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November 2023
Dear Faculty, Staff and Students in the Klingler College of Arts & Sciences,
In this season of Thanksgiving, I hope we all can pause to consider our many reasons
to be thankful, both at Marquette and beyond. From my perspective, this month has
offered an abundance of such reasons.
November is Native American Heritage Month, which our campus commemorated in several
ways. Leading up to this month, Marquette Today shared a profile of English faculty member Samantha Majhor and her research on Indigenous topics including
history, culture and climate justice. Several of you attended—as did I—the Native
American Heritage dinner on November 12 organized by Judge Derek Mosley with the Marquette
Law School Lubar Center. The series of heritage dinners has as its motto “Meet someone, learn something,
try everything.” In other culinary news, A&S College Leadership Council member and
Marquette parent Jenny Thomas and I served as judges for the student-organized Great
German Bake-Off on November 16. What delicious treats and wonderful enthusiasm for
language and culture. Thanks to German faculty member Jenny Watson for the invitation!
I also had the opportunity this month to visit Wendy Volz-Daniels’ Education Preparedness Program course at Racine Correctional Institution to hear students’ final presentations about
the impact of parental incarceration on children. The quality of this important work
is truly outstanding.
Speaking of excellent work, this month’s highlight was our annual A&S Celebration
of Research on November 13, which featured posters by over 80 faculty, staff and students.
Researchers studied food in ancient Christianity, African perspectives on China’s
soft power initiatives and the effects of sexism on women’s health. There were posters
on autism spectrum disorder, artificial intelligence and correlations between alcohol
consumption and crime. Other research treated quantum neural networks, cell biology
and the mental health of diverse students in STEM. Ecological topics included songbirds,
honeybees and soil. A poster featured high-profile publications of Marquette University
Press. Many of these projects correspond to Universal Apostolic Preferences of the
Society of Jesus, including walking with the excluded and care for our common home.
Thanks to all of our researchers for your creativity and dedication! You continue
to illustrate why in the College of Arts & Sciences the difference is in the and.
This month has also brought reasons to be grateful for colleagues beyond Marquette
and across the Jesuit network. Thanks to my co-authors for our third in a series of
collaborative essays published in Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education. Entitled “Why We Do the Work: Academic Leaders Discuss What Matters Most,” this piece intends to inspire prospective leaders and to inform those who support
them. I am thankful for the generosity and thoughtfulness of these colleagues who
remind me of the power of diverse perspectives and the importance of teamwork in leadership.
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.
Wishing you the blessings of the Thanksgiving season, now and throughout the year.
Dr. Heidi Bostic
Dean, Klingler College of Arts and Sciences
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