CHASS continued to thrive throughout the 2024-2025 academic year, one that has not been without its challenges. Amid the uncertainty of our times, some things are certain such as the national government’s focus on higher education from our accrediting bodies and curriculum to international students and the future of financial aid. Our community will meet this moment by leaning into our Jesuit and Mercy traditions premised on commitments to the liberal arts, social justice, and diversity. In the College, we hold to our belief that diversity is our strength and, indeed, inherent to our collective study of humanity, which is, by definition, diverse. Our practice of radical hospitality empowers us with three steps – remembering, welcoming, and belonging – that help empower us to live out our belief as we walk with our students on their transformative educational and personal journeys.
I remain grateful to each member of our community for the contribution of their time, talents, gifts, and care to building the relationships that give us collective strength in times of challenge. The past three years as Dean have been truly awesome by which I mean that I am in awe of each of you and the ways that you partner with students and each other to translate dreams into realities, always reaching for the magis, the more. Our shared commitment to the liberal arts as critical to cultivating the free thinking necessary for democratic society will carry us powerfully into the future that is, due to each of your essential contributions, so bright for our College.