PRESIDENT’S NOTE

Dear Members of the USF Family,

Welcome to the latest issue of Engaging Mind & Spirit magazine! This publication is one way the University of St. Francis strives to remain connected to you—our alumni, our friends, our parents, our employees, and our supporters—in short, our USF family.

This past June, I began my 11th year of service at USF, and I chose to mark the milestone by sending a note of gratitude to our employees and trustees for their support and encouragement. This was in the spirit of one of my favorite stories about recognizing the support of others that I first heard from a Joliet Franciscan, Sr. Noel Dreska, in a physics class in college. It’s about Sir Isaac Newton, the English physicist whose scientific accomplishments were legendary and included discovering the laws of motion and the laws of gravity and the invention of calculus.

Arvid C. Johnson, Ph.D. President

Our Mission

As a Catholic university rooted in the liberal arts, we are a welcoming community of learners challenged by Franciscan values and charism, engaged in a continuous pursuit of knowledge, faith, wisdom, and justice, and ever mindful of a tradition that emphasizes reverence for creation, compassion, and peacemaking. We strive for academic excellence in all programs, preparing women and men to contribute to the world through service and leadership.

While considered to be among the greatest and most influential scientists to have ever lived, even Newton recognized that he could not have accomplished what he did without the assistance of others. In a letter to Robert Hooke, Newton wrote: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” That’s a spirit of gratitude… and that’s a focus of this issue of Engaging Mind & Spirit.

In that spirit, I would like to say “thank you”—or as St. Francis would have put it, “grazie mille”— to all the giants on whose shoulders the University of St. Francis has been able to stand over the years. This certainly includes our founding and sponsoring congregation, the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate, who formed the university—and each of us—with their charism, as Sr. Noel did with me.

Other giants include the thousands of professors, staff members, administrators and others who have supported our students for over 100 years. And, most importantly, there are the giants that are our alumni—so many of you—who are our legacy. Grazie mille for your shoulders!

I invite you to pour yourself a cup of coffee, sit back, and enjoy this latest update about what’s happening at your University of St. Francis. Please know that I consider myself incredibly blessed to serve as your president, and even in this eleventh year of my service, I promise to continue to work hard each and every day to earn the trust that you have placed in me!

Peace and all good things…oh, and grazie mille!