Opening of the Academic Year

Dear Campus Community,

Over the last two years, we have focused on ensuring that we deliver on our promise of attracting and educating the world’s most talented students, faculty, and staff, and supporting them at the highest level. Cementing Colby’s commitment to becoming a community that is accessible to people of all backgrounds and that places great value on differences of perspective and point of view is fundamental to that promise.

Realizing this vision will require progress in several key areas. While there is much more to be done, we have begun to see encouraging results.

In order to enroll the most academically engaged, diverse student body, we had to broaden our outreach to more top students from around the world. In two years the number of students applying to attend Colby has increased from about 5,000 to almost 10,000, which has allowed the admissions office to craft a class of 510 students who are well suited to contribute to this community and take advantage of Colby’s extraordinary opportunities. The Class of 2020 is the most academically prepared and diverse class in Colby’s history. I am especially pleased to welcome our first cohort of more than 30 QuestBridge Scholars to campus. Across all classes, we now have students from 81 countries, an important measure of the global demand for a Colby education and our commitment to a more globally connected liberal arts education.

I also want to extend a warm welcome to an exceptional new group of 35 teaching faculty, coaches, and librarians who are joining our community this year.

Our ability to support our faculty and students as they undertake their important work requires significant investments in our academic programs and campus experience. While Colby has had a long history of generous and engaged alumni, parents, and friends, it has been clear that we would need to improve our outreach and fundraising to support our faculty and students at a level that matches our aspirations. We are moving in the right direction. We closed the last academic year with a record high for the College in terms of cash and cash pledges raised, with more than $61 million in total gifts and commitments, nearly three times Colby’s average over the last several years. In the critical area of annual giving, we were fortunate to see an increase in both dollars raised and in the number of alumni supporting the College, important indicators of the broad support for Colby’s mission.

As we begin this academic year, we mark progress on capital projects that will allow us to provide the very best academic and cocurricular experiences to our students and support the scholarly and creative work of our faculty. The renovation and expansion of Grossman to house a center that will facilitate global, research, internship, and post-graduate experiences for all Colby students is well underway, with an anticipated opening a year from now. We have engaged the firm of William Rawn Associates, architects of the remarkable Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, among many other notable projects, to develop conceptual plans for an arts and innovation center that would elevate Colby’s program in the performing arts while providing opportunities and experiences that foster innovation and creative expression across the curriculum. The architectural planning for our new athletics center is moving ahead with designs that include many exciting features. Today begins the work of constructing three new playing fields to facilitate the building of what will be a tremendous asset to both our campus community and the local community.

Our commitment to the local community is multifaceted, and we are moving forward on several downtown initiatives aimed at strengthening our ties to Waterville and making it a more vibrant city. We continue to progress toward construction of a student apartment complex focused on civic engagement and community partnership, and we have committed to rehabilitating a historic building to house Collaborative Consulting, the technology firm Colby was instrumental in recruiting to the area that plans to create 200 jobs downtown. Planning continues on efforts to develop a boutique hotel on Main Street. This work will be important as we recruit students, faculty, and staff who have many choices in terms of where they study, work, and live.

Our commitment to creating and supporting a richly diverse and inclusive intellectual community where important ideas and issues can be explored from multiple perspectives is unwavering. I am grateful to have received the report of the Task Force on Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity, chaired by Associate Professor of Spanish (and now interim associate dean of diversity, inclusion, and equity) Betty Sasaki and Vice President for College and Student Advancement Dan Lugo, which is available here: colby.edu/diversity-task-force-report. This fall we will create a series of opportunities to discuss the task force’s findings with the community and continue this important work. I welcome your thoughts.

This summer I also received the preliminary report (colby.edu/global-task-force-report) of the Global Colby Task Force, which was chaired by Francis F. Bartlett and Ruth K. Bartlett Professor of Anthropology Catherine Besteman. Professor Besteman and members of the task force will vet the report this fall and seek your feedback as we consider how it can inform our efforts to make Colby the leading global liberal arts college.

The reports of these task forces remind us that, while Colby is on a positive trajectory, much remains to be done. The Board of Trustees considered a long-term planning framework for Colby when it met in Boston last month. The trustees endorsed a set of priorities focused on connecting Colby to the world through its programs and initiatives and through creating a more diverse and inclusive community. They adopted a statement (colby.edu/trustee-statement-august2016), which affirms that, “The board is committed to securing the necessary resources that will enable us to partner with … the entire community to realize our vision for Colby as a preeminent institution of higher education for students and scholars from around the world.” Colby is indeed fortunate to have trustees who care deeply about the College and support it with great enthusiasm.

We are at a pivotal moment in the history of the College. This summer I reflected back on the decision taken by the trustees in 1929 to strengthen and perhaps save Colby by moving the entire campus from downtown to Mayflower Hill. Colby has had many bold and innovative moments in its long history. We once again have the opportunity to take actions that will make an impact on the College now and for decades, perhaps centuries, to come. It is a responsibility I take very seriously, and I am grateful for the willingness of this special community to work together to create the very best environment for teaching, learning, and scholarship.

I look forward to an exciting year ahead.

Sincerely,

David A. Greene
President