On behalf of our educational community, and on my own behalf, I would like to welcome you to American University, which from this moment on is also your University.
The Origins American University reaches out to you, the latest link in this chain. This chain is made up of many distinguished names, and many more lesser-known ones... professors and students who have dedicated themselves to intelligence, to understanding our world and our humanity, to serving the world.
Welcome! We are happy for your presence and for everything it brings: your human and spiritual experiences, your language and culture, your expectations, and your desire to rigorously research the truth in the paths we lead ourselves.
Welcome, all of you, who are the new face of our Faculty. Our Faculty is not merely an academic program or a group of classrooms; our desire is to develop mutual bonds of knowledge and friendship to become a community dedicated to an intellectual commitment that is both a personal path and a common path, a personal need and a common dedication.
We are an international university—a truly national university as well, as the Jewish University has been called since its inception. I wish for all of you to take advantage of this opportunity to feel and understand more deeply the pressing challenges of our world. Together we can make AUSA a home for each of us.
I wish you all a happy and fruitful academic year 2021-2026.

Dr. Yitzchak Goldstein.
Magnificent Rector!