As I sit here at President Chester Arthur's aged but beautiful desk and look at a portrait of William Seward, I realize how privileged I am to serve Union at what I believe will be a turning point in our history.
We are in a position to reach the heights attained in the first half of the 19th century under Eliphalet Nott and later during the Richmond-Steinmetz era early in the 20th century.
As you may know, Nott's greatest contribution to Union (and to higher education) was his introduction in 1828 of the “scientific curriculum” as an alternative to the traditional “classical curriculum.” Union prospered under Nott, usually graduating more students than Harvard and often more than Yale. During President Charles Richmond's term, when Union was revitalized partly by the “Electrical Wizard” Charles Steinmetz's contributions to electrical engineering, enrollments rose from 336 to 912.
When I arrived at Union more than 40 years ago, I came to a very good college. When I retired from full-time teaching two years ago, we were a significantly stronger college in many ways. But being stronger is not good enough to ensure our future; everyone else is also stronger. Thus, our challenge is inherently difficult. Achieving the goals of our You Are Union campaign is essential to allowing us to compete with our peer colleges for students and faculty. Fortunately for us, Union has done many things in the recent past that put us in a position to make a leap forward, to turn a challenge into an opportunity.
We have made major strides in the quality and range of our academic program, our student body, our faculty and staff, and our facilities. In particular, we have greatly strengthened Union's five “pillars,” all of which represent things that we do as well or better than any other college.
-The oldest of those pillars, providing students with a global perspective that can come only through study abroad, continues as a vital enterprise. Beginning under President Harold Martin with study abroad in one country, Austria, our study abroad program now encompasses terms or exchanges in 26 countries on six continents.
-A second pillar, undergraduate scholarship, research and creative endeavor has seen a steady increase in student involvement over the past 20 years. Over 250 participated in last May's Steinmetz Symposium, 21 presented at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, and 103 are engaged in summer research.
-A third pillar, learning through service, has a long tradition at Union. In the past year, Union students volunteered for 18,884 hours for organizations ranging from Big Brothers-Big Sisters to the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.
-A fourth new pillar, Converging Technologies, already represents one of the fastest growing and best attempts by a college to link engineering to the liberal arts: the sciences, the social sciences, the humanities, and the arts. More than two dozen new courses have been created.
-A fifth pillar, realized just last fall, is the Minerva Houses. Even in their infancy, the Minervas bring into closer physical proximity the social and the academic, and add diversity to a once two-dimensional residential system. Now, the Minervas add to our wide range of residential offerings: traditional dormitories with a Greek and non-Greek presence, theme houses, small group living (Seward Park homes), and a large multipurpose dormitory (College Park Hall).
Only by making additional investments in our pillars can we sustain the momentum. But as important to Union as the pillars are, they cannot by themselves propel Union to the heights towhich we aspire. They rest on a foundation that must be maintained and strengthened. That foundation consists of three key elements: the quality of our faculty and staff, the quality of our student body, and the quality of our campus and facilities. Despite the great progress we have made in strengthening these key elements, we are still short of our goal.
We need a stronger and more diverse student body, a need that requires greater resources for financial aid and a comprehensive admissions effort that enlists the best efforts of faculty, staff, coaches and alumni. We need additional faculty to lower class size to that of our competitors; this too requires greater financial resources. Finally, we need more high tech classrooms, labs and arts facilities. The F.W. Olin Center moved us some distance toward the first two, and new spaces for music will be built soon. But much remains to be done.
We have made exceptional progress in recent years, progress made possible by the dedication of those who serve the College on a daily basis-the faculty who perform so well in the classrooms, labs, studios and performance spaces; and the first-rate staff who work so tirelessly for the advancement of the College. And Union, of course, is moved forward by the generosity of those who have a love for the College and a commitment to what it can be.
The challenge for all of us is to do what it takes to be even better than we are, to reach the lofty heights we have reached in the past.