Kevin Wm. Wildes, S.J. Convocation Address
23 August 2004
My friends and colleagues, I am so very happy that we are able to gather together today. As we begin a new academic year we gather to do three things today: first, to celebrate our colleagues who have served this University so well; second, to honor still other colleagues for their outstanding achievements; and third, to welcome new members to our community. This is also a humbling moment for me as I am one of the newest members of the community.
My remarks today will be brief. I know that in past years there has been a custom of discussion with the president as part of this event. As I said in my email to you at the end of July, I would like to make some changes in that format. Rather than have discussion today, I plan to hold two town hall meetings this year (one in November and the other sometime in the spring semester) when we can have a more free ranging discussion. I think that holding separate town hall meetings will allow us to have a fuller discussion of issues and questions. I also thought that I would be more settled in, and better able to respond to questions, by the later dates. Finally, it struck me that a reason for having town hall meetings, separate from the convocation today is that it would allow us to celebrate the women and men we honor and welcome.
In my inaugural address in October I will develop some important themes for our work and our future. Today I would like to take this opportunity to highlight a few items that are part of what I hope we can accomplish this year. In my preparation for coming here as president, and from my service on the Board of Trustees, I have been struck by the amount of work and conversation that have gone into long term planning for the University. It seems that the obvious next step is to move forward on the planning in academic affairs and student affairs. It also seems to me that this is both a natural development and one that fits well with our work toward re-accreditation by SACS this year.
It seems clear to me that it is time to move these conversations and work to completion in the development of a University wide strategic plan. To achieve this goal I have begun working with the vice presidents to bring together the academic agenda with the agenda for student affairs into a strategic plan for the University. The goal in forging this plan is to build on the good work that has been done and create an integrated plan for the University that seeks to realize our mission “to educate the whole student and to benefit the larger community”. This plan will identify our strategic goals in academic and student affairs and integrate them with budgeting, fund raising, and facilities planning. Such a university strategic plan should be able to say what we hope to do, how it relates to our mission, how we will finance it, and how we will support it with facilities and when we hope to achieve it. A University strategic plan will give us the long term basis for evaluating ourselves and defining new strategic goals. I think such planning is essential to the University’s dream of achieving greater national recognition.
In this effort I have asked Dr. Thomas Scheye, Distinguished Professor at Loyola College in Baltimore, to assist us. Dr. Scheye has served Loyola both as a faculty member and as Provost. During his tenure as provost the institution underwent a significant transformation. He has also served as a consultant to a number of Jesuit colleges and universities. Also, I have asked the firm of Grenzebach, Gleir & Associates (G G &A) to do a complete program review of the important work of institutional advancement. Once the program review is completed the firm will also be available to advise me on our institutional advancement work.. My hope is that our fund-raising plans ought to be tied to our strategic plan so that the process of planning, budgeting, fund-raising, and evaluation are seamless.
I will continue to keep the Board apprised of this work. It is my goal to have a planning retreat for the Board at the first meeting next academic year at which time the Board will be able to approve the plan. Once reviewed and approved by the Board the Strategic Plan will become a basis for our yearly planning and decision making.
While developing the strategic plan will be the focus of my work – our work – this year, it does not mean that we are “on hold”. I will be working with the vice presidents and the leadership of the faculty, staff, and students to develop resources, streamline decision making, and act on opportunities to continually improve the life and work of the University. I am happy to announce today that the Provost, Dr. Walter Harris, and I have been working on developing a new program to support the research of faculty members. In the weeks to come Dr. Harris will announce the details for the newly created Marquette Fellowships for the support of faculty research. We will also review all of our efforts to support and strengthen teaching. I will try to find ways to facilitate communication; horizontally as well as vertically.
I will ask, no doubt, many things of you this year and in the years ahead. One thing I ask of you now and in our future. If one reads through the introductory notes and explanations of The Spiritual Exercises one finds one of the clearest examples of the term “cura personalis” --so often used to describe Jesuit education– as St. Ignatius advises the director of the retreat on how the Exercises can be adapted to the needs of each retreatant. Ignatius realizes that the dynamic of the Exercises relies on an open and honest relationship between the director of the retreat and the one making the Exercises. In the “presupposition” Ignatius reminds those giving and making the Exercises that “every good Christian ought to be more eager to put a good interpretation on a neighbor’s statement than to condemn it.” His point is that the two ought always to give the best interpretation to the other. I would ask that we use this way of proceeding in our communication and in all of the tasks that lie ahead.
One aspect of the job of president is the responsibility for developing and managing the resources of our University. Loyola has three fundamental resources: space/facilities, financial, and human. Much of the year ahead will be planning how best to use and develop our resources – of all kinds – to help move our University to a greater level of national recognition.
Today we celebrate one of our most important resources: the human. In the men and women we honor today we celebrate over 150 years of service to our University. We also celebrate certain achievements by faculty members. These achievements lie at the heart of our identity and mission. We celebrate excellence in teaching, in the work of Maria Calzada. We celebrate excellence in advising in the work of Maureen Shus. We celebrate excellence in research in the work of Nicholas Capaldi and Andrew Knight. Finally, we celebrate excellence in community service in the work of David Moore and the work of Teri Henley in service learning. Teaching, advising, research, and service are key elements in the life of the faculty and the life of the University. These are ideals that shape our identity as a Jesuit University. Teaching and research are at the heart of any good university. The care of students, in advising, is an instance of cura personalis that is central to Jesuit education. Service to the wider community is also central to the Jesuit vision of a university which links together the greater glory of God and the well being of all men and women. Today we honor men and women who exemplify the ideals that mark us as a university and as a Jesuit university. Today we honor these men and women. But, in reality, we are honored by them and all they have given us.
At this convocation we also celebrate our renewal. Each year at this time universities are born again. They are renewed by the arrival of new students and new faculty members who come to share in our mission and join our community. This convocation is a wonderful event. It allows us to welcome new members to our community while honoring those who have faithfully served it and people who exemplify our highest ideals. Loyola is renewed in welcoming new members and by honoring the dedicated and loyal service of so many. So I think the best thing I can do is say “welcome” to our newest members and “thank you” to those who are living icons of our identity.
Today I am reminded of some of the characteristics that attracted me to Loyola. It is a very strong university — as the newest US News report attests to. Its real strength is in its faculty, staff, and students. But, it is restless. I was also attracted by Loyola’s desire both to be better and to be known nationally. This is evident in all of the planning that has taken place. Now, it is time to move the planning forward and make the dreams come true.
Today we celebrate some of the heros among us. Often we mistakenly think of heroism in terms of great , dramatic action. I think that is a mistake. While taking nothing away from such grand acts, I think, in the Jesuit tradition, heroism is about the quality of response to opportunity at hand. The Ignatian tradition of leadership, developed by Christopher Lowney in his book Heroic Leadership, is one that inspires us to see, in the ordinary choices of each day the opportunity to do great things. It is from the ordinary that the extraordinary is built. Today we celebrate women and men who are examples of such heroic leadership
Today we celebrate the strength of who we are in the men and women we honor and we celebrate future strength in the men and women we welcome. Later this week we will welcome new students who will also renew us. But in our renewal, we also have dreams about the future. Dreaming is hard work. It involves freeing our imaginations from what is to what can be. The University community has been involved in the work of dreaming. Now begins the work of making those dreams come true. At this moment of renewal and planning I am reminded with the words of Henry David Thoreau with which I will end: “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost: that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.”
