It is the start of another new academic year, and those of us in universities and colleges across the country are enjoying the moment. As I wrote in this space last year, the start of the Fall Term is a time for fresh starts and new beginnings. It is a transitional time, marking for students in particular the end of the carefree summer and the return to responsibility and intellectual labour. The grounds and halls and libraries are again full of students, and faculty offices are again inhabited and office doors are open. Students are eager to try out their new classes and meet their new profs, who are themselves anxious to get going with the courses they've been working so hard to prepare.

Like many of you, I'm sure, I've always experienced September as a "new start" time. When I was in school, this meant getting new clothes and a full backpack of school supplies -- fresh scribblers and yet-to-be-sharpened Crayola pencil crayons. I've enjoyed reliving this experience vicariously by taking my own children school supply shopping each new year. While I've grumbled about the costs and the anal-retentive lists (12 HB pencils - Dixon; 20 notebooks - Hilroy; 1 Pair scissors - sharp point/proper hand - Fiskars; etc.), I'll admit that I love school supply shopping and the feeling that comes with it.

At university, I got the same rush of excitement from visiting the bookstore for the first time each year. I'd buy up a stack of textbooks that in September offered only the promise of new knowledge and unexplored worlds. (Sadly, by April these same texts often became huge obstacles in the way of my transition back to a carefree summer.) Even now -- though I won't join the lines at the cash registers -- I can't help but go to the bookstore during the first week or two of classes, flipping through new texts -- Foundations for Critical Thinking, Aging and Society, Essential Microelectronic Circuits -- and wishing I was taking those courses.

Simply put, the dawn of a new academic year always means to me a chance to start again, to make a fresh start. Never mind if they will be broken by October, I'll make new academic year resolutions -- respond to all requests in a timely fashion, finish that manuscript, keep my desk clean, and so on. I've always felt a need to set new goals and articulate new plans at this time of year, even if the reality is that much of what I have to do involves a carrying over of work already begun. It just feels good to have the chance to start anew, regardless of what has happened previously.

This year is no exception. In spite of the grinding administrative burdens, or any past frustrations and disappointments, I'm today brimming with hope for new beginnings. I feel confident that I have the energy to tackle all of my projects and plans for the upcoming academic year. And I am tremendously looking forward to working with all of my colleagues to make this a great faculty in a great university. I see only sunshine and light, and I simply assume that everyone around me is in a similar cheery mood. Again, that's the beauty of September.

Of course, our university community as a whole is feeling a special sense of hope for a new beginning, since we are welcoming a new President and Vice-Chancellor, Dr. David Barnard. Although none of us can know exactly what this change of presidents will mean for us individually or collectively, we can all share in a tantalizing sense of anticipation. (If you want to hear something terrifically funny about anticipation, by the way, I'd recommend Lewis Black's latest recording of his live act. I happened to catch it last year in Indianapolis, and I laughed out loud.)

Presidential transitions at institutions of higher education are hardly routine, especially at a place like The University of Manitoba which has had only two top leaders for the past 27 years -- Dr. Arnold Naimark (1981-1996) and Dr. Emőke J. E. Szathmáry (1996-2008). In this regard, we're somewhat out of step with the norm. Presidential tenures are generally decreasing in duration, lasting usually less than a decade and sometimes much shorter than that. Hence, the phenomenon of a presidential search might be less of a novelty on some campuses than it is on ours. Nevertheless, presidential transition is always a big deal, and has the consequence of reshaping an institution in numerous ways.

Presidential transition involves a carefully choreographed process that includes the recognition of the departing president, the celebration of the incoming one, and the engagement of the university community as a whole. Like many other important things in life, such transitions are highly ritualistic but also deeply genuine. In our case, the public outpouring of praise and the heartfelt celebration of Dr. Szathmáry's contributions were not only wonderfully deserving but they were themselves important elements of the transition process, as they provided a form of closure on one part of our institution's development as a leading, research-intensive university. Now it is time for the new President to shine and offer the hope of new beginnings of his own. But such an event in the life of an institution is greater than the mere replacement of an executive officer -- it is also a strategic opportunity to rethink and refine larger goals and missions.

The ritualistic part of the process inevitably involves a number of "first" appearances at key institutional events that are crucial to the rhythms and cycles of university life. For instance, last week marked Dr. Barnard's first meeting of Senate and next week will feature his first Board of Governors meeting. However, a highlight for me as an alumnus and member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors will be his first Homecoming as President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manitoba, which will include a special Alumni Association event on Thursday, September 11 at the Convention Centre (5:00-7:00 p.m.) introducing Dr. Barnard to our extended community of alumni and friends. Of course, the most important of all such celebrations, and the centerpiece of the transition period, will be his official installation on October 28 during Fall Convocation.

I'm really looking forward to these events, in part because I'm a believer in what has been called the "symbolic framework of leadership". The installation of a new president, in the words of one writer in a book of essays on presidential transition, tells the university and its external community that: "We now have a new leader, and while we celebrate our past successes, we look forward to a promising future" (p. 94). The transition period -- some call it a "honeymoon" -- will not last forever. But I hope that we can all enjoy it while it lasts. (The co-editors of the book I mentioned above include a chapter on "knowing the end of the beginning". One indication that the honeymoon is over, by the way, is when "the faculty tell the new president what they really think during Senate meetings" [p. 231].)

Anyway, this new academic year is like every other in its promise for new beginnings for students, staff, faculty, and administrators at our campus, along with others across the country. But for us at The University of Manitoba there is the added novelty and excitement of a new academic leader, whose arrival allows us to reflect upon our values, traditions, and our collective hopes for the future and to participate actively in the further development of our university as a leading institution of higher education in Canada.

To all of you, and to Dr. Barnard, let me wish a "Happy New Academic Year!"