Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students: “My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.” Those words of famed South African cleric and anti-apartheid and human rights activist Desmond Tutu seem particularly appropriate to ponder as we celebrate Black History Month throughout February. For even as we recognize the enormous achievements and […]
Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff: Navigating the challenges of COVID‑19 together as a Cougar community has taught us much about the resiliency of the human spirit. We have sacrificed individually and collectively while simultaneously adapting to a redefined world, a world requiring new pathways to pursue our goals and hopes and dreams. Your own courage […]
Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students: There’s no doubt our lives have been upended to varying degrees during the past 10 months. COVID‑19. Racial injustice. A roller-coaster economy. Political upheaval and related violence. Diminishing availability of vital health and social services. Devastating natural disasters from coast to coast. In such a gloomy environment, it’s easy to lose sight […]
Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students: Monday’s annual commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life should be a soul-stirring call to deeply examine, reflect on, and—most importantly—act to change systemic injustices that have long tarnished widely espoused American ideals about freedom, equality, and opportunity for all. The evidence driving this need for self‑examination is undeniably and painfully […]
Shocking. Heartbreaking. An unprecedented threat to American democratic ideals that we have cherished for nearly 250 years. Those are just a few of the thoughts that immediately came to mind as destruction and violence unfolded this afternoon in Washington, D.C., when Congress convened to certify the Electoral College results from the U.S. presidential election. Free […]
December 2020 Dear Faculty and Staff: As we prepare to celebrate the holidays and close out 2020, I want to take a moment to extend my sincere appreciation to you for the conclusion of a successful fall semester. Just a year ago, I wrote to you describing the University’s recent accomplishments and the optimism I felt about […]