I am talking, of course, about the members of the Class of 2003. In this issue of The Observer, we introduce you to a first-year student from each of the University's nine schools and colleges, as each begins an intellectual and emotional journey that will help shape the rest of his or her life. In future issues, we will follow these nine students as they progress through their college careers. I think you will find this an innovative and imaginative look at the University experience today. I know I'm looking forward to learning about our students' lives through it.

This is a great time to begin such a series, since this year's first-year class is the largest in our history. We have 1,362 first-year students (and 142 new transfer students) this year and a full-time undergraduate enrollment of 4,165. I'd like to tell you something about them in aggregate, so you'll have some background against which to understand the individual stories you're about to read.

Let me first start with an overview. The University of Hartford, in total, has just under 7,000 students who enroll as either undergraduate or graduate students at our nine schools and colleges. In addition to the 4,165 full-time undergraduates, we have nearly 1,200 part-time undergraduate students. We have 556 full-time graduate students this year and nearly 1,000 part-time graduate students.

Among our undergraduate students, the College of Arts and Sciences is still our largest college, followed by the College of Education, Nursing and Health Professions, which has been our fastest-growing college in recent years. The Hartt School and the Barney School come in third and fourth in terms of size.

While there has been growth in most of the University's schools and colleges, it is worth noting that the largest increase in this first-year class was in Arts and Sciences and in Hillyer. I find that an encouraging sign, since it signals a renewed interest in the liberal arts. The University of Hartford is distinctive as an institution that matches a strong liberal arts core with fine preprofessional programs in a variety of disciplines. In the most recent past, we've seen steady growth in the preprofessional programs; now it's the liberal arts' turn. We need both of these to be strong to ensure our bright future.

Let me finish with a few interesting facts about our talented first-year class. For the first time in our history, Connecticut is not the state that sent us the largest number of first-year students – New York has beat it out for top honors. For the record, Massachusetts and New Jersey are now our third- and fourth-largest states.

The academic interests of our first-year students are also varied. Among those who have declared a major, communication is the largest field of study, followed by physical therapy, psychology, and occupational therapy. It is not surprising that these are four of our strongest programs. What might also interest you is that nearly a quarter of our incoming students have not declared a major but are enrolled in the liberal arts.

I hope you enjoy these profiles of our strongest assets, our students. It's a great time for those of us lucky enough to be here with them.