Today’s students demonstrate a preference for collaborative learning, a work model that is often reflected in the project-team approach popular in today’s business world. Last year, we responded to this shift in learning styles by introducing 18 freshman learning communities. Organized around either academic majors or themes such as leadership, social justice, health, wellness and the environment, these communities offer communal study experiences and enhanced interaction with faculty. It is our belief that these communities will result in more in-depth understanding of subject matter and stronger communication among students and faculty. We also took steps last year to create a physical environment that encourages students to become more involved with their studies, their fellow students and the greater community. Construction of the $77 million University Center/Academic Center, the largest singlebuilding investment in St. John’s history, moved forward last year. With an anticipated September 2009 opening date, the Center will contain 14 classrooms, recreational facilities and landscaped areas that will add both aesthetic appeal and social gathering venues to the campus.The $14 million renovation of the St. Augustine Hall Library began last year to accommodate the increasing need for information sharing. The third and fourth floors were redesigned to shift emphasis from individual research facilities to space allocation for collaborative gathering of data. Technology has revolutionized libraries, and our students will have access to sophisticated tools that will prepare them for tomorrow’s jobs. Improvements continued in our facilities abroad last year. We opened a new location on Paris’s Left Bank to accommodate the University’s growing study abroad population. Equipped with 100 Creating an Environment for Optimal Learning beds, state-of-the-art classrooms, a library and student meeting rooms, the new site gives students proximity to the city’s incomparable cultural and historic highlights. In Rome, we relocated our residence facility to Collegio Leoniano, which is able to accommodate up to 230 students with wireless access and a student computer lab. Information technology skills are necessary in today’s global business world, and these new facilities will ensure that St. John’s students have access to the most up-todate technology. Finally, students continue to seek more oncampus residential experiences, and the opening this year of a complex of three-story townhouses at the edge of the Great Lawn will help satisfy demand. The buildings have landscaped courtyards and apartment-style accommodations that will give juniors and seniors a more independent living experience. "You have given me a chance to be a voice for the voiceless." —Human Rights Activitist and former Sudanese slave Simon Aban Deng, speaking at the biennial Poverty Conference sponsored by the Vincentian Chair of Social Justice at St. John’s