Message from the Dean
May 2021
Dear Faculty, Staff and Students in the Klingler College of Arts & Sciences,
As I reflect upon the past year, my heart is filled with gratitude. Thank you to the
staff members who worked so hard to keep the enterprise going, support students and
enable the whole university to continue our mission. Thank you to the faculty members
who taught students across multiple modalities, carried out research and engaged in
transformational public-facing work. Staff, faculty and students all encountered new
challenges and obligations to juggle over the past year. Thank you for reaching out
to one another, for asking for help when you needed it and for continuing to pursue
personal and University goals even on those days when it all seemed too much.
Most of all, as I reflect on the one-year anniversary of my time at Marquette, I want
to say thank you for reminding me every day why Marquette matters. Thank you for being
the difference. Thank you for stepping up in ways large and small to fulfill the mission
and to illustrate that Arts & Sciences is the heart of Marquette University. Thank
you for believing in one another. I feel incredibly blessed and fortunate to serve
as your Dean.
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.”
Fulfilling this guidance is the work of a lifetime, on both a personal and a communal
level. There is no better time than the season of Commencement to consider how best
to meet such challenges. We reflect upon past achievements as well as new beginnings.
The excellence of the Klingler College of Arts & Sciences was much in evidence during
the recent Père Marquette celebration at which so many of our colleagues were honored for their achievements in teaching,
research and diversity and inclusion.
To our graduating students, I offer a line from Seven Sacred Pauses by Sr. Macrina Wiederkehr, OSB: “Believe the truth about yourself no matter how beautiful
it is.” Let me offer a special thanks to the students enrolled in the section of CORE4929
Service of Faith and Promotion of Justice that I taught this semester. Thank you for
allowing me to accompany you in examining the idea of integral ecology as you prepare
to flourish in life, work and civic engagement after graduation.
As always, please feel free to contact me with questions, concerns or suggestions. I appreciate hearing from you and exploring
ways we can all work together for the common good.
Sincerely,
Dr. Heidi Bostic Dean, Klingler College of Arts and Sciences
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