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March 2024
Dear Faculty, Staff and Students in the Klingler College of Arts & Sciences,
March is a month that brings signs of hope: the reaching of midsemester, the end of
winter, more sunshine, spring break. This year, March has inspired both gratitude
and hope. Women’s History Month provides an opportunity to highlight the achievements
and legacy of women across our College and University and far beyond. Our namesake
Helen Way Klingler comes to mind, as do so many current students. Just as leaders of the past evoke
our gratitude, our student leaders give us hope for the future. Consider the A&S Student
Ambassadors whose work across disciplines illustrates our College slogan “the difference
is in the and” such as Atiera Hoemke, a double major in Criminology and Law Studies and Social
Welfare and Justice with an English minor, or Vanessa Lattas, who is majoring in Mathematics
and minoring in Spanish. Rachel Chason, majoring both in Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology and in English, received a scholarship this year from the Association of Marquette
University Women. There are so many other students, staff and faculty to celebrate;
please take a moment to recognize and congratulate someone you know for their achievements
this semester.
Speaking of news to celebrate, did you hear that Marquette brought home a win from
the Big East men’s basketball tournament in New York City? A&S seniors Elsa Hahn and
Zac Nelson won first place in the annual Big East Undergraduate Research Poster Symposium for their research
on the social behavior of honeybees under the mentorship of Biological Sciences faculty
colleague Dr. Chelsea Cook. Congratulations Elsa and Zac! Meanwhile, our women’s and
men’s basketball teams both earned a place in this year’s NCAA tournament. Marquette’s
excellence in sports is a wonderful catalyst for engagement with alumni, who are so
proud of our accomplishments on and off the court. Basketball games provide a great
occasion for leadership in A&S and Advancement to share great news about academic
accomplishments and to secure continued support.
This month also brought an announcement about the Marquette 2031: Securing Our Future initiative, aimed at aligning resources to enable us to pursue the aims outlined in
Marquette’s new Strategic Plan, Guided By Mission, Inspired to Change. As we look toward the University’s sesquicentennial in 2031, Arts & Sciences will
have a crucial role to play in realizing the goals that correspond to each of the
plan’s three themes: Thriving Students, Healthy Campus and Care for the World. We
will need the active participation and creativity of staff, faculty, students, alumni
and other community members to chart a path forward. I welcome your ideas.
As this month comes to a close, we celebrate the end of Lent with Holy Week leading
to Easter Sunday on March 31. Let’s keep in mind an admonishment from Pope Francis:
“There are Christians whose lives seem like Lent without Easter.” It’s fitting that
this line appears in his apostolic exhortation entitled The Joy of the Gospel. Even as we weather current challenges, let us dare to focus on the hope, gratitude
and joy of the Easter season and let us carry these qualities with us throughout the
year.
As always, please feel free to contact me with questions, concerns or suggestions. I appreciate hearing from you and exploring
ways we can all work together for the common good.
Dr. Heidi Bostic
Dean, Klingler College of Arts and Sciences
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