In 2025, the Best is Yet to Come
Dear Ragin’ Cajuns,
Happy new year and welcome to the spring semester! I hope your holiday was joyful and relaxing.
Before the winter break, I joined the La Louisiane podcast to reflect on the past year and to discuss what’s ahead for the University in 2025. [You can listen to the full conversation here.]
Without question, there was much to say. Last year was one of milestones and continued success that will enable us to grasp opportunities in the months and years to come. 2025 will be one of momentum – using the energy and commitment each of you bring to ensure that we continue to embolden and strengthen our community’s future.
This year, we’ll continue to make progress on our Health Sciences Campus that, in turn, will enrich our partnerships with regional health providers, strengthen our commitment to the education and development of an agile and compassionate health care workforce, and provide a nurturing and contemporary atmosphere for students, faculty and staff in the College of Nursing & Health Sciences.
Ongoing construction and renovation projects for the colleges of Engineering and Sciences are driven by the same idea to create cutting-edge spaces that fuel learning, inspire innovation and drive discovery. And, with the scheduled opening of the renovated Cajun Field at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium at the start of the football season, we’re introducing a competitive and fun environment that both student-athletes and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns fans deserve.
As I shared on the podcast, we kicked off 2024 by continuing a tradition that stretches back to the very founding of our institution – the planting of live oak saplings. We seeded the new trees – the descendants of the Century Oaks planted in 1900 by founding president Dr. Edwin Lewis Stephens – on the Health Sciences Campus. In reflection, it was a fitting way to begin a year in which we deepened our own roots within the community that we’re proud to call home.
Service – to the state and region, to each other and to future generations – has been at the heart of our mission throughout that long history, and it remains our motivation.
So, I want to encourage you in the coming year to seek ways to be of service. Students, look for volunteer opportunities, like The Big Event in March. Join one of our campus service organizations, or reach out to a classmate who might need extra help with their studies or to simply tell them that you care. Showing kindness is a service.
Faculty and staff, let me encourage you to continue to promote student success in all that you do. By putting their aspirations first, by reminding them that the only limitation they face is their own capacity to dream, you can make a profound difference in the trajectory of our students’ lives. Being a caring mentor is a service, too.
By working together, by investing time and talent in someone else or in our community, we can make this year the best one yet. I can’t wait to see what’s to come – and to celebrate alongside each of you as we reach new milestones and as we aim for new possibilities.
Have a great semester and an extraordinary 2025, and Geaux Cajuns!
Dr. Joseph Savoie
President