|
| Inauguration
Speech Good afternoon! I would like to especially welcome our distinguished guests; leaders of the United Methodist Church; Mr. Chairman and emeriti and current Trustees; former presidents and first ladies of Ferrum College, Dr. Jerry and Shirley Boone and Dr. Joe and Carolyn Hart; Mrs. Mary Arthur, wife of former president C. Ralph Arthur; fellow presidents and delegates from other colleges and universities; faculty, staff, students, alumni, members of the community, family and friends. I am thankful to all of you who have come today to this inauguration. I would like to express special thanks to the many who have worked so hard to make this such an extraordinary day—our staff, our faculty, and most importantly, our students. For students are the reason we are all here today. They are a great gift to all of us who are educators and they continue to require our best efforts and careful stewardship. Our students have had a significant role in our ceremony today and as we have heard them sing, we reflect on our call to be here in this place, as servants, in this powerful institution of higher learning. Today is a time to celebrate all that Ferrum College has been and will be, a time to remember our mission, a time to envision the future and a time to give thanks for all of this. The legacy of the Ferrum College we know today goes back to 1909 when a small group from the Woman’s Missionary Society of the Virginia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church conceived the idea of building a Christian School for youth in the Virginia mountains. Their sense of mission and outreach was profound and their aim was as high as the soaring peaks of the glorious Blue Ridge Mountains that surround us. The Woman’s Missionary Society and the Board of Missions of the Virginia Annual Conference of the Methodist Church, provided the initial funds for this special place. Among those responsible for the founding of Ferrum was Dr. Benjamin M. Beckham, then presiding elder of the Danville District, who became the school’s first president. Land for the campus was secured, a faculty of six was hired, and the school opened its doors in 1914 to ninety students. Junior college classes initially began in 1926, with the courses of study in general liberal arts, home economics, music and business/commercial studies. The junior college received accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1960 and by 1970 Ferrum was the largest Methodist junior college in the nation. In 1974 the college began to offer bachelor’s degrees in five fields: community services, public services, environmental services, church careers and services, and recreation services. Today we offer thirty-four major degree programs in a variety of disciplines. Ferrum continues to operate under the auspices of the Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and the United Methodist Women of the Virginia Annual Conference. This grounding in continuity and connection to our heritage is fundamental as we consider our vision for the future. Our vision arises from this context of mission, of focusing on mind, body and spirit. A place like Ferrum College continues every day to transform lives and transmit ever increasing spiritual and intellectual power. Our motto, “Not Self, But Others” emphasized early the importance of service, and service continues to be a cornerstone of our campus community today. As we look to the future, we will continue our focus on the foundational skills of a liberal arts education, mixed with professional majors—what we refer to as the applied liberal arts -- the combination of theory and practice, experiential and service learning, interdisciplinary programs -- the action/reflection praxis. We will continue to emphasize the competencies and mindset of analytical and critical skills that allow students to succeed in any profession they choose and become lifelong learners. But more than choosing a profession, we want students to consider and understand the concept of vocation – calling. And we will also continue to enhance the idea of a sense of service to others as the true basis for lifelong fulfillment. Officers of large corporations have stated that the most valuable skills in a college graduate include: |
|
1. Ability to identify problems and formulate solutions 2. Verbal communication skills 3. Willingness to assume responsibility 4. Interpersonal skills 5. Reasoning ability 6. Creativity 7. Ability to function independently |
|
There is no doubt that we want our students to possess these critical cognitive and affective skills. But as important as these are, we will also continue to strengthen the emphasis on character development and ethical decision-making, and reinforce the Wesley concept of faith and vital piety. These become the lasting virtues on which lives are built, through which the world can be transformed and within which, each day can be celebrated with joy and gladness. We want to produce graduates who have zeal and who want to make a difference. As Charles Swindall tells the story, W. E. Sangster of Westminster Central Hall was once a member of a group responsible for interviewing applicants for the Methodist ministry. A rather nervous young man presented himself before the group. The candidate said he felt he ought to explain that he was rather shy and was not the sort of person who would ever set the Thames River on fire, that is, create much of a stir in the city. “My dear young brother,” responded Sangster with insightful wit and wisdom, “I’m not interested to know if you can set the Thames on fire. What I want to know if this: If I picked you up by the scruff of the neck and