Our graduate programs have been nurtured over many years by our faculty and the many outstanding deans of the Graduate School, and it is thanks to their efforts that we can celebrate the distinguished rankings of our graduate programs. Among the most influential benchmarks in academia are reviews conducted by the National Research Council. That organization's most recent study of 29 of Princeton's graduate programs gave us five first-place rankings for faculty quality and/or teaching effectiveness. Sixteen programs were ranked in the top five nationally and 24 programs among the top 10. For any institution, but particularly one of Princeton's modest size, this is an outstanding accomplishment.

The current Dean of the Graduate School, Professor John Wilson, has begun planning centennial events that will occur throughout the academic year 2000-2001. In part, the celebration will be an opportunity to retrace the history of the School and graduate education in the United States. Although James Madison is considered Princeton's first graduate student, it was not until the late 1870s under President James McCosh's leadership that graduate education was formally developed. Since then, graduate education here and elsewhere has changed and adapted significantly in response to society's changing needs. The most recent notable transformation occurred in the decade or so immediately after World War II when the United States took steps to establish itself as a world leader in scholarship, science, and technology. The nation placed a great deal of responsibility for basic research within American research universities and gave these universities an expanded mandate in graduate education. Overall, the need for individuals with the most advanced trainingfor industry and the government as well as for the growing faculties of colleges and universitiesled to an enormous increase in the size of the nation's graduate programs. At Princeton the number of graduate students at the end of World War II was 500; currently about 1700 students are enrolled.

The centennial will include a conference focused on a review of future directions in graduate education. Among possible topics to be explored are the following:

• Teaching   We will examine connections between research and teaching in graduate education and how to use these links to ensure that our graduate students become gifted teachers.

• Funding   Since World War II, graduate education has been heavily supported by the federal government. While federal funding, especially for basic science research, has not declined dramatically as once predicted, it has been redistributed. We want to understand the implications of these shifts better as well as the prospects for future funding in all fields, including the humanities and social sciences.

• Interdisciplinary studies   The organization of disciplines is changing. We believe the time is ripe for a measured and critical review of interdisciplinary models as we think about the future organization of graduate programs in the various disciplines constituting research universities.

Other events under consideration include a public lecture series on The Frontiers of Knowledge led by distinguished alumni of the Graduate School and a conference in Asia sponsored by the Alumni Council which would reflect the School's great international diversity.

An essential objective for the centennial will be to sustain the School's excellence and allow for the possibility of growth in new areas. As part of the Anniversary Campaign, the Trustees have established a "Fund for the Centennial" through which we will seek to raise a total of $100 million to support the following objectives: expansion of fellowship programs for first-year science and engineering students and to encourage minority and women graduate students to enter fields in which they are underrepresented; increased funding for dissertation research, particularly in the humanities and social sciences; promotion of interdisciplinary research and study; and renovation of the landmark Graduate College. The campaign is off to a promising start thanks to Gordon Wu '58, who has designated $10 million of his commitment of $100 million to the Anniversary Campaign as a challenge fund to encourage gifts to the Graduate School campaign.

I would like to extend a special invitation to those of you who are graduates of the School to participate in campus centennial events, or through alumni associations here and abroad.