In 1993, Chris Roberts stepped on Auburn University's campus for the first time as an interviewee to join the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering as an assistant professor. During the interview process, he said, he was handed the Auburn Creed, and as he read it later that night, fell in love with the University and the culture defined by the words in the Creed.
Now, nearly 29 years later, Roberts begins his first day as the president of Auburn University.
"Having spent 28, almost 29 years on campus in a variety of different leadership roles has given me a rich appreciation for the Auburn culture and how to do ambitious things here," Roberts said. "And that we as an institution have great potential for greatness."
His very first meeting on his first day, he said, was to meet with student leadership.
"I wanted that to be my first meeting because I want the students to know full well, that this is why we're here," he said. "For our students."
As president Roberts said he hopes to do three things in particular — one, provide transformative student life experiences that allow them to succeed in their academic work, and in life; two, ensure that the work students and faculty are doing is embedded in the spirit of improving people's lives and improving society; three, help to define the on-campus culture of excellence and innovation.
"I want to make sure that we have a lot of conversations about what we can achieve as a University, and set goals," Roberts said. "I've witnessed over the last many years I've been at Auburn what we can do, and I think that gives us the right to dream big dreams."
Roberts looks to bring the community together to pursue those big dreams, by having multidisciplinary projects that could transform peoples' lives.
"Whether that be in new means of healthcare, to the use of artificial intelligence in improving our society, to a number of other areas that I think are really important," Roberts said.
The real strength of the University, he said, comes from the diversity of programs available on campus
"Some of the most important problems that we can work on at the University comes at the interface of multiple disciplines," Roberts said. "I've always had an appreciation for the arts and humanities, as well as the fundamentals of sciences and engineering. I love the way that all comes together on our campus that allows our community to learn together and tackle big and important problems."
Roberts was confirmed as the University's next president in early February, following a nationwide search to find the University's next president after Jay Gogue announced his retirement in June 2021.
By January 2022, Roberts was the sole candidate as the search was nearing its completion. Roberts comes to the position with 28 years of experience as an assistant professor, the chair of the chemical engineering department and dean of the college of engineering.
As dean, Roberts was very involved in promoting diversity within the school.
"I was very proud of our work in our academic excellence program in the college of engineering," Roberts said. "It provided opportunities for us to recruit, reward and retain underrepresented students in college and promote their success. I look forward to expanding those programs and championing those programs on campus going forward."
Welcomed, valued, engaged, and respected are the four words Roberts likes to use to describe the culture he is aiming to create on campus. To do that, he said, he believes that it is important that the University have open communication.
"I recognize that we can always do more, do better," Roberts said. "And we're going to do that by communicating and understanding. I look forward to learning more about campus so I can help all of us to reach high levels of excellence."
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Destini Ambus, senior in journalism, pursuing a minor in sociology is the editor-in-chief of The Auburn Plainsman.
