Letters to the Community

Messages from President Janet L. Steinmayer

Community-Wide Communications from President Janet L. Steinmayer

President Steinmayer wearing a striped blazer on Brattle Campus


Dear Members of the Lesley Community,

One of my goals as President of Lesley University is to keep students, parents, alumni, and friends up-to-date on everything that is happening at Lesley—from the things that affect us all, to the big decisions we make—and to do it with the highest level of transparency as possible. 

This archive collects my community-wide communications since I began to serve Lesley University as President in July of 2019. 

Sincerely,

Janet L. Steinmayer
 

Better Lesley

  • Community Email

    October 4, 2023 
     

    Dear Lesley Faculty, Staff and Students, 

    We write to update you on Better Lesley, our work to create a path toward a strong and thriving Lesley—now and for generations to come. This work has been focused on the difficult but essential structural change to set up Lesley for the future. 

    Better Lesley is our opportunity to forge that path. As we re-focus and re-commit to our core strengths in education, mental health, the arts and the fields related to those strengths, we are working to bring Lesley together, academically and administratively, as one dynamic university in service to our students and broader community. 

    Why is this so important? Lesley educates students for some of the most critically needed professions in our country. It confers the most degrees in New England in specialized education and mental health. In fact, according to an independent study, Lesley-trained educators are preferred among Massachusetts school administrators. The university is home to one of the country’s leading programs for practicing artists, known for having one of the highest percentages of graduates working in their fields of choice upon graduation. 

    To continue to have impact in these fields in a highly competitive environment, we have work to do. Our administrative structures are being re-imagined so that students have a consistent, coordinated experience. Our academic programs are being re-thought to create more flexibility, accessibility, and vibrancy. The ideas of Better Lesley will ensure the future we are creating is a compelling one for students and our community alike. 

    Background. Until the fall of 2022, we had been closing a pre-existing budget gap and trending to return slowly to pre-COVID enrollment levels. In the fall of 2022, we saw a sudden downward shift. We promptly engaged over 100 management faculty and staff in determining how to reach the goals of Better Lesley: to create the best educational experience and a future where we will live within our means. 

    Over the spring semester, this group identified many initiatives and approaches to address the budget gap and make the structural changes necessary to do so in a sustainable way. In June, the Board of Trustees met to review this work and charged the university with meeting the goals of Better Lesley with three directives: 

    1) re-focus on Lesley’s core strengths, invest in their growth, and move away from low-enrolled programs; 

    2) operate as one university, academically and administratively; and 

    3) continue the work of the Strategic Framework and the Campus Plan. 

    We are grateful for all the insightful work of our colleagues that have propelled this work forward. 

    Academic Work Group. Over the summer, an Academic Work Group, composed of both of us, the three Associate Deans and Heads of their academic areas and the Dean of the liberal arts school, met frequently to review data and develop a proposed way to meet the Board’s directives and live within our means. At the end of August, the results of the Group’s work were presented to the management faculty, to engage them in the work of determining the best way to structure academic programs going forward. 

    One Administrative Structure. We also launched Administrative Work Groups on enrollment, advising, registration, and employee experience to ensure that we moved to uniform systems and procedures across the university. These Groups shared many of the results of their work during our Lesley Foundations information sessions at the end of August, and in subsequent meetings. Changes included focusing on 15 well-run enrollment intakes instead of 45, centralizing registration and scheduling, moving to one coordinated advising model supported by the software program Advise, and implementing grounding orientation and periodic Foundation sessions to ensure all employees are aware of, and use, university resources. This work, which builds on the launch of multiple resources co-located in the Support Hub in University Hall, will continue into the fall and beyond. 

