Welcome back from fall break. I hope you all enjoyed a rejuvenating few days and are looking forward to a month packed with events. October offers a Ring of Fire (no, not Johnny Cash’s 1963 number 1 country song), but an annular solar eclipse that will begin in Texas on Saturday the 14th at 11:54 a.m. Being directly in the pathway of the eclipse is extremely rare, and our University is close to the path’s center. The moon must move between the earth and the sun and voilà a beautiful ring of fire! Thanks to a donor’s generosity, we will be providing special glasses at the mall for you. Here’s a cool animation of what we will see on Saturday.
Later this week, our Board of Trustees will be convening for their first meeting of the year, and they are looking forward to having lunch with interested students and learning about their experiences at Southwestern. The Trustees will also receive updates on our many campus projects, including the renovation Mood-Bridwell Hall. I encourage you to check out the Construction Projects webpage for updates.
Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Equity is a top priority of our Five-Year Tactical Plan, which includes the search for Southwestern’s first Vice President of Equity, Accountability, and Inclusive Excellence. The initial meeting of the search committee and our executive search consultants from LindauerGlobal will convene next week. Our goal is to have this position hired by the summer of 2024. Professors Alicia Moore and Maha Zewail Foote, Dr. Brit Katz, Rev. Dr. Ron Swain, James Gaeta, Dara Adebayo ’23 and trustee Dr. Liz Medina ’97 have agreed to serve on the committee.
I hope you will join me when we host nationally prominent speakers this month. I am so glad to welcome Kevin Young to campus this Friday to deliver the 2023 Roy and Margaret Shilling Lecture titled “The History of Poetry & The Poetry of History.” An author, essayist, poet, and current New Yorker poetry editor, Young is the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. He has written eleven books of poetry, two works of nonfiction, and is the editor of ten other works, including African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song published in October 2020. Don’t forget to reserve your tickets for the event.
Our second speaker this month will give the keynote address for our third annual SUnity Day on Oct. 31. Ainsley Carry has served as the Vice President for Students at Auburn University, the University of Southern California, and the University of British Columbia, and is the author of Washington Next? For more information and to learn how you can get involved in what will be an enjoyable day for the entire SU community, please visit the SUnity Day website.
Don’t forget to submit pics of your furry friends in the pet costume contest by October 30. Prizes will be awarded for the scariest, cutest, and weirdest pet costumes.
Finally, make sure you check out the University and Athletic calendars to stay up to date on all the great events you can participate in.
Go Pirates!
