Dear Colleagues:

There seems to be one crisis after another in the world, or in the United States, or in Nebraska. We never know what to expect. Happily, there are some constants. Like the tide that ebbs and flows in accordance with a schedule, a wave of new students, new faculty and new staff are starting to appear. Another constant is this email welcoming you back if you were gone or congratulating you on the productive work you were able to accomplish wherever you were. Of course, the email is also a subtle way to remind you that the dark side of the university remains in Canfield (and elsewhere), silently plotting to make your lives more interesting and hopefully at times better.

Much has been accomplished this summer. Brace Hall is about complete as our new teaching center with classrooms and life science laboratories. We discovered that scheduling classes there for opening day puts an enormous pressure on contractors and our facilities folks to finish on time. Hope it works. You will notice that most of the books have been moved from Love North in anticipation of the creation of a Learning Center. We may be tight on where to store the books so expect us to borrow a shelf or two in each of your offices. Hope you don’t mind. And we have installed a new way-finding system in Canfield North and South so that some of us can actually find where we work. The downside, of course, is that others will now be able to find us. Oh, well.

Seriously, the upward trajectory of the university continues to amaze. I will have more to say about that in the State of the University on Oct. 2. For now, I just wanted to thank you for what you do to make this place what it is and to acknowledge the opportunities ahead. And to remind us all of the enormous responsibility we each have to help prepare our enlarging student body to become successful professionals and successful adults.

Professor Susan Sheridan delivered the summer commencement address and she observed that in formulating advice for our graduates it was hard to improve on the advice we give to preschoolers: Use nice words, be fair, be kind, participate, and give back. Pretty sensible advice for all of us.

Best of luck as we start the new academic year. And let me know how those of us in the administration can serve you.