Change is never easy, and it is with both sadness and excitement that I take a leave of absence from the University of Mississippi and the Center for the Study of Southern Culture during my tenure as chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. I moved to Oxford during the summer of 1979, and the years since have passed ever so quickly. During that time I have been blessed to work with the very finest faculty, staff, and students at the Center, and with University administrators who have understood the vision of our work and given it their full commitment. Three chancellors--Porter Fortune, Gerald Turner, and Robert Khayat--strongly supported the Center's initiatives. Provost Gerald Walton, Dean of Liberal Arts Dale Abadie, Dean of Graduate Studies Michael Dingerson, and Director of the University Foundation Don Fruge provided critical leadership in building our academic programs. Other administrators no longer at the University--Arthur DeRosier, Ray Hoops, Harvey Lewis, Morris Marx, Chuck Noyes, Joe Sam, and Wally Guess--also helped build Center programs.

Outside University walls the Center's devoted State Advisory Committee linked our efforts with their communities throughout the state and beyond. Committee members continue to provide funding and program initiatives that broaden our work in important ways.

We began with a dream, and now we enjoy the reality of an institution that touches lives throughout the world. Our programs evolved over the years and are a testament to the commitment of those who built and sustained them. The Center's Southern Studies B.A. and M.A. degree programs, our Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, the renovation of Barnard Observatory, the establishment of the University's Blues Archive, our conferences on William Faulkner, civil rights, Southern history, Elvis Presley, and the book, and our publications Crossroads, Living Blues, Mississippi Folklife, and the Southern Register are but a few of the many milestones that have marked our journey.

As I reflect on the Center's history, I am reminded of the central role that the National Endowment for the Humanities has played in our ability to establish these programs on the American South. Our undergraduate curriculum, the Encyclopedia, and the renovation of Barnard Observatory are among the many projects for which the Endowment provided generous support. Without their help the Center could not have moved so quickly to establish its programs. So I feel as if I am moving from one family of kindred spirits to another. I leave my beautiful office in Barnard Observatory for another in the Old Post Office on Pennsylvania Avenue. Both are located in restored buildings that dramatically symbolize the commitment to preservation shared by both the Center and the Endowment.

Recently I was surprised to see a beautiful red-tailed hawk soar past my office above Pennsylvania Avenue and light on a nearby building. It reminded me of the many red-tailed hawks that perch along roadsides in Mississippi during the winter. I felt the noble bird's flight was a sign that my work in Washington will be blessed with friends--both feathered and human--who will travel with me on the roads ahead. I cannot find words to fully express my gratitude to the many friends throughout the nation who have written and called on my behalf over the past months. Your generous support means so much, and I will work to fulfill the confidence you have shown in me. I

leave the Center knowing that it is in the very best of hands with outstanding faculty and staff who over the years have developed the Center's programs with an unfailing commitment to excellence. Both Marcie and I appreciate all the love and support we have received from our friends in Oxford and other places. We look forward to keeping in touch with each of you and hope you will visit us in Washington.

--William Ferris