The holiday season at a small college is
always special. Students and faculty prepare for the end of their fall
semester, holiday travel arrangements are confirmed, campus special events
(such as our interfaith Light Up Night on November 29) bring the community
together, shortened days gently nudge us toward winter.
It’s been a wonderful year at Bethany,
worth celebrating as Christmas arrives and 2012 comes to a close. Here a few
highlights:
We achieved major goals in enrollment
and fundraising, as well as collaborative initiatives with such institutions as
Carnegie Mellon University, now a Bethany partner in six new dual-degree programs.
Our strong standing as a first-tier, national liberal arts college has been
reaffirmed through the latest higher education rankings. The strength and
quality of Bethany’s enrollment program, along with our having achieved $44
million to date in the capital campaign, are just some of the indicators of the
College’s continuing success and national prominence.
Homecoming Weekend, October 5-6, was
spectacular—a classic coming together of alumni and friends, campus dedications
and the honoring of those who make Bethany so special. Later that month,
Bethany Trustee Vice Chair Dr. Robert McCann, CEO of UBS Group Americas, hosted
25 Bethany students at an in-depth series of leadership and career-development forums
in Pittsburgh, capped by an off-the-record examination of current issues by
former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
Dr. Greg Jordan, chair of the Bethany
Board of Trustees, summed up the importance of the day’s activities with this
challenge to our students: “Get into the game…You are at a very exciting point
in your life. It’s all in front of you.”
Our ability to look ahead as a college
is matched only by the empowering strength of our traditions, especially those
closely identified with our founding denomination, the Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ). A highlight of the year for me was the invitation to
address the congregation and friends of the National City Christian Church in
Washington, D.C., October 14. Convened by the Rev. Dr. Peter Morgan, Bethany
College’s Director of Church Relations Dr. Larry Grimes, and the Rev. Scott
Thayer, our campus chaplain and minister of the Bethany Memorial Church, the
occasion was a celebration of the historic relationship between Bethany and the
iconic Washington church which once counted among its parishioners U.S.
Presidents Lyndon Johnson and James Garfield, the latter a former trustee of
Bethany College.
In my address to the congregation, I had
the honor of commenting on that relationship by saying, “Bethany College is our founder Alexander Campbell’s legacy to those
chosen students who seek to free their minds from prejudice, explore the
wonders of the world, and diligently, pleasurably, and perhaps even
uncomfortably reflect as they learn amid the spiritually nourishing splendor of
the Appalachians. To walk where President Campbell walked, to glimpse the
far-reaching vision of possibility that he possessed, is an honor and privilege
that defines our work at Bethany each day.” What a great day for Bethany, our
friends in the Church and all who share our mission.
As the calendar year winds
down to its final weeks, I hope you will join the thousands of alumni and
friends who make an annual gift to The Bethany Fund. The holiday season is often when our contributors
decide to make their calendar-year-end gift to Bethany, but we welcome your
support at any time.
Why does your gift matter?
Contributing to Bethany helps us address some of the most urgent challenges
that we and our peer institutions confront in preparing for the future. These
include having adequate resources for scholarships, faculty development, campus
technology and facilities, the library, study-abroad initiatives and many other
needs and opportunities. Every gift, of any amount, matters and is gratefully
received.
At a time when the public
increasingly questions the worth of an investment in a quality, four-year
educational experience such as that offered by Bethany, gifts from alumni and
friends aid us in assuring our prospective students and their families that
Bethany is indeed worth that investment by providing important enhancements to
our learning environment. Thank you for your commitment to our success.
On behalf of the entire
campus community, Annie and I wish for each of you the happiest of holiday
seasons, along with a spectacular new year of 2013. We hope your plans for the
new year will include a visit to the beautiful, historic mountaintop campus of A Small College of National Distinction.
