2008 Woodie Awards
Transforming minds and hearts as another year begins
Special to Le Provocateur
President Thomas R. Plough
Issue date: 9/15/04 Section: Feature
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"A liberal education is at the heart of a civil society, and at the heart of a liberal education is the art of teaching" A. Bartlett Giamatti
This is the seventh year that we have started off a new academic year together. All your efforts over the past six years have contributed to a different kind of "renaissance" of reputation for Assumption College. This College is clearly on some radar screens that it was not on just a few years ago. Our designation as a top tier comprehensive northern university increasing in popularity with students is well deserved. Our designation as a comprehensive university reflects the fact that we have graduate and continuing education programs and offer our undergraduates a choice of majors in both traditional liberal arts disciplines and professional fields of study. We are not resting on our laurels, we are in an upward trend in "brand recognition," or to put it another way, the intellectual and developmental impact of this living-learning campus is being more widely recognized by an increasing number of constituencies. There are only two ways for a college to be successful in this highly competitive environment. Either the College offers unique programs that other competing institutions do not, or the college provides an academic environment that is simply better than, or preferred and different from, the campus culture offered by competing institutions. Our competitive edge or niche is found in our particular combination of professional values, Assumptionist heritage, structured curriculum, and campus ethos.
There is absolutely no question that the highest priority for our faculty and staff is teaching. This teaching includes informal coaching, mentoring, delivering support services and attending to the students' developmental needs, as well as formal classroom instruction and advising aimed at student intellectual performance and growth. You believe in, and are good at, helping our students broaden and deepen their social, spiritual, and academic perspectives. You add value to our students, and as alumni, they remind us that you did make a difference in the quality of their lives and of their ideas. Obviously, you have the credentials and experiences to accomplish our educational objectives, but it is the real affinity for your work with individual students that distinguishes this College from others. One of our most significant challenges as we go forward to recruit and retain faculty and staff who want to be priority. Your broad "teaching" role is carried out with considerable civility and colleagueship, which, over time, generates a sense of community, which, in turn, facilitates the high frequency of interactions that I have called close encounters of the Assumption kind.
This is the seventh year that we have started off a new academic year together. All your efforts over the past six years have contributed to a different kind of "renaissance" of reputation for Assumption College. This College is clearly on some radar screens that it was not on just a few years ago. Our designation as a top tier comprehensive northern university increasing in popularity with students is well deserved. Our designation as a comprehensive university reflects the fact that we have graduate and continuing education programs and offer our undergraduates a choice of majors in both traditional liberal arts disciplines and professional fields of study. We are not resting on our laurels, we are in an upward trend in "brand recognition," or to put it another way, the intellectual and developmental impact of this living-learning campus is being more widely recognized by an increasing number of constituencies. There are only two ways for a college to be successful in this highly competitive environment. Either the College offers unique programs that other competing institutions do not, or the college provides an academic environment that is simply better than, or preferred and different from, the campus culture offered by competing institutions. Our competitive edge or niche is found in our particular combination of professional values, Assumptionist heritage, structured curriculum, and campus ethos.
There is absolutely no question that the highest priority for our faculty and staff is teaching. This teaching includes informal coaching, mentoring, delivering support services and attending to the students' developmental needs, as well as formal classroom instruction and advising aimed at student intellectual performance and growth. You believe in, and are good at, helping our students broaden and deepen their social, spiritual, and academic perspectives. You add value to our students, and as alumni, they remind us that you did make a difference in the quality of their lives and of their ideas. Obviously, you have the credentials and experiences to accomplish our educational objectives, but it is the real affinity for your work with individual students that distinguishes this College from others. One of our most significant challenges as we go forward to recruit and retain faculty and staff who want to be priority. Your broad "teaching" role is carried out with considerable civility and colleagueship, which, over time, generates a sense of community, which, in turn, facilitates the high frequency of interactions that I have called close encounters of the Assumption kind.