One of my favorite responsibilities is welcoming a new class of students to the Heights. The mixture of pride, nerves and excitement that accompanies this tradition is palpable – and energizing. I am mindful that the young people I have the pleasure of meeting during their earliest days at Le Moyne are not the same people I will be congratulating at their commencement in just four short years. These Dolphins will have been changed by their time at Le Moyne and by the people they've met, the opportunities they've embraced, and the lessons they've learned here. Sometimes we're frightened by change, but we know it 's inevitable. Indeed, it's more than inevitable – it 's revelatory. Change molds us, leads us to new experiences, and serves as a measure of our progress.
Since being named president of Le Moyne eight years ago, I have grown increasingly humbled by the responsibility that accompanies preparing our students to be, each in their own way, agents of change. “Nimble” is a word I find myself using a lot because I know that the success of our graduates will depend upon their capacity to grow, to mature, and to do hard things.
As president, it’s my job to help Le Moyne embrace change and keep our focus on a vibrant and thriving future. Recently, Le Moyne entered into an innovative Shared Services Organization with Hobart and William Smith Colleges that will help us transform the ways in which we deliver a number of services across campus. We are making improvements to our campus facilities, including upgrades and renovations to Reilly Hall, the creation of a new pedestrian square and walkway in front of Grewen Hall, and the opening of the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity in the Le Moyne Plaza. We are making key changes in our academic programs, including a Race in American Society minor and a Doctor of Nursing Practice: Family Nurse Practitioner program. This fall we will welcome two newly endowed professors in the humanities and the study of the Americas, and, thanks to a generous gift from Helen Dillon in honor of her late husband, John T. (Jack) Boorman ’63, Ph.D., we are able to provide more funding to faculty and students engaging in transformative international study, travel and volunteer service. Le Moyne embraces change, new opportunities, and the chance to create new and exciting futures for members of our community.
I noted at the outset of this letter that change is inevitable, at times frightening, and revelatory. It’s also Jesuit. Author Vinita Hampton Wright reminds us in a recent article in IgnatianSpirituality.com that “St. Ignatius and the (earliest) Jesuits were so accustomed to unexpected changes that one of their trademarks became adaptability.” They knew, she continued, that “life is not static … It is an adventure to which God invites us.” That is something for which we can all be grateful.
President Linda M. LeMura, Ph.D