Remarks from UCR Chancellor Timothy P. White

Good afternoon everyone. It's a great honor to gather
to celebrate our
colleague Juan Felipe Herrera.
You know on behalf of all of us Juan,
and when I say that, I always have to sort of pause and
remember what that means. All of us means
all of the faculty at the University of California, Riverside, it means all of our
students all of our staff,
it means all of our alumni,
it means our regents in the office of the president,
and quite frankly it means the other
colleagues, the professorial colleagues, on the other nine campuses.
So when I say I bring greetings and congratulations from all of us,
it's from
a very large group of people who are exacting in their expectations,
and pleased to know that a Riverside professor has been so
recognized as California's poet laureate.
And Dallas eluded to the many things we can call you,
hey Guggenheim, come here.
And the list goes on and on and all richly deserved.
But for me,
I will say that the best thing I can call Juan Felipe
is friend. Mi amigo.
He has enriched my life by giving my
keynote address at my inauguration
some fifty years ago it seems, but just 2008.
He's addressed my household in my
child Logan's life
by sharing with him some books that he has written along the way that
are among our most favorite that we read
just about every day.
And when you talk to students here and talk to Juan's colleagues, his close
colleagues,
the only thing I find out is that
many people consider him to be
their friend.
And perhaps Juan, of all of the gifts that you bring to the university and to
our community,
that is the greatest gift of all,
that we each and all think of you as our as our friend.
Mi amigo. Congratulations and salud.