Southwestern University 2020 Annual Report

3 Dear friends of Southwestern, I am pleased to present you with Southwestern University’s 2020 Annual Report. The report is extensive and impressive. I applaud the work accomplished over the past year by President Edward Burger and Interim President Dale Knobel as well as the senior staff and all the members of our community. I am sure you will join me in celebrating these accomplishments. When the 2019–2020 academic year began, no one could have predicted how abruptly the world would change in March with the COVID-19 pandemic. I was serving as president of another university at the time, and I watched how Southwestern made the determination to close campus and move to distance learning for the remainder of the spring semester. The swift and thoughtful manner in which the entire Southwestern community pulled together to adjust to an unprecedented and frightening situation was inspirational. By the time I arrived on July 1, planning for opening in the fall was well underway. The resiliency and determination of the Southwestern community are reflective of our core values and mission, and I am so grateful to be a member of this distinguished and caring community. In the months prior to the world turning upside down, Southwestern celebrated a number of historic “firsts.” The gorgeous, newly renovated Fondren–Jones Science Center opened its doors to its first students in October. In November, our women’s soccer team claimed its first SCAC Championship. One of our athletic and academic standouts, Alexis Dimanche, became the first Southwestern tennis player to receive the ITA National Arthur Ashe Jr. Leadership and Sportsmanship Award in May. I hope you will take a moment to read about these remarkable achievements in this report. One of the many accomplishments our University will be celebrating and benefiting from for years to come has its roots in 2019. Thanks to our admission team’s hard work and innovative approaches, we welcomed the most diverse class in University history to campus for the fall 2020 semester. Southwestern is committed to inclusive excellence and to creating the best liberal-arts learning community for our students. Fundraising has remained strong despite the turmoil of the past several months, with the University raising $8.5 million last year. Over the past three years, Southwestern has raised $75.5 million in new gifts and pledges. Our trustees have been actively involved in discussions with our leadership team for months now regarding various operating scenarios and maintaining our budget and cash flow. We are on track to end this coming year with a budget surplus. The specifics of our financial position can be found in this report. Southwestern continues to be named the #1 liberal-arts university in Texas and one of the finest in the nation. Our high rankings from U.S. News and World Report and other publications reflect the achievements of our bright, motivated students as well as the support of our dedicated community of faculty, staff, and alumni. This has been a challenging year for us all, but Southwestern continues to demonstrate its resilience and unwavering commitment to providing a life-changing undergraduate experience for our students. Warmly, President Laura E. Skandera Trombley