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November 2024
Dear Faculty, Staff and Students in the Klingler College of Arts & Sciences,
During this season of Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for your dedication and excellence.
These qualities shine through as we continue to navigate challenges like resource
management and political division. Let’s continue to serve as beacons of hope as we
lead our community toward a bright future.
These qualities were evident this month at our fifth annual all-College Celebration
of Research, featuring poster presentations by faculty and students across twelve
different departments spanning the humanities, natural and computational sciences,
social sciences and education. Marquette’s president Dr. Kimo Ah Yun and vice president
for research and innovation Dr. Jeanne Hossenlopp were on hand to share a few remarks
and, most important, witness your achievements in research and scholarship. Congratulations
and thanks to everyone who presented or attended this outstanding event. Special thanks
to all colleagues who worked tirelessly to plan and make it possible, particularly
Kim Patterson, Kirsten Boeh, Tim Miles and Amber Jensen.
Another exemplary occasion this month was the campus-wide Participating Faculty Symposium,
co-sponsored by the College of Arts & Sciences. This two-day event featured presentations
on teaching, research and leadership. I’m thankful to everyone who organized, participated
in, or otherwise supported this wonderful symposium. Our participating faculty colleagues
are central to Marquette’s excellence.
Gratitude fills my heart not only thanks to achievements like these but also due to
more bittersweet reflections, particularly as November is also a season of remembering
those who have gone before us. This year, our late president Dr. Michael Lovell remains
in our minds, hearts and prayers. In my family, we remember that this Thanksgiving—November
28, 2024—would have been my mother’s 80th birthday. Although she died 24 years ago, she remains ever-present in our lives thanks
to the small, steady blessings of who she was. Mom was quick to laugh, including at herself. She had the credulity of a saint, once
taking seriously my husband’s joke about repairing the Pont d’Avignon (a portion of
which has been missing for centuries) during summer studies in France. She was a middle
child, a peacemaker, someone always relaxing and fun to be around. I will be forever
grateful for her love, laughter and light. After she died, I learned of her profound
influence on her friends, one of whom said my mom inspired her to get involved in
community service and volunteering.
I see the kind of caring my mother embodied in the care that our community members—all
of you—show for one another. As I reflect upon this season, I’m reminded of a beautiful
passage from Brother David Steindl-Rast in Gratefulness, The Heart of Prayer: “it is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.” Wishing
you and yours a beautiful Thanksgiving.
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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