Welcome Back!
January 8, 2024
Dear Colleagues,
I hope your holiday has been full of family, good friends, reflection and a reminder of the precious gift of life and living.
Just after the new year, I was in Florida with other presidents of independent colleges from across the country. It’s always a reminder that our challenges aren’t unique. As you well know, our sector is experiencing stress from multiple angles, as is higher education writ large.
As I encountered each conversation, however, I was emboldened with hope by my confidence in you and in us as a community. Doing hard things makes us strong, and after 18 months as your president, I’m certain we’re growing stronger. I believe in you, our mission, and who we are becoming together. Almost nothing worthwhile is easy.
I want to thank you for the care you’ve extended me in these early days. You’ve pointed out my shortcomings, yet you’ve also rooted for me with wonderful doses of grace and encouragement. Like all of us, I’m a work in progress, and I’m grateful for the learning that I’m experiencing with your help. I trust you extend this sort of graciousness in many directions and for this I offer my sincerest gratitude. Let me assure you that your care is among the most transformative of offerings.
We live in a perilous time as evidenced by wars in Gaza and Ukraine, injustices and inequities in too many corners, and in a divided America seemingly uninterested in finding common ground.
Still I am hopeful. It is a remarkable and humbling gift to work on a college campus full of possibility, brimming with talent, and anchored by almost 200 years of belief in the power of an education.
As part of the search process for president now almost two years ago, I was introduced to the collective aim of the ELCA network of colleges (of which we are part) to be “rooted and open.” I re-read these words yesterday, and I encourage you to do so as well. I suspect you’ll see the profound relevance for the moment we confront in our country and planet.
Truly, if we don’t like what we see “out there” in society, there is simply no better place to be than right here shoulder to shoulder with our students who will soon love and lead in communities across the country. Thank you for choosing to offer your life and vocation to Roanoke College and the students who have entrusted their education to us. This, as you know, is an incredible and humbling honor.
As we launch a new semester, I pray that these days will bring many reminders that your daily work is a powerful and meaningful force for good. In the right words of William Butler Yeats, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” What an privilege to work among you who inspire such purpose in the lives of students.
Welcome back, colleagues, and thank you, thank you, thank you.
With hope,
Frank Shushok, Jr.