2013-14

Dear Orange Friends:

As I write this, 30 students are sledding down the Crouse College hill on dining hall trays, toboggans, and their rear ends. They are in a joyful mood because a winter storm, with accelerating snowfall all day, led the University to cancel late afternoon classes. I am told this is the first closure during even part of daytime hours since 2010. Having grown up in upstate New York during the previous millennium, I regard any closure for weather as a sign of weakness. But seeing the sheer joy  of our students sliding down the hill is great compensation.

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Dear Orange Friends:

I met with the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences last week in the Hall of Languages. I expected a tough audience. This is a group that has faced some real challenges in recent years, including growth in student enrollment. They now face a dean search under a brand new Chancellor they hardly know. I have presided over hundreds of faculty meetings in the last 20 years, and this one logically should have been a challenge.

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Dear Orange Friends:

Since I last wrote, Syracuse has experienced unusually cold weather, compounded by a power failure on Thursday night that for three-and-a-half hours plunged parts of the North and South campuses into darkness. The power failure, which was caused by damage to a National Grid transformer located about a mile from campus, also cut power to 7,000 customers in Syracuse neighborhoods. I witnessed a wide array of staff and support units pull together to respond in so many ways that showed concern for our students. Goldstein Student Center on South Campus offered warmth and shelter to students whose residence halls had lost power. Ernie Davis Hall, Kimmel Hall, Bird Library, and Schine Student Center did the same for students on North Campus. Food Services extended its hours in some locations, and members of DPS stood ready for all emergency needs. Also last week, Carrier Dome staff opened its doors to Otto’s Army, an encampment of students braving the temperatures to be in line for this weekend’s SU-Duke match-up. Thank you to all of you who helped.

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Dear Orange Bleeders:

I write this right after attending a “lava pour.” It is an event unique to Syracuse University. This is an inspiration of Bob Wysocki, a sculptor and professor in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Along with collaborator Jeff Karson, a professor of earth sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, he makes lava from basalt-based gravel, by heating it in a furnace his team built, and pours it under controlled conditions that produce path-breaking geologic research opportunities. The event drew collaborators from the sciences at Columbia University and Dickinson College as well as a film crew from The Weather Channel. The pour also generates remarkable materials for Bob’s work, fantastic shaped glass-like rock that Chihuly would admire and envy. Watching a crowd of people ages 7 to 80 cheer on the lava outside during a snow flurry is something that you can only do here!

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Dear Orange Bleeders:

My first two days as Chancellor are a blur akin to every student’s first days on campus: I met lots of wonderful and kind people, and had many chance encounters with faculty, staff, and students. I fear the unspoken question on their minds was, “Who really is this guy?” Thanks to all of you for accepting me the way Dean Biklen has taught me to accept every new student: with a presumption of competence, a belief in a capacity for excellence, and a willingness to help.

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Dear Students, Faculty and Staff,

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the first day of the spring 2014 semester. Like our 255 Winter Welcome students who begin their academic careers at Syracuse University today, I have very much looked forward to this day, my first official day as your 12th Chancellor and President.

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