What motivates you?  I hear from our students that what drives them is their commitment to make a difference. Public health is not just a career.  It also is a mission — a lifelong commitment to making the world a better place. What I have seen of our students gives me great confidence in the future.

You are the public health leaders of tomorrow. You are the ones who will prepare us to survive hurricanes, floods and pandemics, eradicate the threat of environmental toxins, and to anticipate and defend against the myriad consequences of global warming. You are the ones who will set the health care policies of the future and run many of our health care enterprises. You are the ones who will erase health disparities and help to keep people healthy. You will discover new insights into the causes of cancer and translate those discoveries into useful applications. You will be the people who will design and analyze many of the nation’s clinical trials and other experiments and you will design new statistical methodologies as well. You will go out across North Carolina and around the world.  You'll help us anticipate.

We are depending on you to make a difference in the world. In exchange, we offer you some of the finest courses taught by the finest teachers anywhere. We offer opportunities to participate in research projects as true collaborators and members of teams. We offer a cross-discipline network that allows you to work not only in different departments, but across schools with colleagues in Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Dentistry and other health sciences, as well as in disciplines like Journalism and Law. And we offer opportunities to learn through service.

It’s up to all of us, working together, to make your time here count. Our Web site is a good place to find ways to make the most of your time at Chapel Hill. Use other resources, too – Student Affairs, for example, as well as mentoring programs and internships. Dr. Felicia Mebane, Assistant Dean for Students, is your special advocate (fmebane@unc.edu), but I am here as well (Brimer@unc.edu). We are here to help you so that you can help others.

I am proud of you, and proud to be your dean.

To hear more from Dean Rimer, visit her blog.