What is most exciting about this initiative is the potential impact on the academic mission of the university. Through this agreement, we are providing our faculty, staff, and students with the means of production to express their ideas in a digital world, and adding digital fluency to the set of competencies that our faculty, staff, and students can apply to 21st century problems and innovations. Moreover, application of digital production tools provides a means to advance our shared calling to research, teaching, and service that advances the common good in New Mexico, the nation, and the world.

At its heart, our academic mission consists of two fundamental, equal, and intertwined dimensions. First, we do research, engage in creative production, and write or otherwise publish our work. Second, we draw on that research and creative expertise to teach and mentor the next generation of leaders for society. There is a range of creative activities that includes discovery of new knowledge, and the creation of new ideas and works of art. In the work leading up to this agreement, we have been inspired by the energy and enthusiasm expressed for this initiative by our faculty, staff, and students. We are excited to see the projects that you will create, and look forward to the innovations and creative works that will emerge from our classrooms, studios, and research labs.