President's Report 2017-2018 | Page 3

A Message from the President I t has been a very wonderful and busy fall here at Gwynedd Mercy University. I will provide a few highlights of our fall semester, but I encourage you to read on to learn about additional features and highlights that have been taking place this fall on campus. We started out the fall in August with our Move-In Weekend where we welcomed many new students and helped them move into the residence halls. That very same weekend we welcomed back the rest of our returning students and started classes that week. It’s always a very exciting, exuberant, and enthusiastic time on our campus. Then as we went further into the fall, we celebrated one of our [most] outstanding weeks of the year, Mercy Week, at the end of September. It was especially meaningful this year on September 24, that’s National Mercy Day, which celebrates the opening of the First International House of Mercy in Dublin Ireland. Then, on Wednesday, the 26 th of September, we kind of resurrected a tradition here. We haven’t done it for many years, and that’s our Academic Convocation, where faculty processed in regalia and we heard a wonderful keynote address by the honorable Renee Cardwell Hughes. She spoke from the heart to our freshmen students about how they can make a real difference in this world. Her example, I know, spoke volumes not only to our students, but to our staff and faculty who were in attendance at that convocation as well. One of the other things we did this fall was host a Distinguished Alumni Dinner where six of our outstanding alumni were recognized. One of them, Rashid Santiago is featured in this magazine. I think you will see that Rashid is a great example of all six distinguished alumni, living examples of Distinctive Mercy Graduates from all walks of life. Then at the end of Mercy week, we hosted Red and Gold Alumni Weekend. It was my second Red and Gold Weekend and wow, was it exciting! We had hundreds of alumni come back, it was a beautiful weekend, and we also had hundreds of our students who are attending Gwynedd Mercy University attend many of the events we had here on campus. One of the things we are also celebrating on campus this fall is the 175 th anniversary of the arrival of the Sisters of Mercy in America in 1843, and all of the Mercy ministries are celebrating that anniversary. So what we’ve been doing is asking individuals and groups to basically commit to doing 175 of something. And we have had an overwhelming response from our community. I’ll just give you a couple examples. The Executive Council, which is myself and my Vice Presidents, have committed to adopting two First Year Experience classes. So, we’ve all gone to at least two of those classes and wrote to every student in there and basically are mentoring students that are in the First Year Experience classes this Fall. One of my favorite responses is from a freshman, a student here, and he has committed to holding the door for 175 of his fellow classmates, faculty and staff here on campus. So we have gotten, as I said, an overwhelming response and we would like try and continue it as we move on because it has been really great thing to bring the community together on campus. And then finally, I want to highlight that we have been working on a new strategic plan for Gwynedd Mercy University for the next five years. And while we are not yet ready to unveil that plan, I just wanted to mention that we’ve spent almost a year working on it, and probably the next time I speak to you for the next magazine, we’ll be talking about some of the particulars that are in that plan. But it too, has served to bring the community together and there is a lot of excitement and enthusiasm looking forward for the future of this wonderful institution. So, pretty soon I’ll be wishing you a Merry Christmas, and until then, I wish you well. Deanne H. D’Emilio, JD President *This is an edited transcription of President D’Emilio’s video message.*