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Linda Brady posed a welcome question in her first convocation address Wednesday: "How can UNCG help?"

The new chancellor promised to pursue answers as part of the university's strategic planning process during the next few months.

The result should produce further benefits for Greensboro, the Triad and North Carolina. That, said Brady, is a big part of UNCG's purpose.

"Universities are social institutions with a responsibility to the public we serve," she said. For UNCG, the mission includes "improving the quality of K-12 education, enhancing public health and ensuring sustainable development. The public expects our universities to improve quality of life, for individuals and communities."

Brady, appointed after two years as provost at the University of Oregon, didn't set a new course for UNCG just three weeks into her Greensboro tenure, but she did promote a higher standard: UNCG should "determine areas in which we can be best is the world ... UNCG has an unparalleled opportunity to build a metropolitan research university based on a new model - one that is grounded in our commitment to students and our passion for improving quality of life. We must define our competitive advantage and pursue it. This means we must make strategic choices because we cannot do everything and be excellent in all that we do."

That's a daunting challenge. But Brady urges a new look at UNCG, viewing its recent changes and accomplishments "through new eyes and with new appreciation - as this newcomer sees them." She cited the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering with N.C. A&T and the $100 million Students First fundraising campaign as examples of exciting progress.

Translating the successes so far into true excellence requires vision, commitment and collaboration. As UNCG serves the state and community, to reach its potential it needs support from those sources, too. If given enough resources and encouraged in their development, Greensboro's universities can make as great an impact here as UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State have in their region.

Brady promised to attend to the details of her job, getting to know students and faculty, cheering on the Spartans, visiting campus police and housekeeping workers during the overnight hours, and delivering the occasional lecture in political science classes. She even pitched in to help freshmen move in to a residence hall Tuesday.

Those activities will broaden her knowledge of the UNCG community, but she was hired for bigger things.

Brady is here to inspire, lead and, in relation to its many responsibilities, find out how UNCG can help best.