2020
May 12, 2023
Our next chaptersThe expiration yesterday of the federal Public Health Emergency for COVID-19 brought to mind what I wrote to you back in August 2020. Remember that time, when we accompanied our students...
May 04, 2023
Running through the tapeRound the bend and you'll glimpse it: at the top of the next hill stands the finish line. At the end of another academic year, your energy may be flagging. But with one more adrenalin-fueled kick,...
April 27, 2023
Looking and seeingOne of my privileges at this time of year is meeting with each department chair to review last year's faculty annual updates. Next month I'll get to read all our college's staff performance...
April 20, 2023
T-shirt seasonT-shirt season is officially back (at least for the moment), and I hope you'll find moments in your overstuffed end-of-semester calendars to succumb to the temptation of the weather. ...
April 13, 2023
The exuberance of lifeLast weekend's unusual confluence of Easter and Passover with Ramadan gave way to glorious spring weather in Cincinnati. Birdsong, daffodils, and lawn chairs popped out across our shared campus. ...
March 30, 2023
LegaciesI never knew Fr. Vincent Horrigan, S.J. (left) or Fr. Henry Kenney, S.J. (right). In fact, I had never even heard their names until their Xavier legacies came to my attention recently. While...
March 23, 2023
MadnessThis week embodied what I love about the start of springtime on Xavier's campus. Energy. Surprise. Change. Exuberance. Unexpected sunshine followed by rain, warm weather by cold. A smiling...
March 16, 2023
Checking the pulseIn 2019, the college's Academic Leadership Group agreed on five-year goals that expressed our collective aspirations for the state of the College of Arts and Sciences in 2024. In 2024, the College...
March 02, 2023
Richly deservedLearning, Serving, Achieving, Together.
Our colleagues over in the WCB Marketing department call those our university's "brand pillars."
One brand pillar particular came to mind this week, not long...
February 23, 2023
Mirror, mirrorAsh Wednesday marked the start of the Christian season of Lent with an invitation to to reflection, to penance, and to reconciliation. This year Lent didn't turn my mind to the consumption of or...
February 16, 2023
Core valuesWhat difference does Xavier's Core Curriculum make? How would you answer that? If you were talking with a prospective student or parent? With a student in your office or classroom? With a...
February 09, 2023
February challengeI grew up two miles from Eatonville, the first Black-owned city in Florida, founded by formerly enslaved people in 1887. Zora Neale Hurston's father served as its mayor, and her writing featured...
February 02, 2023
IngredientsCuriosity. Intelligence. Courage. Perseverance. Hard work. Collaboration.
All are essential ingredients in the research that our college's accomplished teacher-scholars produce. ...
January 26, 2023
Recruiting seasonUniversities follow multiple calendars simultaneously. In addition to the solar, fiscal, and academic calendars, the rhythms of several recruiting calendars order our daily activities. Within the...
January 19, 2023
Marching, running — and sittingJames Weldon Johnson's Black National anthem exhorted us to march. Dr. Walter Earl Fluker inspired us to keep running despite dangerous times ahead. So why was a bench, of all things, the...
January 12, 2023
PrioritizingWelcome to the new year! Whether you stayed here or traveled (or TRIED to travel despite the weather), I hope that you found time over the past weeks for some year-end rest and reflection. Some...
December 15, 2022
Peace and joyAs exam week slips into the frenzy of grading, we have much to do and plenty to occupy our minds. Even the quickly approaching holidays may inspire more anxiety than anticipation; how many shopping...
December 08, 2022
Care and gratitudeMany of you joined us yesterday afternoon to celebrate the deep contributions of Nan Moore and Marybeth Dulle to the college. Day after day throughout nearly all my time as Dean, both have kept...
December 01, 2022
Orders and questionsEven for insiders, the astounding diversity of Catholic religious orders of men and women can seem dizzying. Monks and nuns, friars and canons, priests and brothers and sisters of many stripes....
November 17, 2022
Where it happened
I've walked by the place thousands of times. Yesterday I paused there to reflect and pray with others -- at the peace garden tucked against Bellarmine Chapel on our campus. It wasn't...
November 10, 2022
Be Present. Listen.This week those words from Our Mutual Commitments of CAS have displaced the normal chaos on my calendar. So I'm writing these words in advance before leaving for El Salvador,...
November 03, 2022
All saintsLeave it to my Uncle Oral to die unexpectedly this week on All Saints Day.Had that been his plan, I'm sure he would have penned a poem grumbling that he'd aimed for Halloween but missed. Oral was...
October 24, 2022
Free expression on campusSpeech on campus? As we approach another important election, few topics are more contentious. An administrator's nightmare, to be sure!I've nevertheless been cheering the recent outpouring of...
October 20, 2022
Associated acronymsLike any self-respecting institution, Xavier has insider acronyms. Most we've adopted from our Jesuit, Catholic tradition. A few we even derived from ancient languages, just to be tricky.Maybe...
