OP-ED
Goodbye and Thank You BY NEW CO LLEGE PRESID E N T D O N AL O’SH E A
THIS YEAR, MY LAST AS PRESIDENT OF NEW COLLEGE OF FLORIDA, is drawing to a close. Its full days and evenings have left me little time to sort through the jumbled thoughts and emotions that separation anxiety and the wee hours bring. But the dominant ones are wonder and gratitude. Wonder at the quality and uniqueness of this remarkable institution, and gratitude for having had the privilege to lead it these past nine years. Let me begin with the wonder. I knew coming in that New College is one of the nation’s most extraordinary liberal arts and sciences institutions. I’d expected brilliant students and faculty, and a dedicated staff. But I did not expect, and still marvel at, the way New College punches way above its weight. Ninety percent of our incoming students expect to continue on to graduate or professional school. New College has the highest per-capita percentage of graduates among all public universities who go on to receive doctoral degrees. We nearly double second-place William & Mary, and we’re way ahead of Georgia Tech and the University of California, Berkeley. Between one-eighth and one-sixth of our graduating students go on to receive doctoral degrees in science and engineering. This is a preposterously high proportion, higher than all Ivy League institutions. The next closest public institution in Florida is a little more than one in 100. That means that, despite our small size, we produce a significant proportion of Florida scientists. The awards our students win tell the same story. In the past 20 years, we have had 80 Fulbright scholars. Only two schools in Florida have had more Fulbright winners over the same period: Florida State University baccalaureate graduates have earned slightly less than 100 Fulbrights, and the University of Florida has had slightly more. Both are more than 50 times our size. On a per-capita basis there, we have almost double the number that Harvard has. Other national awards mirror the overachievement. Our students garnered 32 Gilman International Scholarships and six Udall Undergraduate Scholarships over the same period. We are number two among national public liberal arts colleges in the recently published Washington Monthly, and we occupy number six in this space in U.S. News and World Report (behind the military academies). These outcomes depend on faculty, staff, students, graduates and community supporters (past and present), and the way they work together. It has been a joy to work with such colleagues, and it is a tremendous privilege to count myself a member of the New College community. When I joined New College, Mary and I had three grandchildren. Now we have 10. I look forward to spending more time with Mary and my family, and with friends, old and new. I also hope to catch up on some of the mathematical advances of the last decade, and possibly even return with wiser eyes and new methods to some of the problems that I could never solve. I look forward to watching New College grow, to seeing our alumni continue to prosper, and to reminiscing about (and marveling at) the fact that I was able to spend nearly a decade of my life at such a magnificent institution. Thank you.
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