It’s really exciting and such an honor to be here. President Hensrud, you have been so generous with your time, but what most folks here don’t know is that you began at about the same time as my current chancellor, Chancellor Holz-Clause, and actually went through a president school together and have been colleagues, so I’ve been following your career and learning from the work that you do and so we are partners in higher education here across the north.

I knew a great deal about the work that you had done long before I had the opportunity to meet you in person. I wish you the best in your final months here, in your next chapters and I’m sure we’ll stay connected. Chancellor Malhotra, what an opportunity. The vision that you have established for Minnesota State Equity 2030 is a bold vision for all of the colleges and universities of the state. I heard so much about you before this process and then through our interactions. I look forward to working for you in the years to come. I want to note my wife, Dr. Joy Hoffman. This is definitely the better part of the deal that you’re getting.

I recognize that my name will be on the paycheck, but she’s going to be the one that everybody loves at the institution. It’s happened through the last 20 years. In fact, it was 20 years ago yesterday morning at sunrise that I pulled Joy out of bed and drove up to the top of a Mt. Soledad in La Jolla, southern California, and tried to get down on a knee. I was in my 2001, TJ Jeep Wrangler and Joy didn’t want to get out of the Jeep. It was cold. Imagine big me trying to get down on a knee inside of the Jeep. I recall the feelings of excitement and nervousness, but mostly just awe that you would say “yes” and that you would choose me. It has been the greatest decision of my life and I’m so thankful. I’m not gonna say it’s at the same scale, but the I have similar feelings of excitement and nervousness, but also of awe and humility that you – the faculty, the student affairs educators, the staff, alumni, students – that you would choose me to work for you in the coming years. What a deep and, shall I say, sacred responsibility that you are bestowing to me. My job is to position you to do your best work, to make a difference, to realize NTC’s mission and that every student who comes here adopts the mission for themselves and has a right to know that that mission is realized by them personally, as they are students and as they graduate and move on.

You and the work that you do is inspiring and exciting. The decision on my end is easy; to be a part of this institution, this group of people, the work that you’re doing. I recall the tour that I had of campus and you should have seen Joy’s face when she finished the tour. She was a little bit taller than what she actually is in real life. She was just so excited about the space.

Then talking with students, some students from here locally, but also students who’ve come from all over the state because they recognize just how special this place is and the work that you are doing is. I am particularly inspired and drawn to this place because of the work you are doing with Indigenous students, with the native nations of Minnesota and with the tribal colleges in the region. The way that you are honoring the land and the water that surrounds us is a sacred partnership that we engage with others. It is an opportunity to learn, to be more wholly human ourselves as we engage with one another and, and learn from one another.

It is an opportunity to put this institution and this city on the map at a national scale for work that needs to be done on a national scale. I think there are folks that are just starting to realize how special the work is that you are doing and how important it is on such a broad scale, as well as right here in this local community.

I want to conclude by acknowledging a few individuals who have been so important to me. I will not go through the list of mentors who hace invested in me along the years but I’m truly fortunate because of those individuals along the way. I do need to name my parents, Clarence and Lynn Hoffman. They are a part of my roots. My father was a small businessman in western Iowa who spent a number of years on the Iowa legislature and taught me more than anything else about the central role of integrity in the success of any business. It’s a lesson that I will take with me for life. My mother was a preschool teacher; the most caring educator I have ever known and creative. She came to life with children, but children came to life with her as they learned and and grew.

I’ve made several illusions to my wife, joy. She has worked her entire career in higher education. She is a fierce advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion, and a committed student affairs educator advancing the work of holistic student learning and success. She’ll be moving all around the country with consulting jobs that she does, but she’ll also be here challenging me and holding me accountable to be the person and the leader that I aspire to be. She is my better three quarters and then some. Even if I’m two thirds of the mass in our marriage.

Lastly, my two step kids – step adults, I mean, at this point – Hannah is second Lieutenant in the Marines and will get her MOS assignment tomorrow. Exciting moments for her. That will be one of the highlights of the week; And my youngest, C.J., they are a senior at the University of California Santa Cruz, studying science education. C.J. proudly states that they are autistic, not a person with autism. They are autistic because they experience the world in different ways and remind me often about what I have to learn from them. That is perhaps a message will use to close. It’s always an opportunity for us to learn from one another, to see what others see that I can’t see, perhaps in ways to help you see things a little bit better working with one another. But in short, I look forward to the opportunity to work with and for this community. And thank you so much for bestowing upon me your trust.