    One Academic Structure. The Academic Work Group (now the Academic Cabinet) is currently working with management faculty to craft a consistent academic structure to our programs so that our offerings are clearer, easier to navigate and complete, and more accessible. Our complex offering of 77 programs, frequently without the sharing of common courses, is difficult for students to navigate and for the university to sustain. It has resulted in complicated course schedules. This Fall, over 25% of posted courses did not run. Last year, 2,242 courses were posted for 2,200 FTE students. The Academic Cabinet and management faculty are working to have a preliminary strategic plan in early October and a finalized plan by mid-Fall, which will allow us to post a much more accurate and student-responsive schedule. 

    Investing in the Core. Work is also underway to build plans to invest in core strengths at Lesley. We are building models for investing in our key programs in education, mental health, the arts, and the fields related to those strengths, so that their growth can be supported. We are currently creating a plan to expand continued support for our graduates, starting with the Threshold Lifelong Support Program in the spring. We are establishing a roadmap to bring in a significant number of partnerships with the organizations that employ our graduates, in each case offering more financial aid, guaranteed internships and joint cohort support. This is in addition to traditional enrollment work. Marketing studies showing that students need more accessible formats for study are guiding our approach to an updated online plan. These studies are also helping to inform areas of opportunity and unique specialization that can make our offerings stand out and be responsive to professional needs in Lesley’s core areas. 

    Low-enrolled Programs. At the same time, after reviewing data and asking questions of many across the university, we have made the difficult, but necessary, decision to restructure low-enrolled programs and those not core to Lesley. In most cases, this will result in programmatic areas being combined to create more inter-disciplinary approaches to learning. In four programs, where, for instance, there are three faculty positions for fifteen students, the decision will mean that students currently enrolled in those programs will graduate with those degrees, but these programs will no longer be offered as majors. To be clear, the students currently enrolled will be able to finish their programs, and advisors and support staff are reaching out to any affected student to assure their continued advancement in their chosen program. 

    These difficult decisions will unfortunately mean the loss of some valued colleagues, and our focus now is on caring for these individuals. We will be reaching out directly to meet individually with affected employees and will begin bargaining about the effects of these decisions with the core faculty union. In some instances, we have been able to find other work for affected faculty within the university, which will provide additional opportunities and lessen the impact. These individuals will also be contacted. In other instances, low-enrolled programs are in new areas which are growing, and we will be reaching out to reassure that these areas will not be impacted. Meetings and/or drop-in hours with each academic and administrative department will also be held to discuss these changes. 

    Transitions. These changes will occur gradually, not all at once. As noted, all students affected will be able to finish their program of study. We will bargain the effects of these decisions with the core faculty union, with many of the individuals affected having a year’s notice of the change. The Academic Cabinet will continue to work with management and other faculty, and curriculum committees, on program restructuring to make our core offerings even more vibrant and responsive to student needs. This restructuring is important to retaining as many options for students as possible, and we believe that the strategic plan for this work will be completed by mid-Fall. 

    Difficult Change. We know these changes are hard and difficult for our affected faculty, and for those who remain. Please be assured that these decisions did not come easily, quickly, without deep concern for our employees and students, or without significant effort to make changes in other ways. In fact, the restructuring of programs to meet student needs plays an important role. We recognized that we carried too much property, with much of it in need of significant renovation after the acquisition of the Episcopal Divinity School campus in 2018; we are addressing this through our Campus Plan, where we are selling buildings no longer meeting our needs, lowering our operating costs and investing in renovating what is core to our programs and mission. We have evaluated our administrative costs as a percentage of all expenses and made sure that they remain lower than our peers'. The final phase was to look at our academic offerings, where we had too many degrees relative to the size of our student body, and the costs and complications associated with our non-centralized academic administration. Taking the actions outlined in this letter will allow us to continue to provide the personalized education we are known for, in a way that supports our graduates in their careers. 

    As difficult as this change is, it is essential for Lesley to change to continue to play the vital role it does in education, mental health, the arts and related fields. A recent article estimates that all but 100 of the 4,000 higher education institutions face the challenges of decreasing numbers of people choosing higher education. Facing these challenges in a way that will strengthen our university for the future is what each and all of us must do, for our own colleges and universities and to sustain the system of higher education in our country, which is the envy of the world because of the wide variety of institutions available. 

