Welcome to the 2012–13 academic year. This year’s Faculty Council will focus on three themes. The first is a look at Emory as a private research university, and the Council is sponsoring a series of guest speakers who will help us explore this topic. The first speaker is Ron Ehrenberg of Cornell on October 23, and the second, on December 4, is Robert Zemsky from Penn. Look for more details about this series to be announced soon. The second focus is strengthening faculty governance, and to that end the Council has filled its appointed seats with faculty who are governance leaders or respected faculty leaders in their schools. Additionally, the Council has instituted a Policy Committee that will convene for in-depth discussions on issues of particular complexity and importance to the faculty. The first meeting of this committee is scheduled for early October to deliberate the proposed revisions to the Gray Book. Our third focus is on scholarly integrity. As a faculty, we need to explore ways of helping maintain the integrity of this institution. I welcome your ideas on these matters. Please contact me with your thoughts at gcrouse [at] emory [dot] edu.