A Message from Father Graham

April 1, 2019

Dear Members of the Xavier University Community:

Yet another of the many end-of-the-academic-year rituals has now come and gone—namely, the final meeting of Xavier’s Board of Trustees this past Thursday and Friday, the final meeting of the Board to be chaired by Barb Howard, Esq., before she hands the gavel off to Vince Caponi in September. It was a very engaged meeting indeed, celebrating both the many successes of the year now ending and looking ahead to what the University will need to accomplish next year to realize our Strategic Plan and capitalize on the opportunities before us—and strengthen as well the momentum we have built over the last few years. The Board also took time to note and celebrate the many contributions of Trustee Bob Kohlhepp during his 30 years of Board membership—and that was a very long list indeed! With this background, let me brief you on several decisions made by the Board last week.

HEALTH UNITED BUILDING (HUB): I have some very good news to share regarding the HUB.  You will recall that unexpected soil contamination at the project site forced a delay to our original project calendar. I am happy to say that the time lost has since been made up—at least, with respect to the academic wing, which is now slated to open Aug. 1, 2019, in time for fall classes beginning Aug. 19. (The Rec Center wing will open Nov. 1, except for the multipurpose court—approved only last December, recall—which will open at the end of March.) This includes the space into which McGrath will relocate. Dean Paul Gore will be contacting faculty in all the impacted departments in the coming days to prepare for this transition. While I have not yet had the opportunity for a “hard hat” tour of the HUB, I will soon and look forward to seeing firsthand this space that will soon transform teaching and learning for a large number of our students and faculty.