October 13, 2022
Solidarity and hopeDid you notice it too? This week's powerful calendrical confluences? The final week of National Hispanic Heritage Month plus Indigenous Peoples Day. Then National Coming Out Day -- and the...
September 29, 2022
All for oneThe college's highest priority this year is to support our students to flourish. The relationships they build with their faculty advisors and success coaches will be critical for that. Priority...
September 22, 2022
A time for peaceYesterday, Russia's autocrat marked the UN International Day of Peace by escalating his unprovoked war against Ukraine. Meanwhile members of our community presented their art and music against...
September 15, 2022
Viral curiosityBernoulli and beetles, cancel culture and chemotaxis were there.Cincinnati City Council, decaffeinated nematodes, and even Justin Bieber also made appearances in Alter Hall on Friday afternoon.A...
September 08, 2022
StridingWeek 3 already? For many on campus, that means we're hitting our strides once again. But for our new students, this week marks the start of a particularly critical stretch. Over the next 3 weeks,...
September 01, 2022
Pride of placeOnly 2 of my 21 Goa students this year hail from Cincinnati — which has reminded me that welcoming new students (and new faculty and staff) to Xavier also means welcoming them to our...
August 25, 2022
Questions and answersOn Monday we welcomed the Class of 2026 into our classrooms -- as many of us have done for many previous cohorts of first-year students. This year our privilege to be entrusted with them has...
August 18, 2022
QuestionsWelcome to the first weekly CAS Bulletin of the new academic year! It's a great place to bring your questions. At this time of year, we've all got at least a few of them. Some of you are new to...
May 12, 2022
ToastYesterday afternoon I had the chance to participate in a new event for our seniors: the Graduate Toast. Students and guests gathered on the sunny Upper Lawn (aka the dining...
May 05, 2022
Traffic conesThe orange cones have returned to University Drive today, signaling the quarterly gathering of Xavier's Board of Trustees. Its diverse members have converged from across the country to...
April 28, 2022
CelebrateCelebrate? Surely that's premature. We haven't quite finished the last week of classes. Piles of grading, final exams, and then still more grading stand between us and the end of the academic...
April 21, 2022
Spring ritesAt this time of year, we rightly make time to celebrate our colleagues' milestones and achievements. And after more than two years of pandemic postponements, we were more than ready. Last week's...
April 07, 2022
Who runs this placeThe events of the past several days have powerfully reminded me who keeps this university running. You do. The staff and faculty who painstakingly planned, ran, and attended the All Honors...
March 31, 2022
Sprint!And we're off! The last day of classes will arrive in less than a month, if you can believe it. You don't need reminding of the impossible amount that we'll squeeze into the intervening...
March 24, 2022
Reckoning togetherYesterday I was reminded — and cheered — by the return of something I hadn't realized how much I've missed since the start of the pandemic: a thought-provoking lecture by a...
March 17, 2022
Green dayI hope you found some time over the break to refresh yourself in preparation for the final, frantic quarter of the academic year.As for me, I finally joined my family's daily word-game...
March 01, 2022
AshesAshes appeared again on campus yesterday. As the CAS Student Advisory Board members reminded us recently, the first sight of ash-crossed foreheads can be baffling to many among us.If we...
February 24, 2022
Wars and rumors of warsTroops crossing borders of a European democracy? Before dawn broke in Moscow this morning, Russia's boss declared his invasion. I'm trying to understand how we got here. Yes, I...
February 17, 2022
GileadI left Monday's college meeting with an unexpected word on my lips. No, not "cookie." That was in my pocket.It was "balm," a word that feels awkwardly round in my mouth.You put it there....
February 10, 2022
How this endsPeople have likened pandemics to wars. They've mapped pathogens' spread as if they were invading armies.I know something about this.Yet plagues are not wars. They have...
February 03, 2022
Tyger Tyger, burning brightWorking from home on the morning of the university’s first ever “remote day,” I find myself pondering the meaning of animals. Not the meaning of Q...
September 23, 2021
SeasonsThe return of autumn this week put a smile on my masked face.The change of seasons always has that effect. Maybe because I grew up in Florida, where we only had two seasons: warm and too warm.I...
August 26, 2021
Changes, hopes, uncertainties"How is the beginning of your semester going?"At yesterday's all-day diversity and inclusion training for some campus leaders, I must have been asked that half a dozen times. To this...
May 13, 2021
EmergingLike emerging from the darkness into the light, like taking a deep, cleansing breath.
That's how it felt, watching graduating CAS students walk -- really walk -- across the Cintas stage on...
May 06, 2021
AccomplishedAs exam week gives way to final grading, I want to recognize and thank you all for the heroic work that everyone in CAS has done over the course of this academic year. What a year!You -- the CAS...
April 29, 2021
New choicesIt’s been a year of new constraints. What we must wear. How we cannot gather. What we may not risk. And now this! “If you are fully...