President Michael Schill said it best: “Don’t come to the University of Oregon to be the best in town. Don’t come to be the best in the state or even in the country. You come to the University of Oregon to be the best in the world.”

His words in a speech last spring unveiling the new Hayward Field are equally apropos for initiatives that are about to transform the university. The summer edition of Oregon Quarterly — available now — explores “UO 2020”: how major initiatives — such as the first building of the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact, a campuswide data science initiative, the reimagined Hayward Field and the fast-changing demographics of the student body — serve as exemplars of the university’s trajectory.

This edition of the alumni magazine also considers where the university has been — and how far it's come — with a thoughtful assessment of the 40th anniversary of “National Lampoon’s Animal House.”

The issue features a first-person account of transgender celebrity Caitlyn Jenner’s recent visit to the School of Journalism and Communication. You’ll meet an indomitable young alumna whose wanderlust remains intact despite an immobilizing injury and students in an English course who collaborate with Eugene-area citizens with disabilities in staging a powerful musical.

In one profile, Rumblefish founder Paul Anthony Troiano describes the motivation for his limitless entrepreneurial energy. In another, Yekang Ko, an assistant professor of landscape architecture, relates her earth-sensitive approach to resolving conflicts between the urban and natural worlds and the role played by her students.

Even those seeking “comic” relief will find it in OQ: a student who interned with Marvel Comics tells her tale in colorful fashion and, like any good cartoonist, ends on a high note.