Good Afternoon! And welcome, one and all, to the new academic year in this, the 250th anniversary of the United States and the 232nd year of Union College
A very special welcome to the Great Class of 2030 and our new transfer students, as well as the new faculty and staff who are joining the Union community.
Our new students, nearly 500 strong, hail from 16 countries and 37 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia. We are excited that you now call Union and Schenectady home. And we hope and trust that, just as it has been for our Nott Medal Award winner Shayne, no matter where life takes you, Union will forever occupy a special place in your heart – a place of growth and discovery, lifelong friendship and inspiration, a place you will always call home.
First-years, I know you’ve already experienced a lot over these past few days: the enthusiastic welcome and controlled chaos of move-in day, emotional farewells from family, the rush of meeting new people, the sense of disorientation as you try to remember where Reamer is, how you get to the stadium, where you go to get your ID card, and what your RA’s or Orientation Leader’s name is. You’ve felt a mix of many different emotions, from exhilaration to anxiety, from joy to exhaustion. You’ve enjoyed Nott Pops on the harbor and cheered on your Minerva House in the MinervOlympics. You’ve shared a diverse array of memorable adventures with other students, from the Mets to Broadway, art to history, animals to food, mountain vistas and Olympic venues, tubing hiking the Leap of Faith bungee jump, dancing on a Lake George boat and much more.
Starting tomorrow, you’ll begin meeting your professors who will inspire and stretch you and guide your academic journey over the next four years. Through them, and all your experiences at Union, you’ll discover new ideas and perspectives, acquire new skills, explore new interests, and gain new insights into who you are -- and who you want to become. And as I told you last Friday evening, here at Union you will not be alone. You will have professors, advisors, coaches, and mentors around you to celebrate your successes and to help you work through your failures and tough times, knowing that, as the Eliphalet Nott medal states, Perseverantia Vincit Omnia – perseverance conquers all things!
It’s one of the reasons I most love my job, because I get to be part of an institution that is in the business of changing lives and helping young people grow in knowledge, competence, and character, and become stronger and more confident versions of themselves – ultimately nurturing their ability, in the words of Union’s vision statement, to lead with wisdom, empathy and courage in ways large and small, now and across multiple tomorrows.
One of my favorite conversations on Move-In Day was with a sophomore who shared how thrilled she was to be back on this beautiful campus. She added, “when I see folks mowing the grass and planting flowers, I realize they are doing this for ME and I’m just so grateful!”
What a wise and wonderful observation about how every person working at this College plays an important role in shaping the student experience. To all my colleagues – in facilities, in the dining hall, in finance and enrollment and HR and IT, in the library and the Wellness Center, in advising and athletics, in residence life, communications and marketing, and across every academic and administrative department, thank you for all you do to sustain Union’s mission! And thank you also to our Trustees and all our active alumni and generous donors whose stewardship and philanthropy keep Union strong.
As we begin a new year, not only in our student’s life journeys but also in the life of this 232-year-old college, I’ve been reflecting on our nation’s 250th anniversary and what higher education means to America.
In 1780, just four years after the Declaration of Independence and before the Revolutionary War was over, a group of scholar-patriots including John Adams and John Hancock established the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The Academy’s mission, they wrote, was “to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.”
It’s a pretty remarkable and audacious initiative to establish so early in the life of the American republic and in the middle of a war. But it shows the wisdom of our founders who grasped that a thriving republic needs more than military success or economic power. It needs educated citizens with the skills and qualities they need to forge a more peaceful, prosperous, happy, and dignified future.
The effort to create Union College began at the very same time as the American Academic of Arts & Sciences, with the Dutch Reformed Church of Schenectady submitting the first of many petitions to the state legislature in 1779, asking for permission to establish an institution of higher learning in their small village of 3,000 inhabitants – though it took them 16 years to get their wish. Another example, by the way, of Perseverantia Vincit Omnia!
America’s Founding Fathers and mothers recognized the critical importance of an educated citizenry to the success of the American experiment, and from colonial times the United States has been at the forefront of educational innovation. Union was America’s first non-denominational liberal arts college and a pioneer in teaching natural sciences and modern languages and in combining the liberal arts with engineering, propelled by a desire to provide a useful education, one that enable graduates to be leaders, problem-solvers and change-makers. Union alumni have done just that, becoming impactful leaders in so many fields from government and politics to science, medicine, the arts and more.
America went on to create other institutional types to serve diverse student populations: land-grant universities, community colleges, Historically Black Colleges, women’s colleges, and research universities. American higher education has been and remains one of the driving forces behind our nation’s success and a vital source of America’s “soft power,” attracting students and faculty from around the world.
Now if you follow the news about higher education, you will know there has been a relentless drumbeat of negativity about its fragile state and questionable value. Is college worth it? Have America’s colleges lost their way? Is AI an existential threat to the enterprise of teaching and learning?
I believe the view that America’s higher education system is broken is simplistic, sometimes cynical, and just plain wrong.
Don’t get me wrong: Colleges and universities do face significant challenges, and it is important for us to tackle them with energy, honesty and creativity. Indeed, here at Union, we are on a journey of figuring out, in a rigorous and data-informed way, how we can amplify our strengths to make Union stand out in today’s competitive enrollment landscape and attract more students. This will be a pivotal year for us, as we receive and act on the results and recommendations of our Art & Science study. It will require us to rethink and reinvent aspects of a Union education, to do things differently and to be bold and innovative, as Union has been at multiple moments of our long history. And a critical aspect of the challenges we have to tackle is to figure out how Union should prepare every student for success -- and rethink our own operations -- in a world that is being reshaped by a new general purpose technology, AI.
None of this will be easy. But a holistic liberal arts and sciences education that gives students exposure to different disciplines and perspectives across the humanities, arts, sciences and engineering, that develops critical thinking and communication skills, that provides transformative practical experiences like study abroad, mentored research, internships, and opportunities for teamwork and leadership, remains the best and most useful education to prepare graduates to tackle today’s complex challenges. It prepares students and graduates to ask hard questions, to work together to solve problems, to partner with technology in ways that enhances human well-being, to excel in multiple fields of endeavor, and to be the wise, empathetic, and courageous leaders our world so desperately needs.
Just as the Union of today is dramatically different from the Union of 1795, we will need to change and evolve, to reinterpret a useful liberal arts and sciences education for a new generation and context. But I am confident that we can do so in a way that sustains and even strengthens the magic of a Union education.
So here’s to a new academic year! Class of 2030, we can’t wait to watch you learn, grow and develop, to cheer you on the ice and on the playing fields, applaud your artistry as musicians, artists, and dancers, and be inspired and energized wowed by your growth as human beings.
To all of us: here’s to a year of leadership and teamwork, of perseverantia and courage, as we drive Union Forward and design the next chapter of our beloved College’s remarkable 232-year journey of innovative educational leadership.
