Decades ago, the word "community" meant your neighbors, your local businesses, and the newspaper delivered to your front door. Today, those neighbors are entire countries, those businesses are global enterprises, and international news is downloaded via ubiquitous wifi streaming effortlessly onto a mobile device. Truly, the future that many of us thought would take years to arrive is at our fingertips.

Technology is changing the world, and we watch in awe as innovations such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter help reshape governments. But as technology fuels our imaginations to find new ways to remake our world and render old notions of the future obsolete, the instant interconnectedness of our planet makes us more aware than ever of the social, political, and economic challenges facing us as a civilization.

As the world's problems grow more complex, it becomes increasingly necessary for global citizens to unite and provide solutions that are equal in scale. Collaboration will require learning about other cultures, languages, and international divides to bridge new paths to prosperity. Practical, effective solutions will come from individuals who bring fresh ideas and knowledge that were cultivated in a 21st-century global institute of higher learning.

The vital role that universities will play in the growth of our civilization is undeniable. As a global knowledge center, NYIT regularly brings together scientists, government officials, business leaders, innovators, and faculty to discuss issues pertaining to energy management, cyber security, instructional technology, health care, global trade and finance, and other critical topics. Through a super-connected network of campuses and sites spread around the world, our students and alumni are using technology to thrive in a competitive global marketplace and forge new careers to address the challenges of tomorrow. In short, the NYIT community is a diverse collection of cultures, knowledge, and resources, plugged in and responsive to the world's needs-a growing, networked community in the best contemporary sense.

Defining how we address the challenges impacting an entire world also means developing new methods of instruction and access to opportunity for our students. The goal of today's global universities is to not only bring the world to students as they study, but to bring students into the world upon graduation. That means teaching them to become productive members of the global community by using technology as the conduit of knowledge and innovation.

Through distance learning, videoconferencing, and other communications technology, NYIT is able to augment the quality and the accessibility of our global education. Our students are empowered to make connections and nurture relationships with their peers across continents to create a new breed of 21st-century world thinking.

NYIT's New York roots may open doors of opportunity across the world, but today we represent more than one region. We are, thanks to your support, a global university with the power to bring an American-style education-still the gold standard of academic excellence-to qualified students, often without regard to borders, and to support the free flow of ideas, students, and faculty. We are working hard to grow graduates who are prepared for the 21st-century workplace, prepared to be global citizens, and skilled and dedicated to crafting a better future.

In the end, our measure of success is not only what NYIT gives to our students … but what they give to the world. 

Sincerely,

Edward Guiliano, Ph.D.
President

Spring 2011 Table of Contents