Dear Drew community,
This is always one of the most exciting days we have at Drew—the beginning of a new academic year.
This time of year brings a fresh start and fresh faces. We are thrilled to welcome the newest members of the Drew community, especially the 652 new students across our three schools who have chosen to make Drew their home.
Our faculty and staff have worked tirelessly to prepare for another tremendous semester at Drew, filled with the countless learning and community-building opportunities that set Drew apart. And a special shout out to our incredible Facilities crew for getting our campus looking like its beautiful self after Madison and our campus endured significant damage from recent storms!
I look forward to seeing familiar faces and getting to know as many of the new members of our community as possible throughout the semester—passing one another on the way to classes and meetings, sharing meals, watching Rangers games and student performances, and working together to make Drew the special place that it is. On that note, I want to pass along a quote I shared with our first-year students last Friday, from 1929 from the first Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, William Tolley, at the time of the founding of Brothers College: “Brothers College is in a real sense an adventure in excellence. In an age in which greatness has often come to be identified with immensity of bulk or of numbers, Brothers College desires to become great in the quality of its faculty, its student body, and its standards of scholarship, culture and conduct (emphasis mine).”
Drew continues to embody that wish from Tolley today—our faculty are first-in-class, our students inspire us all. And, perhaps most poignantly as we approach another complex year beyond our campus, I believe as a community we can continue to excel in our culture and conduct. Respecting others’ opinions even when they are opposed to our own, welcoming and embracing in dialogue those of differing beliefs, and accepting that universities must embrace intellectual discomfort and nuance, we have a responsibility to prepare students to confront the complexity of our world, while learning and being in community on our idyllic campus.
I wish you all a great semester! Go Rangers!
Sincerely,
Hilary L. Link