader in the scope of the information technology environment it provides for students, faculty, and staff.  Through collegial collaborations with industry, the University frequently has been among the first to develop and install major new technologies. Our computing and networking environment is one of the most sophisticated in the world.  

Through computer kick-off sales and an array of campus computing clusters and centers in residence halls and classroom buildings, we provide students, faculty, researchers, and staff with extraordinary access to this rich, new information framework.

We entered another plane of the information age with the recent opening of the Media Union, a free-wheeling space where inventive scholars can come together with powerful resources, a place where both ordinary and extraordinary people can do exceptional things.  Designed for todayÕs media-savvy students, the Media Union houses the electronic library of the future, interactive multi-media classrooms, a virtual reality laboratory, theater and performance spaces, and design and innovation studios.