    Putting in place the changes necessary to make our programs as effective for today’s students as we can must be our first priority if we are to provide the best experience for our students – and our faculty and staff - and to continue to play the key role that Lesley does in the education of teachers, mental health professionals, artists and the related professions that make Lesley University-Lesley. 

    Sincerely, 

    Janet L. Steinmayer, President 
    Deanna L. Yameen, Interim Provost

  • FAQs

    Updated FAQs (Nov. 15, 2023)

    1. What is the latest with Better Lesley?

    Lesley plays a unique and important role in the higher education landscape, conferring the most degrees in New England for specialized education and mental health and leading in graduating practicing artists. We are evolving to meet our students’ needs.

    Lesley University is phasing out four programs:

    • Political Science
    • Global Studies
    • Sociology
    • Graduate Program in Photography


    There are 51 students in these programs. Every single one will be able to complete these degrees, no matter where they are in their course of study.

    We understand these are difficult decisions for the campus community, but they are essential decisions for Lesley University. You should know 98% of students at Lesley will not be affected by these changes. We genuinely want to answer your questions. We will be answering the most common ones you send us via feedback@lesley.edu every few weeks with communications to the community.

    2. I really need to catch up. And what if I have more questions?

    You can catch up right here. We made sure to put the link to Better Lesley on the front page of our website. We genuinely want to answer your questions, so please send them via feedback@lesley.edu.

    3. How did you notify faculty, staff, and students of changes?

    We reached out to everyone personally affected by these changes to tell them individually.

    4. Are people losing their jobs?

    These difficult decisions will unfortunately mean the loss of some valued colleagues, and our focus now is on caring for these individuals. We will be reaching out directly to meet individually with affected employees and will begin bargaining about the effects of these decisions with the core faculty union. On the staff side, as we move to a one university system, we are restructuring and will simply have too many people. Our focus now is on supporting these affected employees in their transitions. As part of this process, we are working with qualified employees who are interested and have the skills to move into open positions, where we will also look to give them new opportunities to grow in new areas.

    5. What does this mean about Lesley University, its commitment to education, and its values?

    Lesley is making these difficult but necessary changes to strengthen its educational offerings. The academic areas of political science, global studies and sociology will be eliminated as majors but will still be covered in our GenEd curriculum. Photography is a medium that is part of our MFA in Visual Arts offerings.

    6. Will laid-off faculty be replaced by adjuncts?

    No. Although we are letting go of some faculty, we are not “replacing them” with adjuncts. The number of faculty in some areas of the university is far greater than needed for the number of students in those areas. As always, our adjunct faculty colleagues will continue to play an important role in our academic community by bringing their expertise to our curriculum. We also will be working to have as many full-time faculty teaching, as we know how important the student experience is. And this change will happen over time.

    7. I’ve heard rumors the humanities are going away?

    The humanities will continue to be taught as part of our general education curriculum, and will continue to be a foundation for students, a major for some students and a second major for those studying education.

    8. Can you explain how course scheduling is being managed?

    We posted the schedule of classes for spring student registration on November 1st. This schedule reflects the work of many across the university and is designed to address the problems in previous recent schedules, where approximately 25% of the classes had to be canceled due to low enrollment. Moving forward, we’ve looked at students’ preferences for classes and times of those classes and developed a schedule based on their needs first. We believe this will be an improvement for students with more classes being offered at more convenient times for students, and more vibrancy in classes as more gather and exchange different perspectives.

    9. How are you going to operate various parts of the curriculum, such as GenEd, with the recent faculty changes?

    We made changes to faculty based on the needs of our general education curriculum and to continue to represent a diversity of disciplines to provide a broad range of knowledge and focus on developing student competencies for the 21st century. The same is true of other areas of the curriculum.

    10. Is this just about money?

    No. We must close a budget gap, but we also must be a university that works well for students, and a university that students want to attend. These things are not unrelated.

