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President’s Message
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Together, we thrived
At the end of the fall term, I looked back on the last 18 months with enormous gratitude.
We did more than overcome personal, professional and campus-based challenges to keep our community safe this fall. We began the term with renewed energy and started a “normal” routine that included vaccines and testing.
“Back to U,” a walk-run-bike event, brought us all together for a morning of exercise. We were joined by special guest Emma White ’19, bronze medalist in cycling at the Tokyo Olympics, who shared her experiences as a student and elite athlete.
We announced a partnership with the Schuler Education Foundation that will provide more than $40 million to make a Union education more accessible than ever before. Over the next five years the foundation will match up to $20 million in gifts from our generous donors. Already, we have 15 donors making major commitments. I am thrilled that the Schuler Initiative will allow us to say “yes” to more students who thrive at Union and beyond.
At Opening Convocation, we honored three faculty—Nicole Theodosiou, Ann Anderson and Mary Carroll ’86—with the Stillman Prizes for excellence in teaching and research.
We saw the welcome return of study abroad. While destinations were limited to Europe, nearly 50 students participated in a program that is a hallmark of the Union experience.
We remembered those of our community who were lost on 9/11. We also featured Kevin Rampe ’88, who was instrumental in the recovery of lower Manhattan and the founding of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
We welcomed a new icon to campus, and students promptly covered it in paint. The “new U” takes the place of the Idol, a piece of ancient Chinese art that is part of our permanent collection. Now, we can restore this cultural symbol and preserve a storied student tradition.
We opened the search for the director of the Templeton Institute for Engineering and Computer Science and Dean of Engineering. This person will be a key player for a transformative initiative launched by a generous gift from Mary and Rich Templeton of the Class of 1980.
The faculty approved a new General Education curriculum that aims to ignite passions, to expose students to a breadth of disciplines and to prepare them for a complex global society. You will learn more about this in the months ahead.
Finally, at the end of the term, we were thrilled with the news that Ty Gamble-Eddington ’21 had received a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. During his time on campus, Ty’s extraordinary brand of leadership has been a catalyst for campus-wide engagement on a range of issues around equity and social justice. I look forward to watching his post-Union career.
I am so proud that every member of the Union community has contributed to our success this year. As I said in my annual State of Union address at the end of fall term, it has been a tough year for all of us in different ways. As strongly as I believe in this community, I’m not quite sure I expected we’d get through this so well. It was tough, we all chipped in, and I thank you for being part of it.
