Dear Orange Friends:
Alumna Mary Gold recently shared her family legacy with me. Her parents brought Mary to Flint Hall in the fall of 1959 to begin her journey at Syracuse University. In 1963, her mother and grandmother proudly watched from the stands of Archbold Stadium as she received her bachelor’s degree in business administration.
Dear Orange Friends:
A lot happens on the Syracuse campus on a typical day, and it is hard to take it all in. We have great faculty and a strong academic community, and that means a lot of people come here for visits, including from other universities. Sometimes our students, faculty, and community have an opportunity to see and interact with many of the best scholars in the world on a salient set of issues. That happens again this weekend, when our philosophy department hosts the Third Annual Workshop for Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy. The schedule of events is very impressive.
Dear Orange Friends:
Last week I sat in at the back of a lot of classes, including Introduction to Managerial Accounting (Whitman); Race, Gender, and the Media (Newhouse); Principles of Instruction and Learning (Education); and Introduction to Family Development (Falk). I will be sitting in on other classes in all colleges over the course of the semester, and teaching my own course in negotiation to students from many schools.
Dear Orange Friends:
I am deeply grateful to a large group of Syracuse people who, over the course of the summer, worked hard to improve the physical infrastructure of our campus. There were times this summer when it was difficult to walk ten feet without dodging a construction project , but the results are impressive.
Dear Orange Friends:
In two weeks, our new academic year at Syracuse University will be in full swing. All summer, hundreds of faculty and staff have been getting ready for the new year. The campus looks almost ready now (there has been terrific work on the grounds and facilities), and I have talked with many of my colleagues on the faculty who are very much looking forward to welcoming new students and catching up with all those who are returning.
Dear Orange Friends:
On Ostrom Avenue, tucked into the upper floor of a building across the street from Thornden Park, is a Syracuse University program that teaches 10,000 students a year and that few know about. It is called Project Advance, which offers University classes to seniors at more than 200 high schools around the country and world. I visited the Project Advance offices during the doldrums of the summer and things there were really hopping as the dedicated staff geared up for record enrollments and new curricula for the coming academic year.
Dear Orange Friends:
April in Syracuse is filled with end of the academic year student activities–so many that no one can possibly attend all of them, but all are worth attending. There have been many remarkable performances this month. The men and women of our boxing club went to nationals in Ann Arbor, and took away many awards, including a national championship for Tomas Smith, a junior chemistry major in the College of Arts and Sciences. The team is coached by Phil Benedict who works full time at the University as a supervisor in the Physical Plant North Zone.
Dear Orange Friends:
During my time at Syracuse I have learned there is remarkable research being done by our students and faculty, all around us, on campus and in the world. I want to share with you two exciting research-related achievements that have occurred this semester.
Dear Orange Friends:
Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure is known as a “problem play” because it raises more questions than it answers and defies categories, including those of comedy and tragedy. Syracuse University Drama students, under the direction of Professor Celia Madeoy, are right now asking the questions and defying the categories in a production at the Loft Theater at Syracuse Stage. I saw the show Saturday. It is not to be missed.
Dear Orange Friends:
Last week I was fortunate to attend a symposium to celebrate the work and legacy of Professor Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo. Tributes honoring Professor Mũgo as she prepares to retire from Syracuse have streamed in from around the world. Among the attendees at Friday’s event was the Honorable Willy Mutunga, the Chief Justice of Kenya, Professor Mũgo’s native country.
