I think that the heart and passion that I have always had, but developed so much more, for young people entering into adulthood, that caring to see young people become all that they can be, realize their full potential, to see them really embrace their world and set goals for themselves, and find their voice, and think deeply about what matters to them, and become agents of change, that is a gift I got from Saint Rose. If I was at some large research institution with several hundred students in a class, I wouldnāt get that kind of interpersonal interaction that validates you as a professor. You just donāt get that kind of interpersonal exchange that is not just about the academic knowledge that you or your students bring to the classroom, but how that academic knowledge manifests itself in your heart, as a person, and how that shapes how you connect with other people. Thatās true education to me. Thatās liberal education to me. Thatās the difference between just going somewhere and getting a degree, and being liberally educated.
A person with a liberal education, they have been touched and changed by their knowledge, and they have the desire to touch and change others. That legacy was what made Saint Rose Saint Rose, and being here just really gave me a sense of community, empowerment, identity, a sense that what I did matters. Running into students years after they graduated in Price Chopper or Home Depot and having them say āI remember whenā¦ā and they would go back five years in time and talk about some moment in class or some moment in my office, and over and over again they would validate why I became a professor. One of my students, who I hadnāt seen in nine years, just sent me an email from North Carolina, āProfessor, I donāt know if you remember me,ā and of course I remembered him, āI just got the highest teaching award in my state. I just wanted to let you know Iām so glad you pushed me. Donāt change what youāre doing.ā
If I was at some large school, I would have never developed those kinds of relationships. Because I have that kind of connection with my students, it strengthens me as a professor and as a person, which then leads to greater excellence in the classroom. My students shape me as much as I shape them. Itās places like Saint Rose where that becomes possible. Weāre living in a world where we see what happens to a society when you have a lot of people going around that have no sense of purpose, that donāt feel connected to anything, that feel alienated. We donāt need more of that, and we donāt need institutions that produce more of that. We need places where people come and they feel validated and they feel connected, and they feel they matter, and that they are a priority. Thatās what we did well at this institution.
I donāt think that we need to resort to gimmicks in order to sell what we have at Saint Rose, because frankly I think a lot of young people are looking for a community like that. Maybe what we need is a better marketing approach to what we already have, as opposed to having someone come in and just redesign as if our legacy doesnāt matter. If I had to find one thing disturbing about this moment in time, itās not just a feeling as a faculty member that we donāt matter, but hearing people say āweāre going to refound the institutionāāthe Sisters of Saint Joseph were the founders of this institution. We walk in that tradition. We value and embrace that tradition. Weāre not kicking that tradition to the curb. To have someone who just got here come in and say weāre just going to re-do the institutionāitās almost like saying what we have done for the past 100 years can easily be reshaped, revamped, and itās dismissive of not just my life, but many lives that have gone into making this institution what it is.