NDSU has undergone a remarkable and successful transformation over the past seven years, according to President Joseph A. Chapman. During his annual State of the University Address Chapman said, "Our clarity of purpose has given us the momentum to meet our aspirations." Describing the university as at a crossroads in 1999, Chapman said, "We had aspirations and we were fortunate to be at a point in our state’s history where the Higher Education Roundtable created an environment where flexibility and acceptable risks could be taken. We enjoyed wide consensus that a great land-grant university could make our state better. This environment—this expectation—would prove to be a powerful tool." He said the university set off on a “great adventure,” where every unit on campus was challenged to move to the next level. “What is amazing in all this is that we succeeded beyond our dreams,”