Opening Day

Class of 2012 gets sense of rich history and vibrant future at Convocation

August 26, 2008

President Durden greets members of the class of 2012 as they sign in to the college following Convocation.

Dickinson College greeted the 616 members of the class of 2012 with a nod to the past and a blueprint for a more sustainable future.

Dickinson College founder Benjamin Rush "firmly believed that a new distinctly American curriculum should be structured to confront directly the opportunities and challenges of contemporary society and make the most connections to new knowledge useful to advancing a nation and its people," President William G. Durden '71 told the first-year students and others at Convocation Sunday afternoon in front of Old West.

"Dickinson has remained true to Dr. Rush's vision," Durden said. With that vision as a guide, Dickinson has launched a campus-wide curricular initiative—the Center For Environmental and Sustainability Education—that will mirror the college's successful study-abroad and global-education programs. The college plans to infuse issues of human-environmental interdependence throughout the academic program.

"Regardless of your chosen course of study, you will encounter these issues through various disciplinary lenses," Durden said. "You will begin to identify and comprehend patterns that extend within and among disciplines and, by doing so, grasp their larger context."

In keeping with tradition, first-year students walked up the steps of Old West and signed in to the college. The first-year students will use the steps one more time, in 2012, when, as seniors, they will descend to collect their diplomas.