The Marshall Symposium: Greetings: Rein Uritam
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Philip
Power: Rein Uritam is professor
of physics at Boston College. He was born in Tartu, Estonia, and emigrated
to the United States in 1949 at the age of 10. He received a bachelor's
degree from Concordia College and a second degree from Oxford, where he
was a Marshall Scholar. He completed his master's and doctoral degrees at
Princeton in the theory of elementary particles. He is president of the
Association of Marshall Scholars since 1992. Professor Uritam.
Rein Uritam: Thank you very much, Phil. I'll try to keep my remarks short, because I think we're all eager to hear the body of the symposium, but in any case - my role here, I think, is threefold: to welcome my fellow Marshall Scholars, who form the core group of this symposium; to bring greetings to friends of the Marshall Scholarships and to other participants in the symposium; and to express deep gratitude to the local committee and all who organized this wonderful get-together. As you've heard already, the Marshall Scholarship scheme is nearly 50 years old. There have been about a thousand American students who have participated in it. And the Association of Marshall Scholars represents that body of a thousand scholars. Our honorary patron is the Prince of Wales. Our honorary director is the British Ambassador. Our main purpose, our activities, center around maintaining contact with each other. We have newsletters, directories, regional meetings, and many of us participate in the selection process of new scholars. That is probably the most challenging and the most fascinating and, indeed, humbling part of our activities. This occasion, in a sense, represents yet another new era that we hope will continue and blossom as the years go by. We look forward to bringing together scholars for serious academic purposes, for serious discussions, centered around topics such as we are going to discuss today and as you all are going to discuss. And for that fact, the fact that we can gather for this serious purpose, we yet once again want to thank the University of Michigan, the British Government and most especially the local organizers - Phil Power, Jim Shapiro, Kate Soper, Caroline Cracraft and others. So, saying now to my fellow scholars, let us renew friendships. Let us discuss future directions of our association, but most importantly and most immediately, let us take part in this fascinating symposium on a very timely topic that will be of the greatest importance to the future of our civilization. So, let us hear what we can learn, and thank you very much.
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