5/23/2018
True Beginnings
This past week, we celebrated the graduation of our students with their families and friends. The ceremony, however, is named a commencement, rather than a graduation – and for good reason. The completion of college or graduate school does not mark an end, but a true beginning. For our students, novel adventures await, whether in the form of a career, advanced education, or exploration of new possibilities. Their march across the stage not only represents the culmination of their hard work and dedication but the start of the next stage of their existences.
Yet certainly, as this month’s newsletter makes clear, they are taking this step well prepared for the future. They have formed bonds with prize-winning faculty who have shared the joy of scholarship and teaching. They have learned essential lessons and gained impressive honors from their departments. They have found that the knowledge they gained in the classroom has real-life implications. And, perhaps above all, they have discovered that their liberal arts education has prepared them for the complex world they will encounter.
On a personal note, I should add that our students are not the only ones who are commencing and entering a new phase of life. After ten years of presiding proudly at these important events, I too will be marching across the proverbial stage, stepping down from the role of dean and going on sabbatical. Like our students, I take this step armed with wonderful memories and amazing relationships. It has been an honor to serve as dean of this incredible school, and I look forward to the future that awaits it.
In this Month's Newsletter (May 2018):
- Unified Commencement Speaker: Jesmyn Ward
- School of Liberal Arts Award Recipients
- Three SLA Professors Receive Prestigious ACLS Fellowships
- SLA Faculty Member Courtney Bryan Receives Herb Alpert Award in the Arts
- Econ PhD Graduate Begins Next Chapter of Career
- SLA Seniors Win Screenwriting Competition
- Exemplifying the Very Best of a Liberal Arts Education
- Endowed Fund Honors Visionary Outgoing SLA Dean
- SLAMM Students Learn How to Procure Artwork in New Course
- SLA Student Awarded Prestigious Beinecke Scholarship
- Preventing Relationship Violence is SLA Student's Goal