Dear Orange Friends:
It is spring break in Syracuse, so the campus is relatively quiet. I just returned from Greensboro and the ACC President’s Meeting (and the Women’s ACC basketball tournament), which was quite disrupted by ice and snow—it was sunny and beautiful in Syracuse! It is good to be home after a week on the road (in New York, Philadelphia, Charlottesville, and Greensboro), but I will be spending much of this week away as well. I will be in California, in part to visit our students and programs in Los Angeles.
During these trips, I have been trying to spend time with each trustee of Syracuse University. It is a large board, with 59 voting members and many wonderful life trustees as well. I am trying to meet with each trustee individually before the summer. That is tough because they are a truly global board, with members all over the country and the world. In meetings, I mostly listen, because our trustees have a lot to say. Together, they have invested a huge amount of time, talent, and resources into all parts of the University. Each of them knows parts of this place well; together they are responsible for the whole thing and seem unified right now in wanting to help the school get even better.
While I have been traveling, I know many of our students will also use this week to travel to further their academic pursuits and interests. We have students participating in an array of immersion experiences in cities that include Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C., and in the Silicon Valley. In each city, our students meet with industry leaders and alumni while visiting sites firsthand and experiencing the culture of the city. This is something that makes SU unique and I am grateful to the many alumni who so willingly make themselves available to our students. I look forward to hearing from students about their experiences this week.
I hope you all have a great spring break! I think we all are ready for the season to change!
Chancellor Kent Syverud