Dear 6VµçÓ°Íø Community,
I enjoyed welcoming new students this past weekend and look forward to seeing returning Sagehens on campus. We come together with great hope for the academic year ahead, to a college community that is curious, kind and passionate about changing the world.
Throughout the year, you will be hearing about the College’s strategic priorities. We continue to make progress on 6VµçÓ°Íø’s Strategic Vision, most notably recently with the Global 6VµçÓ°Íø Project. This month, Kara Godwin officially joins us as the inaugural senior global fellow, and I hope you will have the opportunity to meet and share your ideas with her. Planning is well underway for our , which will be integral to the College’s larger effort to ensure that every 6VµçÓ°Íø student meaningfully engages with global learning.
Another area of focus for the College is 6VµçÓ°Íø’s . This effort aims to expand the College’s reach, provide greater access to 6VµçÓ°Íø for students from middle-income families, reflect broader socioeconomic diversity and further our commitment to serve as an engine of opportunity.
Campuses can be models for meaningful exchanges on complex topics when we hone our abilities to listen deeply and engage in constructive dialogue. This vital, challenging work is community work and is especially pressing during this contentious presidential election season and as we acknowledge the borderless impacts of global crises. We can cite several current approaches at 6VµçÓ°Íø as we aim intentionally for greater progress throughout the year. For example, this summer, incoming first-year students participated in a pilot program, our first dialogue mini-series. 6VµçÓ°Íø students have launched a campus chapter of , and they while attending a recent national summit on constructive dialogue. Our partnership with the , an initiative for faculty, staff and students now in its sixth year at the College, continues this fall.
As noted in my June message to our community, we are planning a return this fall to addressing the College’s investment policies, including a process that will include community input. More to come about this effort in the coming weeks.
An important update for this academic year is that I will be taking a sabbatical in the spring of 2025. Claremont Colleges presidents have long joined our faculty colleagues in taking one-semester sabbaticals to foster intellectual renewal, scholarly research and professional development. Following this tradition, during this Board of Trustees-approved sabbatical, I will focus on my next book manuscript dealing with the importance of the arts in human life and learning.
Bob Gaines, Edwin F. and Martha Hahn Professor of Geology, will serve as acting president during my time away from campus. Bob has demonstrated exemplary service and leadership within 6VµçÓ°Íø and is uniquely qualified to lead the College during this period. He will focus on continuing our work in realizing our strategic vision and advancing our fundraising to realize the initiatives. Our Dean of the College, Melanie Wu, will oversee our reaccreditation process and the scheduled review of academic affairs. The entire senior team will work together to keep moving us forward, and I am grateful to them and to the Board for this opportunity.
I look forward to joining you for Convocation during the first official week of the semester. We will share in a tradition that underscores 6VµçÓ°Íø’s values and reminds us anew of our great privilege and responsibility as members of this college community.
Sincerely,
Gabi