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October 2023
Dear Faculty, Staff and Students in the Klingler College of Arts & Sciences,
Mid-semester greetings! I hope that your classes, research and other activities are
going well. This is a particularly beautiful time of year in Milwaukee, with cooler
temperatures and changing leaves. As the pace of the academic year accelerates, it
becomes all the more important to pause and reflect. Perhaps the autumn colors will
inspire you to do just that.
With election season approaching, and so much need for wisdom across our communities,
lately my own reflections have focused upon leadership. As many of you know, I frequently
turn to Fr. Karl Rahner S.J. for insight. In his book Christian in the Market Place, Rahner writes about the leaders of religious orders in a way that is pertinent to
all leaders, whether appointed or elected. He observes that the more responsibility
there is in a role, the less likely it is that the holder of this role will excel
in it. Thus, “more important duties will be more inadequately carried out than lesser
ones.” Yet there is still reason for hope: “people sometimes do grow in stature in
performing more difficult tasks.”
From these candid observations, I draw at least two lessons. First, we should seek
leaders who evince humility. Second, we should demonstrate humility when we evaluate
the leadership of others. Perhaps such a mindset would encourage more candidates of
character to consider elected office or other difficult leadership roles. Maybe it
could even help to heal some of the rifts across ideological lines that trouble our
civic life.
Fostering this kind of compassion and understanding across difference is at the heart
of our donor-funded Civic Dialogues program, now in its third year and going strong. The program is based in the Department
of Political Science, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Earlier this month, a wonderful group of benefactors, alumni, faculty,
staff and students gathered to celebrate both Political Science and the 35th anniversary of our trailblazing Les Aspin Center for Government in Washington, D.C. Programs like Aspin and its Milwaukee counterpart, the Kleczka Program, together with so many other high-impact learning opportunities, illustrate why for
the College of Arts and Sciences, the difference is in the and.
Students could not do this work without our outstanding faculty and staff. I hope
you took note that some of our A&S colleagues were among the winners of this year’s
Explorer Challenge. Together with other University leaders, this month I’ve had opportunities to promote
the outstanding research and teaching that are hallmarks of our college at events
like the A&S College Leadership Council meeting and two alumni events in California.
I am grateful for the excellence that underpins your work, demonstrating that Catholic,
Jesuit leadership values are the foundation our community.
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.
Dr. Heidi Bostic
Dean, Klingler College of Arts and Sciences
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