Notes from the President

William G. Durden ’71

Dear Dickinson Parents,

At Dickinson, we strive to prepare students for the complexities of the 21st century by giving them the opportunity to explore those issues that are among the most challenging and controversial confronting our society. Within the last several months, I have been reminded just how “connected” the members of our Dickinson community—students, alumni, faculty and staff—are to the developments, discussions and decisions that are shaping our world.

I began the year, for example, by attending a summit on international education cohosted by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. The summit focused on ways to enhance the study of foreign languages throughout our educational system, and the invitation was extended because of Dickinson’s growing preeminence in global education. I then flew to London for an invitational conference at the Royal United Services Institute. Organized by members of our international-studies department, this program focused on economic, political and foreign-policy relations between the United States and the United Kingdom at the dawn of the 21st century.

Just a few weeks before, a Dickinsonian took center stage nationally in a much-watched legal battle when U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III ’77 issued his landmark decision on the teaching of intelligent design in the Dover, Pa., school district. In a series of national interviews that lauded his clear and concise reasoning, Jones credited his liberal-arts education for the skills necessary to navigate this difficult case. Judge Jones has, by the way, graciously agreed to deliver Dickinson’s Commencement address on May 21.

Our students also have been directly involved in the year’s most devastating development—the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The students already had chosen Living on a Risky Planet as the theme of this year’s Public Affairs Symposium—a theme that explored the vulnerability of humankind to natural and geological forces—before Katrina struck. The magnitude of the unfolding tragedy only heightened the relevance of the topic as students grappled with the social, economic and policy implications of major natural disasters.

Students’ involvement with Katrina, however, extended far beyond discussions in Carlisle. During winter break, for example, four separate groups of students traveled to assist in the ongoing effort to clean up the Gulf Coast, and one group chose to return during spring break.

A Dickinson education is, above all, intended to prepare our students to become the citizen leaders of their generation. Our alumni are setting a strong example; our administrators are positioning the college for meaningful involvement; and our students are seizing every possible opportunity to engage the world through intellectual exploration, debate and action. We are, in other words, defining the contemporary context in which we can fulfill the vision of our founder, Dr. Benjamin Rush, to prepare young people for engaged lives of citizenship and leadership in the service of society. In this way, I am confident that we will leave our “distinctively Dickinson” mark upon the 21st century.

Sincerely,
William G. Durden ’71
President