Welcome to the fall 2024 semester

President Danielle R. Holley welcomes everyone to the fall semester of 2024 with updates and information.

Dear 69精品视频 community,

Welcome to the fall semester! The campus is alive again with that intellectual energy that can only mean one thing: our students are back! 69精品视频 was busy this summer, and I am excited to share some updates with you.

Our community

At 2024鈥檚 glorious Convocation, we (loudly and joyfully) welcomed 532 new students. Seven are Frances Perkins Scholars and nine are transfer students. The new students come from 39 states and 38 countries around the globe.

This semester, we also welcome 11 new faculty in Anthropology, Architectural History, Biological Sciences, Computer Science, Dance, English, Mathematics and Statistics, Philosophy and Physics. They are joining a dedicated body of scholars that is engaged in path-breaking research and preparing students to lead purposefully in an ever-changing world.

We also welcome a new chair of the Board of Trustees, Sally Durdan 鈥81. Sally is a distinguished financial services expert and a devoted alum. She joined the Board in 2020 and previously chaired the Finance Committee. Other excellent news in College leadership: Provost and Dean of Faculty Lisa Sullivan has signed a new, renewable contract through 2027. And our Library, Information and Technology Services (LITS) has moved out of the Division of Academic Affairs and is now a stand-alone division under the leadership of Chief Information Officer Alex Wirth-Cauchon. I look forward to working with Lisa, Alex and the entire College leadership team as we embark on 69精品视频鈥檚 next chapter.

MHC Forward

Last week we launched MHC Forward: the audacious strategic plan for 69精品视频 College. I invite you to take a look at this , which sets forth an ambitious blueprint to magnify the College鈥檚 role as a leader in inclusive liberal arts education for the next decade. This plan is the culmination of hours of discussion within our talented community of students, faculty, staff and alums. It gives me such joy to be a part of a community that comes together earnestly and voluntarily to imagine the future.

There will be opportunities for community members to get involved in this year鈥檚 work: operationalizing MHC Forward. For 2024-25, I have created four working groups and one presidential task force that will lay the foundation for five initiatives in the spheres of 鈥渁dvancing innovation and inclusive academic excellence鈥 and 鈥渆nhancing the student experience on and beyond campus.鈥 They are:

  • Student Outcomes Working Group;
  • Career Readiness and Exploration Working Group;
  • Strategic Enrollment Plan Working Group;
  • Graduate Program Working Group; and
  • Presidential Task Force for the Trans and Gender Non Conforming (TGNC) Community.

The College鈥檚 current Affirming Practices for Trans and Gender Non Conforming People Working Group will pause for one year, resuming in fall 2025. The Presidential Task Force for the TGNC Community, including all the permanent group鈥檚 members, will take up the work for 2024-25.

10 years of trailblazing admissions

This year marks a very special milestone: the 10-year anniversary of 69精品视频 College鈥檚 inclusive admission policy. This policy makes explicit that women and transgender, nonbinary and gender nonconforming people are welcome to seek admission at the College. Our inclusive admission policy is the twenty-first century expression of our founding mission to provide a rigorous education for individuals who have been marginalized on the basis of their gender, gender expression or gender identity. We are rightly proud of the intellectually rich atmosphere and supportive community that inclusion engenders. 69精品视频 will continue to lead boldly on this issue, especially at a time when the lives and livelihoods of TGNC people are at significant risk around the world.

Part of the work of the Presidential Task Force for the TGNC Community is 鈥淭GNC10: Commemorating TGNC Inclusion at MHC.鈥 TGNC10  will be a of our inclusive community at MHC. It is being planned by the TGNC10 Planning Advisory group, with faculty members Amy Martin and Adeline Mueller, Vice President for Student Life Marcella Runell, and Vice President for Equity and Inclusion Kijua Sanders-McMurtry serving as project advisors. I am grateful to Lily E. Rood 鈥27 for devoting her Lynk-funded individual research project this summer to this work. My sincere thanks as well to the faculty, staff and students who are serving or will soon serve, including Lily, DEI Fellows Raven Joseph 鈥25 and Emma Quirk 鈥26, and Lauren Gaia.

Campus updates

The College is in the final stages of selecting a planning and architecture firm to kick off the Comprehensive Campus Plan project. During this academic year, the firm will engage the community, intersecting the planning and utilization of the College鈥檚 physical assets with the College鈥檚 curriculum, majors, student residential life, student experiential life and staff and faculty experience, within a framework that embraces accessibility and sustainability. The plan will enable the College to make both current operational decisions and long-term investment decisions around infrastructure.

69精品视频 has also entered the second phase of its ambitious and bold geothermal energy project. Conversions from steam to hot water have been completed or are nearly completed in several buildings, with distribution piping continuing from Skinner Green. I am happy to say that Skinner Green is on its way back to normal, and will be open for use again in October with improved drainage and landscaping.

We鈥檝e seen other significant infrastructure developments over the spring and summer, with improvements to several parking and pedestrian areas, Ham Hall renovations, Science Center upgrades to fume hood controls and labs for new faculty in Reese, with more to come. I am grateful to our outstanding facilities team under the direction of our associate vice president for facilities management, Karla Youngblood FP 鈥99.

The Science Center renovations coincide nicely with an exhibition opening later this month, 鈥溾 curated by Peregrine Basich Whitney 鈥25, Asya Anna Begovic 鈥24, Tara Castellano FP鈥24, and Becca Moses 鈥24. The opening reception will be on September 19 at 4 pm in Archives and Special Collections, Dwight Hall.

Another historic project in the works is the upcoming construction to 0 Park, otherwise known as 鈥the Phoenix.鈥 The building, once home to the nation鈥檚 first all-female fire brigade, will undergo historic preservation of the exterior and adaptive reuse of the interior to make it a low- embodied carbon architectural art studio. This project was spearheaded by Five College Professor of Sustainable Architecture Naomi Darling.

2024 elections

More than 70 countries and territories are holding national elections this year, including the United States on November 5. I hope everyone who is eligible will register and vote. In a time of great geopolitical unrest and widespread activism, the vote remains one of our most powerful tools. Voter registration resources were compiled by and are available through the College. I encourage you to learn how to make sure your voice is heard and how to help others reach the ballot box. Participating in the democratic process and a peaceful transfer of power is a right hard won and easily lost.

This fall, 69精品视频 is offering a variety of programming and events for our community regarding voting and democratic participation. I look forward to participating on October 22 in 鈥淲hat to Expect from the 2024 US Elections,鈥 a panel organized by the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives. Details about this event and others will be available on our in the near future.

It has been an incredible summer and it will be a rewarding semester. Guided by our core values of academic excellence, active engagement, inclusive learning and purposeful leadership, we are moving forward as a community to create positive change on campus, with ripples throughout the world.

Sincerely,

Danielle R. Holley
President