President Margee Ensign has charged freshly enrolled students to live their dreams by embodying AUN's mission as a catalyst for development, adding that they, not oil and gas, are Nigeria's greatest resource.
"The American University of Nigeria is fully equipped to play the traditional roles of a university – teaching, learning, and research, but there is a part of our founding that is not traditional, a part that makes us unique. We are a Development University; our primary role is to develop solutions to local, regional, national, and global problems”.
President Ensign was speaking at the fall 2021 Convocation and Pledge Ceremony for members of AUN Classes of 2023, 2025, 2026 who began their academic and life-changing journey at the colorful event held inside the large-capacity Lamido Aliyu Musdafa Commencement Hall on Monday, October 18, 2021.
President Ensign stated that finding solutions to local problems is not a secondary or peripheral part of our work at AUN. It is the heart of our work.
"And it all starts just outside our front gate. I am happy to say that this work has been well launched at AUN. Our students-- have for many years--been involved in community development of many kinds. Our faculty have been at the forefront of cutting-edge development research. Our graduates have gone on to help change the world".
President Ensign, who was presiding over her first Convocation and Pledge Ceremony since returning as President in July, urged the students not to be discouraged by the problems faced by the world presently, even if they seemed daunting.
"Whether it is climate change, challenges to our very health, threats of violence, injustice, desertification, inequality, poverty, pollution, tyranny, all our problems are man-made and so are the solutions," the President said, "we will take them on and succeed.
"Here at AUN, we begin with honesty and hard work. We look the world in the eye; we look Nigeria in the eye with an unflinching gaze. And we find out what is really going on— with real facts, not fake facts.
"We work hard to distinguish between them. We see the world's problems for what they are, and we find ways to make things better. It can be done. It must, and it will be done. And we will do it together", she said.
The President's last and most important task of the event was to take the new students, who were joined by the rest of the Community, including their accompanying parents and relatives, to recite the AUN Integrity Pledge:
Today, I pledge
To uphold the ideals
Of the American University of Nigeria.
To strive for excellence in all I do
To be honest myself
And to demand honesty of everyone else
To be of service to AUN
To the Yola community
To Nigeria
To Africa
And to the world
Later, all the new students - Classes of 2023, 2025, 2026, faculty, Senior Management, and Staff, were invited to sign the AUN Pledge Document, being a record for all time of their commitment to our guiding principles. This is the first time this University has taken such an extraordinary measure. The signing and documentation of the Pledge is an American academic tradition that promotes transparency and personal accountability in all matters.