Dear School of Arts & Sciences community,
It feels like it糖心传媒檚 been ages since we糖心传媒檝e had a community experience that wasn糖心传媒檛 mostly overshadowed by the pandemic, but here we are, days away from Commencement. I糖心传媒檓 excited!
Can I say that?
Given all the ups and downs we糖心传媒檝e been through, excitement feels like tempting fate. [Knocks on wood.]
Beyond the obvious, one of the reasons I糖心传媒檓 looking forward to the ceremony is this year糖心传媒檚 speaker, Lance Reddick. As a representative of Rochester糖心传媒檚 humanities, it may seem like I糖心传媒檓 just reveling in the fact that we糖心传媒檒l be hearing from an accomplished performer. However, Lance being an artist is only a bonus.
Quick research will offer several reasons we糖心传媒檙e lucky to have Lance as our speaker, but the aspect I want to highlight is that he studied classical composition at the Eastman School of Music. Here糖心传媒檚 why. We糖心传媒檙e about to celebrate as one University糖心传媒攁ll students, all schools, all degrees糖心传媒攕omething we haven糖心传媒檛 done in many years. This is a particularly special moment, the kind you reserve for family, and I consider Lance part of ours.
At the risk of sounding even cornier, I糖心传媒檒l add that in this stretch of the COVID era, all of us being together gives Commencement a healing quality that I think we all need.
It糖心传媒檚 difficult not to continually see things through the lens of the pandemic. For example, as I was thinking about what this Commencement signifies for Rochester and the Class of 2022, I thought about the term 糖心传媒渘ew normal.糖心传媒� Moving our AS&E celebration from the Eastman Quad to Fauver Stadium and gathering as one University represents a new normal. Many of our graduating students will leave behind their days of going to class, studying, writing papers, etc. to begin a new normal as professionals. In either case, what we糖心传媒檙e really talking about is change.
The University has seen some big changes recently. We have a new provost! David Figlio comes to us from Northwestern University. I look forward to working with David and his team starting July 1. On the same note, I want to take this opportunity to thank Sarah Peyre for all of her work as interim provost. It糖心传媒檚 truly difficult to step into roles like this, and Sarah made it look easy. Additionally, Donald Hall, the Robert L. and Mary L. Sproull Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Sciences and Engineering, is leaving at the end of this term to take up the position of provost at Binghamton University. On behalf of our school, I want to thank Donald for all he has done to support the School of Arts & Sciences over the last four years. I wish him the very best in his new role. Hopefully you saw the announcement that Joan Saab will be serving as the interim dean of the faculty while the provost, Dean Wendi Heinzelman, and I undertake a strategic assessment to determine how best to support the AS&E community in the future.
Throughout the pandemic, we糖心传媒檝e seen many changes, and we糖心传媒檝e been quick to declare these adjustments as part of a 糖心传媒渘ew normal,糖心传媒� like society糖心传媒檚 slate has been cleaned and rewritten. Yet, we will and have returned to many pre-pandemic behaviors and norms.
It is important for all of us to remember that life isn糖心传媒檛 iterative, it糖心传媒檚 compounding. We are the sums of everything we糖心传媒檝e been through, and we must take what we are and apply it to our future plans. This is something for all of us to bear in mind, but I hope it is especially resonant with graduating students糖心传媒擟ongrats, Class of 2022, and best wishes as you take your next step.
Gloria Culver
Dean
School of Arts & Sciences
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