Dear students, faculty and staff members,
A few weeks ago, I took advantage, as many of you did, of early voting. As I waited in line, I watched as others left the polling place with looks of satisfaction after they had employed the most powerful tool a democracy provides – a ballot.
Dear students, faculty and staff members,
Election Day is this Tuesday, Nov. 3. Every four years, American voters hold in their hands the most sacred and precious responsibility a democracy affords – a ballot.
If you took advantage of early voting opportunities, thank you. If your plan is to vote in person on Tuesday, please do so. The University will announce soon what it’s doing to ensure you have time to make your voice heard and your vote count.
Dear students, faculty and staff members,
The halfway point of this very challenging fall semester is behind us. Before we know it, final exams, Thanksgiving, Commencement and the holiday season will be here. Then, a new year and a new semester will begin.
Dear students,
I hope your fall semester is off to a great start!
Mine is. I spent this morning among my favorite people as I helped greet you and other returning students, faculty and staff members along Rex Street and St. Mary Boulevard.
This welcome back event is something we do at the start of every academic year, and it’s always filled with excitement, energy and a sense of anticipation about all the incredible opportunities a new semester holds. This morning was no exception.
Dear students,
The Fall 2020 semester begins Aug. 17, and we’re looking forward to welcoming you back.
We’ve used the past few months to prepare for your homecoming. Our extensive and careful planning reflects the unwavering priority we place on your health and safety.
Some of you will return physically to campus to take classes or to live in residence halls. Others have enrolled in remote and online courses that empower you to select what instruction option best fits your needs.
Dear faculty, students, staff members, alumni and friends,
Our University has a long and deliberate history of diversity and inclusion.
But we have, as a nation and as an institution, reached a moment in which simply pointing to the past without pledging ourselves to improving the future is insufficient. This history would be hollow if we failed to reaffirm our commitment to racial equity and social justice through meaningful action.
Dear members of the University family,
George Floyd. Ahmaud Arbery. Breonna Taylor. Tony McDade.
Their tragic deaths – and those of countless others – are reminders that our nation has much work to do to address discrimination, intolerance and other inexcusable barriers to social justice that have burdened us for far too long.
Universities are a place where that work can occur. Indeed, they are a place where it must occur.
On Friday, the University graduated the largest and most diverse class in our 122-year history, capping an unprecedented semester in momentous fashion.
We conferred 1,905 degrees, an all-time high for a single semester. Women received 1,173 of those diplomas; that’s nearly 62 percent of the total graduating class and yet another record. Eighty-eight degrees were awarded to Hispanic graduates, the most ever.
Dear students, faculty and staff members,
The month of March witnessed immense changes across our campus and in the lives of most members of the University family.
We cannot yet anticipate fully what April might hold as the world continues to grapple with the effects of COVID-19.
In uncertain times such as these, it is important to catalogue the things for which we are grateful. It is equally as essential to thank those special individuals whose mere presence – even from a socially appropriate distance – offers the comfort and support we all need right now.
Dear students, faculty and staff members,
When the semester began in January, none of us could have anticipated the unprecedented nature of what lay ahead. Yet our University family has reacted to this extraordinary moment in characteristic fashion – with the same ingenuity, courage, optimism and compassion it has displayed time and again when challenges have arisen.
Over the past several weeks, I have been inspired by the countless acts of generosity our students, faculty and staff have undertaken.
