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Myrvin F. Christopherson, Dana College
August 27, 2002
Welcome to what promises to be a wonderful year in Dana's history, our
119th. It is truly a joy to have new and returning students join us for
another year. This is a landmark year for a couple of important reasons.
One, we begin construction on a major facility improvement -- one of the
largest in our history, a five million dollar addition to our athletics
and recreation building, Borup Coliseum.
Second, in March a team of professors and administrators from four fine
colleges and universities with some common background with us will visit
Dana as a consultant-evaluator team to evaluate our college programs,
personnel, facilities, resources, and services and will make a recommendation
regarding renewal of our regional accreditation. They will be asking if
we have a clear sense of mission, are carrying out that mission effectively,
can continue to do so, and do it with integrity and work cooperatively
and collaboratively to meet our educational goals and mission. We will
want to make a good, but honest impression on them.
An accreditation review is a marvelous opportunity for us to evaluate
how well we occasion student learning and prepare graduates for life,
career, and advanced education. I challenge all in the Dana community
to participate in the review, helping us to honestly evaluate and improve
learning outcomes.
A sign outside my door placed there as part of the promotion of the “lead
on” theme that Student Affairs has adopted for the year, reads:
“A real leader faces the music even when he doesn’t like the
tune.” I like the tune we play at Dana College, but I know there
are some challenging syncopations and difficult measures in the tune we
play. These are difficult times. We live in a state that projects declining
student population growth. The economy has been less than robust leaving
supporters uncertain about commitments to the college we so greatly depend
upon, and, finally, our state legislature and officials continue to reduce
rather than expand the record low level of support Nebraska grants to
students who elect to attend independent colleges like Dana. This erosion
in support occurs despite the fact that the independent colleges graduate
one-third of the baccalaureates in our state each year with no direct
support in state support to our colleges.
While these are difficult times, when I witness the glow of satisfaction
in recent graduates, the excitement of returning students, and the prospects
that await us with the arrival of fresh colleagues and contemplate the
strong faith-based education inherited from those who dared to establish
a center of learning here on this beautiful hilltop campus, I have great
hope for our future.
Together, we can and will build stronger and better. Together, we will
explore in earnest how we as a community of faith and learning can better
meet our educational goals, i.e. to help students: 1) find meaning and
purpose in their lives, 2) communicate effectively, 3) develop habits
of inquiry, 4) examine various ways humans think about and live in the
world, 5) recognize and develop their potential, 6) actively participate
in and help to shape society, and 7) pursue personalized programs of learning
in preparation for vocations, careers, and graduate and professional study.”
May we come together to take seriously what we read and say and share
and discover. There is joy in encountering ideas and issues and deciding
where you stand, what you know, what you can accept, and what you cannot.
What are the ideas that will guide your pursuit of learning, your journey
toward realizing your potential as a student, faculty or staff member?
Will these words that make up our educational goals be something more
than words crafted to impress outside reviewers?
In my devotional booklet, the reading for this day was from the Old Testament
Book of Jeremiah, one many regard as the foremost of the prophets. He
preached in Jerusalem from 626 B.C. until the Fall of Judah in 586. In
the lesson I read for today Jeremiah offers a metaphor for his faith that
I find gripping and revealing. Appealing to God to uplift and sustain
him in the face of his persecutors, he exclaims: “Your words were
found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight
of my heart; for I am called by your name, O lord, God of hosts.”
What a powerful image. “Your words were found and I ate them.”
What words, I might ask, have you found? What words have you eaten, chewed,
savored and digested. Our educational goals are chosen to promote learning.
How do they promote learning for you? You will learn an expanded grammar
and lexicon during your college years, become more precise and more articulate.
Will you acquire words, methods and lessons that you can call forth in
moments when all else seems to have failed? Isn’t that in some sense
what comes from the lifelong pursuit of learning? It is my prayer that
you will find here words that you can “eat”, words to live
by, and words that lead to discovery of truth and justice. May you also
find and share words of compassion, words that nurture and promote understanding
and peace. Finally, it is my prayer that you will find and adopt words
that cleanse the soul and glorify God.
I am so very glad you have each joined us today as we begin another year
of our venture of learning together in pursuit of light and truth in a
world that sometimes seems not to prize either light or truth. May we
have the courage to “Lead On”. This promises to be a very
good year at Dana College.
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