Dean's Updates

This month I was invited to share a reflection at the annual Advent Luncheon of the Association of Marquette University Women (AMUW). My theme was the three A’s: AMUW, Advent, And.

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I hope that your semester is going well and that, amid the many demands on your time, you are seeking some space for reflection. Recently I’ve been listening to a leadership podcast by Judy Sorum Brown; one of the insights she shares is to ask oneself what one is seeing, then ask again from a different perspective. “What do you notice?” “What story do you tell yourself about that?” “What other story can you tell?”

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In this season of Thanksgiving, let me begin with gratitude. Thank you for your extraordinary efforts in teaching and research. Thank you for your courage and resilience. Thank you for making Arts & Sciences central to Marquette University’s present and future success. Thank you for caring. Thank you for being the difference.

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This time in the academic calendar provides opportunities for celebration and reflection. Many of our new full-time faculty in the College of Arts & Sciences attended the President’s welcome dinner. The University’s Office of Student Development hosted a series of wonderful programs as part of New Student, Transfer Student and Family Orientation; I have loved meeting so many new members of the Marquette community. The month of August is a time of significant transitions. Through it all, I hope you will find moments for reflection. Pay attention to what is happening around you and within you. If you need help, just ask. I want to encourage students in particular to reach out to faculty and staff. We are here to support you in your academic journey. 

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Marquette has unique opportunities to engage in data science research and teaching from broader and deeper perspectives. Data science, computer science or statistical and mathematical sciences are foundational to a number of projects animated by our mission. In addition to data ethics, examples include community engaged projects in the Near West Side aided by geospatial mapping, thePoverty Research Initiativeand the BLEST Hub as well as confidential computing, hazard mapping, solutions to food insecurity, peer health education, medical imaging and mathematics education.

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I hope your summer has been a good one thus far. As I mentioned in last month’s message, for my family this season brings significant milestones. One of them is my husband’s and my thirtieth wedding anniversary. We celebrated this month with a visit to Yellowstone National Park, where we spent our honeymoon and have returned for our anniversaries every five years. In Yellowstone, the earth is tangibly alive, with bubbling mud pots, geysers and geothermal features in a spectrum of colors. The expanse, peace and stunning beauty of the Rocky Mountains, the big sky, the rivers and lakes bring to mind both the preciousness and the precarity of the natural world.  

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I hope that your summer is off to a wonderful start. After an incredible Commencement weekend, I savored the opportunity to spend time with faculty and staff colleagues at a Marquette Center for Teaching and Learning retreat. The theme was Developing Your Signature Pedagogy in the Ignatian Tradition. It was a time of renewal and community, enabling participants to share successful pedagogical strategies, to debrief about the past year and to deepen our connections with Marquette’s Catholic, Jesuit mission as well as with one another.

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As our academic year draws to a close, we have an opportunity to look back and to look ahead. We consider how the path we have taken prepares us for what lies ahead. We can reflect upon what we have accomplished and what remains to be achieved. This particular year has been a special one, as we have celebrated the Ignatian Year, or the 500^th anniversary of the fateful cannonball injury that set Ignatius of Loyola on a path that would lead him to become a priest and found the Society of Jesus as well as the 400^th anniversary of his canonization.

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To foster greater awareness of the extraordinary work happening across the college, I have been featuring some of our outstanding A&S Centers. This month’s focus is the Center for Peacemaking (CfP). The Center engages in both theory and practice. It fosters research on peacemaking, formation of students as peacemakers and collaboration with community partners to promote the values of peacemaking. The Center defines peacemaking as both the absence of violence and the presence of conditions that promote healthy, thriving persons and communities.  

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To foster awareness about the extraordinary work happening across the College, I’ve decided to feature some of our outstanding A&S Centers. Last month’s message focused on the Center for Urban Teaching, Research and Outreach (CURTO) and this month we turn to the Center for the Advancement of the Humanities (CfAH). Its mission is to cultivate and enhance knowledge in pursuit of human flourishing and a culture of healing.   

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To foster awareness about the extraordinary work happening across the college, I’ve decided to feature some of our outstanding A&S Centers. This month’s focus is the Center for Urban Research, Teaching & Outreach, CURTO. Its mission is to convene programs and address issues central to human rights and dignity. This purpose makes CURTO a good choice for February as we celebrate Black History Month.

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The start of this calendar year and a new academic semester while we continue to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic certainly poses a host of challenges—some unique, and some that we’ve been living with for about two years now. I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the difficulties that many in our community have been navigating, whether it has been the illness or loss of loved ones or dealing with the stresses of social isolation and different modes of teaching and learning. The situation for parents of young children has been particularly stressful. Please reach out if you need help. Marquette provides resource sites for faculty and staff wellness and for student counseling services and tips for coping with social distancing. We are all here to support one another as a community.

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Both our Fall semester and an eventful year—filled with opportunities as well as challenges—are drawing to a close. Your outstanding work this year has spanned groundbreaking research, transformational teaching and significant community engagement. You have garnered prestigious grants, fellowships and awards. Thank you for your dedication. I hope you will pause to reflect upon all that we have achieved together.

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I hope your Fall semester is off to a wonderful start! This is my second academic year at Marquette, yet in some ways it feels like the first. This year has brought my first opportunity to participate in the Convocation for New Students and other events like our Orientation Open House for New Undergraduates and various meet-and-greets with incoming graduate students. What a joy it is to encounter students just embarking upon their academic journey. The energy across campus with students attending in-person classes underscores the vibrancy of Marquette’s educational enterprise.

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As this challenging academic year draws to a close, I am reminded of the admonition in Gaudium et spes to remain attentive to “signs of the times.” Published some sixty-five years ago, the advice remains crucial and timely. This document urges us to “respond to the perennial questions” of our age, to pay attention to the “profound and rapid changes” all around us and to remain rooted in “permanent values” even as we adjust to changing circumstances. In other words, as we “search for a better world,” we must seek and develop “a corresponding spiritual advancement.”

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Both our Fall 2020 semester and a most unusual and challenging year are drawing to a close. The past months have compelled us to face a pandemic, racial injustice and economic hardship. This triple crisis has rippled across the globe and affected us right here in Milwaukee and at Marquette. We will hopefully never again experience a year like 2020. 

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"During the coming year, the college will continue to pursue three goals: to sharpen our identity, to provide programs that meet the needs of students and the world and to garner support for the college. None of these pursuits is possible without embracing diversity, equity and inclusion."

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"Greetings! I am delighted and honored to serve as your Dean. What drew me to Marquette are the purpose, the people and the place. I look forward to working with all of you to fulfill Marquette’s Catholic, Jesuit mission..."

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