Thank you, President Young, and it is a joy to be here. I guess this probably is my first public gathering other than a few press conferences… well, those don't really count for us, so this is the first public gathering with real people. So this is the first time and I'm excited to be here. Unfortunately, Forrest gets to speak last, so I'm in trouble.

But it is great to be here to celebrate something that in Florida we don't celebrate enough, I don't think. I'll be brief, but I want to tell you, Dr. Gannon, that the importance of history is understated in our state. I think that we have the best state of all 50 states. I'm a shameless promoter of Florida. I love this state more than I could ever describe, and there are so many good things over history that have occurred here. So many strange and wacky things as well, granted. But there are so many wondrous things that occur in a place where people dream big dreams and then they go pursue them. And throughout our history, Florida has been a state of dreamers. And we don't hold up high enough the rich history of this state.

President Young, when we came into this beautiful hall, I looked out - and I'm a little picky about these things, because I'll tell you a story - there was not a Florida flag on the flagpole out there. There was an American flag and a POW flag, as should be the case. When I got inaugurated in 1999, there was not a Florida flag on top of the old capitol. And I just wondered why it was and so I went about the business of trying to figure out why the heck would you not have a state flag on top of your beautiful old capitol? And it was because the law requires that a POW flag fly with the American flag and there wasn't enough space to be able to put the Florida flag. So I said, "Let's get a bigger flagpole."

And I learned as governor you've got to be careful when you say these things because there's actually a team of people that will try to figure out how to put a bigger flagpole up on top of that beautiful dome. And finally - and this is a true story - six months later, out of great frustrations, I kept asking this question: "Why can't we have Florida's flag fly on Florida's capitol?" A maintenance guy from the Department of Management Services figured it out. He put smaller flags up on the flagpole and now - not that anyone else but me notices this - but now, there is and has been a Florida flag flying outside the state capitol.

I'm proud of this state. And one of the ways we instill pride, which is important to have a sense of community in a state like Florida, as dynamic as it is, is to recap, if you will. And to hold up high our history. And clearly, if there was one institution in this state that was deserving of that honor and that praise and being held up high as an example of a public institution that has done so much good, it is the University of Florida.

And that is why I'm here. To pay tribute to the history of a great university that has been part of the reason why I believe this state is the best of the 50 states.

And Dr. Gannon, I've read your books, I admire the sense of history that you bring and I hope that you can e-mail me at jeb@jeb.org to give me ways that I can instill with some enthusiasm the sense and importance of history for our state.

Now, in terms of trying to do a little research about what's gone on in the last 150 years, I thought I would go to someone who had some sense of what has happened. And so I asked Marshall Criser, who was in that first class at East Florida Seminary, and Marshall unloaded all sorts of interesting information. For example, the first curriculum built for this state was built at East Florida Seminary - the earliest parent of the University of Florida - in 1878.

Another higher education milestone was in 1934 when the first doctorates were awarded in chemistry and pharmacy here at the University of Florida. Today, Florida offers more graduate degrees on a single campus than all but a handful of universities across this country. The university's rich research tradition dates back to 1888 when The Florida Agricultural Experiment Station was established. Flash forward 80 years later, IFAS was created and I know how important IFAS is for our economic development.

Agriculture in this state is hugely important. For us to remain competitive in an incredibly competitive marketplace where thousands and thousands of jobs are attached, University of Florida and IFAS play an important role to make sure that we are world-class in the development of protection of agricultural products and increasing the yields of these agricultural products. I pay tribute to IFAS and the job that it does.

University of Florida has also led in other ways. It was mentioned the record number of national achievement scholars. And I am really proud of the commitment that President Young and Provost Colburn made when the gauntlet was laid down. And it may not have been as polite as it should have been, but I'm passionate about this. For Florida to be successful in the future, we have to embrace diversity in a way that is fair, that is open, that we throw away the vestiges of the past and work hard to assure that everybody in this state has the chance to pursue the same dreams that for the last 150 years have been pursued at this institution.

