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Date Published: Thursday, August 15, 2020
As the excitement for the arrival of students on our Irving and Rome campuses grows, we are making final preparations. I just came from a meeting with student leaders who are already on campus, ready to serve and lead at the University of Dallas. Having just begun my term as president on July 1, I am perhaps more eager than others to have faculty and students here. But the past six weeks have not been uneventful. In this, the first of what will be a regular communication with the entire UD family, I want to give you some sense of what has been and will be happening at UD and what our hopes and dreams are for our beloved university.
July 1, my first day in office, provided an occasion to reconnect with former teachers and staff and to highlight important collaborations. You can see a timeline of my first day here.
As we seek support for the university, we want to emphasize the need for, and impact of, student scholarships. One of the highlights of my first days on campus was the ceremony announcing the C.W. Eaker Scholarship Fund for Chemistry/Biochemistry. This fitting recognition for a longtime faculty member and former dean and provost is the result of the generosity of Alex and Martha Galbraith, parents of alumna Alison Galbraith, BA ’12. To find out more about endowed scholarships, please click here.
My first month as president included trips to Washington, D.C., accompanied by UD’s new Vice President for University Advancement Jason Wu Trujillo, and to the Napa Institute with our provost, Dr. Jonathan J. Sanford. On each of these trips, I heard stories about the remarkable careers of UD alumni and the impact they are having on our larger society. I look forward to sharing more of these great stories in the weeks to come. With Jason Trujillo’s leadership, we are developing focused plans to shine a brighter spotlight on student and alumni successes. One such story is about Alexandra Koch, BA ’19, UD’s 39th Fulbright! To find out more about how you can support students like Alexandra, please click here.
This year marks Professor of Management Bruce Evans’ 50th year of teaching. Read about his remarkable milestone here.
I am pleased to report that UD has installed a new calendar platform to enable members of the UD community to be even more informed about the exciting events on our campus.
George Weigel, a leading Catholic public intellectual, parent of two UD alumnae and enthusiastic supporter of UD, will explore the current Catholic situation in light of a new interpretation of the past 250 years of the church’s interaction with social, cultural, economic and political modernity in a public lecture at 4 p.m. A book signing will follow the lecture.
Please save the date to attend Alumni & Family Weekend.
Four good friends and exemplary Catholic leaders and scholars have agreed to speak at a panel on the afternoon of my inauguration: Dr. Robert George of Princeton University; Heather Reynolds and Father Wilson Miscamble, both of Notre Dame; and UD alumnus and Bishop of Brownsville Daniel Flores, BA ’83 MDiv ’87. The day’s events will include an Inauguration Mass at 4 p.m. with UD Chancellor and Bishop of Dallas Edward Burns presiding. I hope you can attend!
Until next time, thank you for your warm welcome back to UD and for your support!
Thomas S. Hibbs, Ph.D., BA ’82 MA ’83
President
