Today marks my one-year anniversary as president of our University. As I reflected on this milestone, the words of Jonathan Larson '82's "Seasons of Love" kept running through my mind as I considered all the milestones--both public and private--that measured this year for me.

At this time last year we rolled up our sleeves and began, with energy and optimism, to transform our admissions operations and reverse declining enrollments. The hard work paid off. I am thrilled to share that we have not only met, but even surpassed, our enrollment goal and are on target for the Class of 2020 to be our largest freshman class ever. 

Over the next two weeks, more than 1,000 new Panthers will be on campus for Orientation--the official kickoff for their Adelphi lives. I know you will join with me in welcoming them and will be as helpful as you were to me at the outset of my Adelphi journey.

 

During our 100-Day Listening Tour and strategic planning process, we determined the need to define who we are as well as who we hope to become. We reaffirmed our commitment to fostering a more inclusive environment and, as a result, set emerging as a model of diversity and inclusion as one of our six transformational goals. In the wake of last month's tragedy in Orlando, we came together to stand resolutely with hundreds of thousands of others across the country to show that Adelphi is a community where all people are valued and respected. I thank Perry Greene, Ph.D., for accepting the appointment as our new vice president of diversity and inclusion and am confident he will work with our faculty, students and staff to develop an aggressive action and implementation program to achieve this goal. Below, you can learn more about Perry and next steps related to moving our plan forward. 

 

While progress on enrollment was a priority, we also sought to bring attention to, and generate awareness of, our academic excellence. On this front, we received accolades for our strong programs and commitment to student success from U.S. News & World Report, the President's Honor Roll for Community Service, Fiske and Forbes; our faculty received grants from the National Science Foundation; and our students were recognized with numerous awards, most recently with the Northeast-10 Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year award. We also saw increased recognition by the press for the depth and breadth of the expertise of our faculty. Media outlets including CNN, Science, NPR, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press showcased their expertise and helped us attract the national attention we so justly deserve. We routinely share this news here on our website, but you can also find the year-in-review recap story here. 

 

We worked hard this year to achieve these successes, but we also made sure we took some time to have fun. We cheered our Panthers on in pursuit of national titles, sported our school colors of brown and gold on Wednesdays in a collective expression of school pride, established the foundation for an expanded international and global presence and marked our 120th anniversary.

 

Our lives are measured by moments large and small, and by all measures this has been an outstanding year. Thank you for making my first year so extraordinary. I am excited to see what the next 525,600 minutes will bring. How about you?