From the President
from the outset of the pandemic, our goal was to provide our students with a safe yet rigorous on-campus experience. We knew that if our strategy was successful, we could emerge from the pandemic stronger than when we entered. How should one measure that strength? By admissions numbers? Academic excellence? Financial stability, resilience, and fundraising? At Oberlin, isn’t it also important to consider strength of mission, relevance, and progressive positioning in the world? I am proud to share that in each of these areas, Oberlin is meeting or surpassing expectations. When I arrived at Oberlin, the institution—like most of higher education—faced significant challenges. Enrollment was threatened by a “demographic cliff,” when the number of high school graduates is projected to decline dramatically. Oberlin faced a reoccurring structural deficit. To meet those challenges, with more than 80 percent of the General Faculty support, we approved the One Oberlin plan, and in fall 2019 we began to implement it. We have begun to contain our structural deficit, which could have become an existential threat to Oberlin. I appreciate the concerns some have expressed about the impact of these changes, including on issues such as union membership. But we continue to host the same unions on campus as before, UAW membership in dining is higher than before, and our students are receiving better service. We also restructured the lease with the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association (OSCA) and helped the co-ops resume their activities as the pandemic eased. We launched six interdivisional minors and nine integrated concentrations in fields that include business, global health, and journalism. We accelerated our work to expand collaboration between the conservatory and the college. We concluded a very successful faculty recruiting season, attracting 11 out of 13 of our top college faculty choices, with seven of them people of color. In the conservatory, we welcome four new faculty, with two being people of color. Our Internship Plus program, launching this fall, guarantees each student up to $5,000 to support an internship (or, for conservatory students, a summer festival season) during their time at Oberlin. Applications are at an all-time high, and we enrolled our largest class ever last fall. This year, the numbers are on pace to equal or even exceed that total, with an entering class that includes the largest number of people of color in our history. Oberlin is halfway through our Sustainability Infrastructure Project, which will utilize geothermal wells to transform our heating and cooling system and help Oberlin become one of the first carbon-neutral campuses in the country by 2025. In May, we released the results of our first campus climate survey, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are creating a Center for Race, Equity, and Inclusion, as well as a diversity office position in human resources. We are initiating a series of DEI-related curricular enhancements and faculty hires in the conservatory. Thanks to the support of our Obie community and the hard work of our advancement staff, our fundraising totals are surpassing the pace set last year. I cannot thank you enough for your ongoing support of Oberlin and its mission to educate students to meet the world as it is and then to work to do good in it. I am writing this column a few weeks after the Commencement Ceremony for the Class of 2022. What a pleasure it was to see their expressions of joy and their sense that they had gotten all they needed from their Oberlin experience. That, as much as anything, is the benchmark that tells me that the state of Oberlin is strong. carmen twillie ambar President, Oberlin College and Conservatory
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Vol. 117 No. 2 Editor Jeff Hagan ’86 Art Director Ryan Sprowl Senior Designer Nicole Slatinsky Communications Project Manager Yvonne Gay Director of Content and Strategic Storytelling Erich Burnett Executive Director, Office of Communications Kelly Viancourt Vice President for Communications Josh Jensen
The Oberlin Alumni Magazine (ISSN 0029-7518), founded in 1904, is published by Oberlin’s Office of Communications and distributed to alumni, parents, and friends of Oberlin College. Editorial Office 247 W. Lorain St., Suite C Oberlin, OH 44074 Phone: 440.775.8182 Fax: 440.775.6575 Email: alum.mag@oberlin.edu www.oberlin.edu/oam Oberlin Alumni Association Dewy Ward ’34 Alumni Center 65 E. College St., Suite 4 Oberlin, OH 44074 Phone: 440.775.8692 Fax: 440.775.6748 Email: alumni@oberlin.edu www.oberlin.edu/alumni POSTMASTER Send changes to Oberlin College, 173 W. Lorain St., Oberlin, OH 44074
TA N YA R O S E N -J O N E S ’ 97
On the State of Oberlin