Southwestern Magazine | Spring 2020

which are allowing us to findways for students to continue tomake progress on their degrees during this challenging time. I knowyou sharemy conviction thatwhatmakes a Southwestern education special is that it is intimate and face-to-face. Our classes are small and interactive. There’s no hiding in the back row of a class. Students come to expect to share their ideas and have them exposed to the challenge of their peers. Faculty and students are colearners, growing together through active interchange in the seminar room, laboratory, or studio. It is because students and professors knowone another sowell and because our numbers are manageable that I know that our temporary expedient of teaching remotelywillwork toallowstudents to successfully make progress on their coursework. Professors and students interact regularly, are used to communicating electronically in a variety of ways, and have confidence in one another. Still, I am anxious to return to the face-to-face campus experience that we all know to be the hallmark of our University. The pages of this magazine will remind you of all the ways that students learn and grow inside and outside the classroom on our campus. As alumni, students’ parents, and friends of Southwestern, I hope you will join me in reassuring both current and prospective students of our commitment to the engaged learning and living experience they expect to have at SU. In this uncertain time, I hope that some things will not slow down. We count on the continued philanthropic support of our extended community that cares deeply about education in the liberal arts and sciences at Southwestern. We count onword ofmouth as themost effectiveway of interesting prospective students and their families in the special college experience we have to offer. We count on your friendship and encouragement for faculty and staff as we step up to today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. The thing about history is that it is always being made. I know you will join me in adding new chapters to the account of Southwestern’s consequential past. Dale Knobel InterimPresident 5 SOUTHWESTERN Dear reader, I’ve always thought of myself as lucky: lucky in the friendships I’vemade over a lifetime, lucky in the family I chose, and lucky for the one intowhich I was born. Butmost of all, I’ve been lucky in the opportunities afforded me. I know I have worked hard, which always translates into more opportunities, but I also firmly believe in the power of fortunate timing. I certainly know I was fortunate all those years ago when I was accepted as a student to SouthwesternUniversity. My four years here changed me by opening up my mind and equipping me with a broader worldview. Southwestern provided me a great foundation for all of my future professional endeavors and successfully launched me along my own lifelong learning journey. To now have the good fortune to return to Southwestern as a member of the senior staff is beyond lucky; for me, it actually moves into the providential and divine realm. When I was interviewing for my position here, I touted my alumni status because I thought it would set me apart from the other candidates. However, I also inherently knew that Southwestern is the kind of place thatwould benefit fromhaving a chief communicator who understands the passion that this place can inspire. I believe theUniversity should have its stories told by someonewho has an authentic perspective on its history and an intimate knowledge about the personal impact this place can have on its students, faculty, and staff. I am grateful to be back and look forward to telling the Southwestern story to all who will listen. Although the focus for this edition of the magazine was determined before I returned, I think the theme of history is apropos. This year, Southwesternmarks the 180th anniversary of our charter. As an institution, we can celebrate many firsts or pioneering ideas, but certainly being Texas’s first university is something we all celebrate. The Southwestern Experience requires that we understand our past in order to fully seize our future. By the time you receive this edition of themagazine, our campuswill know the identity of our 16th president. Transitioning from one president to another is always an exciting time in a university’s history. Our next president will need to take on many of the challenges of our times: meeting evolving student and faculty expectations, recruiting and retaining students and faculty in a newly competitive environment, managing financial resources amid increased demands, and communicating Southwestern’s value proposition in a changing landscape. Under the stewardship of S C A R L E T T ' S L E T T E R Lucky. CONTINUED ON PAGE 38