dropped you into the Thames, would it sizzle? “ We want our Ferrum College graduates to sizzle! We must also continue to work as a college to lift up the vision of a better world. I am reminded of the eloquent words of William Sloane Coffin, retired pastor of Riverside Church in New York City. At a national conference three years ago, he challenged college presidents to consider the full moral responsibility which they had been given, as well as the educational responsibility. In his remarks he suggested that we should not only concentrate on academic excellence, athletic prowess, aesthetic development and co-curricular programs, but we should “cultivate a mindset” and create an ethos on our campus that can help students change the world. To do this he suggested that we become global citizens in the truest sense of the word. To do so, we need to not only study other cultures, their history and religions, but embark on international travel and be exposed to the world that while vast, still holds the sameness of the human condition. And while we need to continue to be patriots, we must remember that we are also called to be peacemakers. At the national level, Coffin suggests that we need to extend our on-campus experience with others to include experiences and immersion opportunities with other sub-cultures, in circumstances other than our own, whether in the inner city, a rural setting, or in a community that has citizens and challenges different from ours. We have many of those available already but we need to understand the “other” who is our neighbor beyond the campus. At the personal level, we need to create an inclusive climate that embraces diversity. We need to model a community of caring that embraces each individual and allows for the exploration of differences, encourages dialogue and fosters tolerance so that all students realize diversity always enhances and never diminishes a community. An example of this diversity in our community has been evident in our ceremony this afternoon. We began with the song, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and throughout the ceremony we heard from different chorale and musical groups that have all enriched us. The different styles of music are symbolic of the many voices that are present on our campus, in our community and our country. You have brought unique perspectives from all over the world here today to this place—the voices of leaders in churches, campuses and businesses throughout Virginia and around the country—the voices of trustees, faculty, staff, alumni and students -- voices that challenge us, encourage us and help us celebrate. And we need to listen to your voices—being able to keep silent and listen in one language often takes more patience than learning to speak another language. True listening is fueled by curiosity and empathy. By listening to more points of view and other voices, we can understand that others have hopes and dreams that may not necessarily mirror our own, but that deserve our attention and respect, that teach us about who we can be. And yet, this listening to many voices takes discernment as well, for our culture simply bombards us with so many voices, all competing for our attention and allegiance. This task of discernment draws us back to our foundation as a faith-based college. Our mission, and our motto, “Not Self, But Others, ” keep us grounded and help us clarify that which is authentic from that which is not and help us separate the wheat from the chaff of our lives. This means that in our college community, we need to emphasize the positive above the negative, choose to celebrate rather than bemoan, empower rather than blame, balance the strengths of community alongside the needs of the individual, seek compassion above criticism, value inclusivity above elitism and express caring for others over concern for self. These are lofty values, but they can be accomplished as we work together and listen to all of the voices in our midst, even as we remember those voices of our past. To concretely accomplish this reaffirming of the past and reforming for the future, we need to: |
|
|
• Continue to stress our ties to the United Methodist Church and the congregations and entities that support us; • Continue to fund more scholarships and financial aid to meet the ever-increasing need of students; • Continue to increase our endowment to provide funding for supporting our distinctive academic programs and our distinguished faculty; • Continue to build first class facilities that create an exceptional learning environment for our students; • Continue to connect, both technologically and personally with corporate partners, collegiate consortiums and community agencies to broaden our campus to include the entire region and the world. • Continue to focus on learning, service, accessibility, opportunity, advocacy and mind, body and spirit. • Continue to proclaim that “this is the day the Lord has made.” |
|
|
In summary, I am both humbled and honored today to be installed as the 10th president of Ferrum College. I am humbled by the awesome responsibility of leading this incredible institution in these extremely complex and challenging times. I am honored that you have chosen me for this task and I will do everything in my power to prove that I am worthy of your trust. I will attempt to carry out my duties with honor, remembering that as Will Rogers once simply said, “So live that you wouldn’t be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.” I thank you for your support of Ferrum College and I enjoin all of you to begin every day by remembering that “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” |
|
 |