It is customary to reflect upon a person’s legacy once they have left office. FAU has changed in the six years Frank Brogan has been its president, but has the change been for the better?

In his final annual report yesterday, Brogan made a case for himself as well as for the future of the school.

“This university cannot be denied its rightful place in the 21st century … as an outstanding teaching university … as a wonderful research university … students will look back some day and say, ‘Those were the best years of my life,'” he said.

The event was held at Boca’s University Theatre. Teachers, support staff, administrators and executive board members made up most of the crowd.

In addition to Brogan’s speech, the event program consisted of performances by the FAU marching band and vocal ensemble, a video presentation of university highlights, a catered reception and speeches by Interim President Dr. John Pritchett and Board of Trustees Chairwoman Nancy Blosser.

Brogan cited the 28,000 students who make up FAU’s record-breaking population, the diversity among them (with 43 percent classified as minorities) and the academic strength of this fall’s freshman class as “evidence that our great university has arrived.” Brogan also included innovations in school funding, the many research projects currently underway and the university’s success in early and continuing education programs on the list of recent accomplishments.

Brogan briefly acknowledged budget concerns and warned that tough choices may have to be made in the future, but stated that the school’s first priority will always be to protect “the core academic functions.”

He promised that the traditional university environment at FAU will continue to grow after he is gone and that he is excited to come back to catch a football game at the new stadium that is slated to open in 2010.

Brogan closed his speech by giving thanks for his “remarkable experience” as president and by introducing his temporary successor, Pritchett.

“With his vision, his leadership, his understanding of our university and his dedication to it, I am convinced, and the Board of Trustees is convinced, that as our interim president, he and his beautiful wife, Ginger, will take up the cause of FAU in a very new and unique way,” Brogan said, referring to Pritchett.

Pritchett reiterated many of Brogan’s sentiments, honoring FAU’s faculty as the “heart and soul” of the school.

Pritchett closed his speech with a quote by Nobel Prize-winning poet William Butler Yeats:

“Teaching and learning is not just about filling the bucket; it’s about lighting the fire. It’s about faculty and the teaching and learning process lighting the fire in the hearts of our students. But it goes the other way too: It is about students further lighting the fire in those who teach them. That is what this university is about … lighting the fire.”