In his annual presidential address, Mark Emmert looked forward to a greener future for the UW.

He said the success of the UW will be based on creating a prerogative to research environmental issues, specifically mentioning the importance of creating the College of the Environment to make sure that the university is competitive nationwide and globally.

Emmert said the success of the University during the past 20 years has stemmed from being a prominent research institution geared toward medicine and health sciences, and that the UW must now look forward to the next couple decades — past the two-year budget — and decide what the UW will focus on. Issues concerning the environment will be the most salient and will become the UW’s focus, he said.

“We need to be at the front of the parade,” Emmert said. “We need to figure out how the College of the Environment will work and not let this opportunity slip through our fingers.”

Emmert quoted Yogi Berra, saying it’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future. For the UW, this means deciding what trends will be important to society.

Reach reporter Nikolaj Lasbo at news@dailyuw.com.