摘要：The theme for the 1997 meeting of the Southern Rural Sociological Association is "Rural Development and Emerging Roles of Land-Grant Universities." To reflect on this theme, I want to challenge you to assess honestly the role of rural sociology in a rapidly changing environment. While serving as your president, I viewed the great diversity and complexity of your professional work. I saw, too, the monumental challenges facing our discipline and land-grant universities. If we are to remain relevant in the 21st century, we must ask the difficult questions of our discipline, and we must face directly the challenges before us. To fail to do so will result in professional and institutional decline, if not demise. The clock is ticking, not only toward the next millennium, but also toward a public demand for accountability in higher education, especially in the land-grant system. We must assess our professional roles and be prepared with answers and actions, or we can try to deny this future and experience the consequences. I hope that my comments will spur us to envision and create a future in which rural sociology and rural sociologists are seen as essential partners in any discussion about or action on rural development
