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Donna M. Carroll, Dominican University
September 9, 2004
Good afternoon and welcome—colleagues, students, and special friends
of Dominican University. Convocation is that pent-ultimate ritual, in
a series of rituals, that marks the beginning of a new academic year.
New students have been oriented; classes have begun, and now we gather
together as an academic community to review the state of our university—and
to look ahead, with confidence.
Let me begin by wishing you all a happy and productive new year. It
is a little recognized privilege of academic life that we get the chance
to start over at least once a year. Perhaps this time around you have
resolved to tackle a particularly demanding class, or mend a broken relationship,
or get that all-but-finished article off your desk and into the mail.
Whether you are a new student beginning a new academic chapter or a longtime
faculty member teaching a new course in a new way, the new year erases
obstacles and provides possibilities.
If there is a theme for this year’s convocation ceremony, it is
about possibilities—and the importance of recognizing and nurturing
one’s potential to make a difference. Our speaker this afternoon,
Barbara Kozdron, is an exceptional young woman who, with the support of
family and friends, is achieving her potential—as an athlete and as
a global ambassador for the Special Olympics. We can learn a great deal
from Barbara—about courage, and determination, and about setting and
achieving goals. Her story reminds us all to value the many and varied
gifts that God has given us—and not to lose sight of what is important
and possible.
Dominican University, too, benefits from the possibilities of a new
year—and the challenge to be the best that we can be. The state of
our university is stable, and healthy, and growing. In fact, Dominican
today is almost twice the size that Rosary College was ten years ago.
Quality is up; the campus is energized. And, we are increasingly well
respected at home and among our colleagues, as evidenced by our strong
marks for student engagement and a top tier ranking by US News and World
Report. With hard work and more parking, it seems very possible, therefore,
that Dominican University will realize its overarching goal to be a premier,
Catholic, comprehensive teaching university of 4000 students by 2012.
The danger of success, of course, is that we ride the tide of opportunity
without adequate reflection, and confuse our priorities—which is why
each new year it is important to revisit core questions and seek increasingly
deeper insights.
So, I ask you,
- What are Dominican University’s distinctive gifts?
- What is important?
- And what does it mean to be the best that we can be—to be premier?
Often the full answer to seemingly simple questions is a both/and proposition.
We know that Dominican University has clear targets for growth in size
and quality. Priorities have been established; new facilities have been
identified; absolutely everything is measurable. However, ultimately what
is important to the Dominican community is not enrollment size or number
of new programs established or even the quality of our facilities—though
all of these factors help define a premier institution.
Clearly, it is important that Dominican University help students, undergraduate
and graduate, prepare for career advancement, but skills development is
not the primary task of a Dominican education. Nor is the measure of student’s
ability upon entering the university ultimately as important as what he
or she learns, even though we know that an institution’s academic
reputation is based, in significant part, upon admissions standards.
So how do we reconcile the tangible and the intangible, success and happiness,
before and after?
The mission of Dominican University, and arguably its distinctive gift,
is the formation of hearts and minds in the service of others. Whether
a student aspires to be a journalist, a librarian or the CEO of a multi-national
company, students are prepared to ask the messy questions about life,
to care about issues and people, and hopefully to make a difference. To
be the best that we can be is, first and foremost, a matter of being loyal
to this primary task.
Recently, in preparation for the new year, I was digging through my pile
of good intentions and I came upon a paper by Melissa Wiginton that helped
me think anew about what is important for a healthy individual and a vibrant
university. Here is the both/and proposition: There is no question that
successful students and institutions need to be high achieving, strategic
and committed to quality. At the same time, if we are to reach our full
potential and to be of service to others,
- Every once in a while, we need to nurture our capacity to be quiet
and keep in touch with our inner selves.
- We need to cultivate a sense of wonder—about music, art, places
and ideas.
- We need to celebrate and appreciate the rituals that are part of
our traditions—academic and religious.
- And, in a world where commodities are often valued more than communities,
we need to connect with people and ideas.
- Finally, we need to contribute actively to the creation of a just
and peaceful world.
Today, then, we celebrate the ritual beginning of a new academic year.
The year is full of possibilities—and choices about what is important.
I challenge each of us, and this academic community, to be the best that
we can be—Dominican style.
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