Reflecting on an Academic Year
In the cycle of the academic calendar, endings are a time of both reflection and looking ahead to new beginnings. That is true for all of us on campus, but the endings and beginnings are more pronounced for faculty as the months of summer look markedly different from the months of the semesters. I've come to better appreciate the more subtle endings and beginnings cycle for academic administrators as well. I was out on a run the other day and found myself thinking about last August, when the academic year started. Then, I was a bundle of anxiety about change, but also full of hope for the year ahead. I believed then, and I still do now, that our institutional foundations were strong enough to not just weather but thrive in the changes ahead. I was keenly aware that our academic leadership team needed to steer a steady course, and confident that we would do just that. While I was certainly curious to see what this new season for Christopher Newport would bring, I was also excited to...