Welcome back to the President’s Blog! It is a new year and the start of a new semester. It is my sincere hope that both will be kind to you and the people whom you love.
At Elms College, in the midst of challenging times for all higher education institutions, there are a lot of good things happening. I encourage you to visit the College’s website and social media pages and to keep an eye out on traditional media for news, events, and activities happening on campus.
It has been a while since my last blog post. The pandemic years have been all-consuming with keeping our campus and our community together and safe. I cannot be any prouder of how the Elms College community responded to those difficult years in serving our students and supporting one another. Some days were more challenging than others. But we drew lessons from the resilience and positive attitude of our founders the Sisters of St. Joseph. One of those lessons is that out of scarcity comes creativity.
Another one is to look to the future with realism and optimism, always.
A new year means new resolutions! And one of them you are reading right now. As I resume regularly sharing thoughts and ideas on the President’s blog, you will note that the themes remain familiar elements of motivation for our Elms College community: inspired by the social justice mission of our founders, committed to providing all our students a top-rate education and an environment in which they belong, we are united as a community to make a difference in an imperfect world and prepare our students to help themselves and those around them. Through our students, we are building bridges that affect an untold number of lives.
It is in that spirit that I share two addresses that I made in the fall semester: my remarks from Convocation in September and a speech I delivered in October as the keynote speaker for the 6th annual Springfield Cultural Appreciation Day. The common thread between them is the pursuit of a community rooted in faith, educated in mind, compassionate in heart, and responsive to civic and social obligations. It is through those that each of us can affect positive change in our community and the world.