Hi, I'm Andy Perrine and 
I'm on the quad on this 
beautiful autumn day. 
The reason I'm here on the 
quad is because this place 
represents the heart of Madison 
to many connected with the University, 
but not to everybody. 
In fact, I'll wager to guess 
there are as many ideas about
 what represents Madison's heart 
as there are people connected
 to the University. 
That's why President Alger 
embarked on a listening tour this summer. 
He wants to hear from everyone 
who has a stake in the University 
why Madison matters to them. 
What he hears on the tour is going 
to inform the strategic planning process. 
In fact, at a recent tour stop in Virginia, 
President Alger had this to say about
 why the Madison Future Commission 
is so important. 
The Madison Future Commission 
is a really important group 
for the University, we have of course 
a great variety of talent represented 
around the University and in the
 university community, our people are 
our greatest resource they're the ones 
from whom the great ideas are 
going to spring, and no one of us 
could do the work that that group 
could do together, and so I'm really 
excited and looking forward to their 
collective wisdom their thoughts 
because they've all had experiences 
with JMU from different perspectives. 
That's how we'll develop a great 
strategic plan and the vision for 
going forward, and I'm just thrilled 
to be a part of that conversation. 
So as you can see, the 
Madison Future Commission is 
central to assuring that a wide 
set of perspectives are brought to bear 
on our strategic plan going forward. 
