Dear Union Alumni,
Greetings from our beautiful campus in this, Union College’s 231st year!
The trees are just starting to turn, the mornings are crisp, and it’s great to feel the heightened buzz and energy as the Class of 2029 and all our returning students settle in the new academic year. I am thrilled to be here and very much look forward to getting to know you in the months and years ahead.
The academic year has also brought exciting new developments across campus, including the opening of our fabulous new hockey arena (an innovative public-private partnership delivered on time and on budget) and new dining options in Reamer. Construction also is underway on our new Engineering and Computer Science building, made possible through the generosity of Rich ‘80 and Mary Templeton ’80 and other donors.
Jeff and I have greatly enjoyed our conversations with Union alumni over these past three months. Highlights of alumni gatherings have included an evening in Saratoga Springs to watch the New York City Ballet and a wonderful celebration of the 200th anniversary of the founding of Kappa Alpha fraternity, attended by 350 people. Each of these gatherings, and all my individual conversations with alumni, have provided new evidence of how Union produces remarkable graduates – a diverse community of leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators across many fields. We truly “punch above our weight” as a college in terms of our collective positive impact on the wider world.
I have loved hearing your passion and enthusiasm for Union, and your stories about how your Union education – regardless of your major - helped you develop the agility of mind, breadth of perspective, and critical skills to succeed. I’m delighted that Union continues to be recognized for launching successful graduates, from our #13 ranking by US News for student earnings to our Carnegie classification as a “high ROI” college.
As you know, this is a challenging time in U.S. higher education, as campuses across the country try to sustain our missions in the face of intense competition for students, budgetary constraints, and political pressure and polarization.
What gives me hope is that Union has successfully weathered many challenging times over the past 231 years. More importantly, I remain optimistic because what we do – what all our faculty, staff, alumni and friends make possible – is so valuable and important. The holistic liberal arts and engineering education and integrative experiences we provide our students at Union is what they need to be able to thrive and lead with wisdom, empathy and courage in a world being reshaped by powerful new technologies and global challenges.
At a time when recruiting students is more competitive than perhaps ever before, we’ll need to build on Union’s history of innovation and find ways to amplify our strengths to make a Union education even more attractive for today’s and tomorrow’s students. I am confident that we’ll succeed – and that we’ll do so by leaning into what makes Union, Union. I look forward to sharing more information with all of you about our efforts, and how we will be deploying a data-informed strategy to guide us.
From our founding, Union has been committed to bringing people together across boundaries. By working together and building robust partnerships across faculty, staff, Trustees,alumni and other stakeholders, we will make Union stronger and the education we provide our students will continue to be second to none.
Here’s to the journey ahead. Go U!
Warmly,
Elizabeth