The result has been very encouraging. This administration has done something that a lot of alike kind of universities across this country would not be capable to do. You should be proud of the fact that today African American and Hispanic students are increasing their enrollment. And at a time when we've created two new law schools, principally for minority students at two other universities, the law school at this university has also increased its enrollment of minority students. It requires work. It requires working with high schools all across this state, developing partnerships with the college board and other groups to do so. The University of Florida once again has delivered.

So what does the future look like? Well, I believe in the saying that's on the walls of the National Archives Building of our country, which is, "What is past is prologue." Clearly the future is very bright for this university, and clearly our future as a state is intertwined with Florida's anchor university. Your third president, John James Tigert, articulated this vision, I think rather well, in 1932. He said, "The University of Florida will strive to occupy a place of continuous service in the building of the great state whose creature the university happens to be."

We are tied together. Our futures are tied together. And I believe those futures are very bright.

First, I think that the research component of the University of Florida has enormous potential with your great faculty and the ability to recruit additional faculty. I am confident that the new technologies, the new research of the future will create wealth and prosperity for our state. And that is why, last year, I was pleased that the Florida legislature, with the help of your two fine legislators that are here today, appropriated $30 million. I hope that to be a first-time installment of additional moneys to build centers of excellence.

Those proposals now are here being reviewed. I haven't gotten briefed on it, President Young, but it would surprise me beyond my wildest imagination to think that UF would not be one of the active participants in these centers of excellence because of the centers of excellence that you already have. And I believe that over time we will be able to accelerate the advancement of research and the creation higher wage jobs for our state. In Florida today, in spite of difficulties as it relates to the economy, we are seeing greater flows of venture capital drawn to this state because of the emerging research that venture capital and entrepreneurs migrate towards.

And so over the next 150 years, my guess is that the University of Florida will lead us to a brighter future economically. And I hope the University of Florida will continue to provide leadership in graduating students, not just in getting PhDs in the things that I can't even pronounce - which are also of great importance for our future economically - but also in the basics that truly do matter a lot. We have looming shortages in areas like engineering and IT workers and we have current shortages in qualified teachers - particularly in the specialty areas. And we have a crisis as it relates to nursing. Our healthcare system is in peril because of medical malpractice problems, but it's also in peril in the quality of care for all Floridians because we're not graduating enough nurses to be able to provide the compassionate care that matters.

The University of Florida is agile and quick to respond to these great state challenges that we face. And I look forward to working with you to continue to make that a reality.

And finally, let me just suggest to you that the best way to assure that our futures are bright, that our state's future is bright and this university continues to progress is to make sure that every child by the time they reach third grade is reading at grade level and that each year thereafter they gain a year's worth of knowledge in a year's time. We're making progress in this regard because we have high expectations for our children, but it is the time to take it up another level. We need to make reading an enduring core value of this state. That means that moms and dads need to understand how important it is to read to their children. It means that our readiness programs need to have higher priority. Reading needs to be a higher priority in readiness programs. It means that every teacher in classrooms today needs to be trained to the new resources that clearly show the path on how to teach children how to read. And it means that in our schools of education we need to redouble efforts to apply that research in a way where competent teachers immediately can make a difference in our classrooms.

It means that businesses need to be fully engaged by allowing their employees to become mentors so that people can put their arms around children and tell them they love them and also encourage them to gain the power of knowledge. It means that this state, if we get it right, will make reading a value that will ensure that the moneys - instead of going to remediate, instead of being spent to deal with the problems that come from the despair of a child not gaining the power of knowledge, instead of spending $750 million in our juvenile justice programs - we can reinvest that money in the high wage jobs of the future through our university system. This is an enormous challenge. And the challenge to the University of Florida is to continue the progress that is being made.

Progress being made now by Dr. Holly Lane, who is a professor of special education. She is working as a faculty fellow to the Florida Literacy Reading and Excellence, an acronym called FLaRE at the University of Central Florida. Helping us design the programs to assure that all teachers can step into a classroom on the first day and know exactly what it is that every child needs to assure that they can gain this awesome power that comes from reading.

If we all work together and make this a reality, I'm convinced that the next generation of historians looking back at Florida's history 150 years from now will be able to talk about the dreamers and doers, many of whom had lives touched by the University of Florida. And it will be not just a symbol, but a reality of continued progress for our state. God bless you all and "Go, Gators."