    11. I have questions about these changes; who should I speak to?

    If you’re a student, reach out to your advisor. If you’re faculty, reach out directly to your Administrative or Academic Cabinet leader. You can ask questions via feedback@lesley.edu.

    Updated FAQs (Nov. 2, 2023)

    1. What is the latest with Better Lesley?

    Lesley plays a unique and important role in the higher education landscape, conferring the most degrees in New England for specialized education and mental health and leading in graduating practicing artists. We are evolving to meet our students’ needs.

    Lesley University is phasing out four programs:

    • Political Science
    • Global Studies
    • Sociology
    • Graduate Program in Photography
       

    There are 51 students in these programs. Every single one will be able to complete these degrees, no matter where they are in their course of study.

    We understand these are difficult decisions for the campus community, but they are essential decisions for Lesley University. You should know 98% of students at Lesley will not be affected by these changes. We genuinely want to answer your questions. We will be answering the most common ones you send us via feedback@lesley.edu every few weeks with communications to the community.

    I really need to catch up. Where can I do this?

    Right here. We made sure to put the link to Better Lesley on the front page of our website.

    2. How did you notify faculty and students of changes?

    We reached out to everyone individually.

    3. What does this mean about Lesley University, its commitment to education, and its values?

    Lesley is making these difficult but necessary changes as a way to strengthen its educational offerings. The academic areas of political science, global studies and sociology will be eliminated as majors but will still be covered in our GenEd curriculum. Photography is a medium that is part of our MFA in Visual Arts offerings.

    4. I’ve heard rumors the humanities are going away?

    Let’s straighten that out! The humanities will continue to be taught as part of our general education curriculum, and will continue to be a foundation for students, a major for some students and a second major for those studying education.

    5. Will laid-off faculty be replaced by adjuncts?

    No. Although we are letting go of some faculty, we are not “replacing them” with adjuncts. The number of faculty in some areas of the university is far greater than needed for the number of students in those areas. As always, our adjunct faculty colleagues will continue to play an important role in our academic community by bringing their expertise to our curriculum. We also will be working to have as many full-time faculty teaching, as we know how important the student experience is. And this change will happen over time.

    6. Can you explain how course scheduling is being handled?

    We posted the schedule of classes for spring student registration on November 1st. This schedule reflects the work of many across the university and is designed to address the problems in previous recent schedules, where more than 25% of the classes had to be canceled due to low enrollment. Moving forward, we’ve looked at students’ preferences for classes and times of those classes and developed a schedule based on their needs first. We believe this will be an improvement for students with fewer classes being offered, and more classes being offered at convenient times for students, and more vibrancy in classes as more gather and exchange different perspectives.

    7. How are you going to operate various parts of the curriculum, such as GenEd, with the recent faculty changes?

    We made changes to faculty based on the needs of our general education curriculum and to continue to represent a diversity of disciplines to provide a broad range of knowledge and focus on developing student competencies for the 21st century. The same is true of other areas of the curriculum.

    8. I have questions about these changes; who should I speak to?

    If you’re a student, reach out to your advisor. If you’re faculty, reach out directly to your Administrative or Academic Cabinet leader. You can ask questions via feedback@lesley.edu.

    Updated FAQs (Oct. 19, 2023)

    1. What is the latest with Better Lesley?

    Lesley plays a unique and important role in the higher education landscape, conferring the most degrees in New England for specialized education and mental health and leading in graduating practicing artists. We are evolving to meet our students’ needs.

    Lesley University is phasing out four programs:

    • Political Science
    • Global Studies
    • Sociology
    • Graduate Program in Photography


    There are 51 students in these programs. Every single one will be able to complete these degrees, no matter where they are in their course of study.

    We understand these are difficult decisions for the campus community, but they are essential decisions for Lesley University. You should know 98% of students at Lesley will not be affected by these changes.

    2. What if I have more questions?

    We genuinely want to answer your questions. We will be answering the most common ones you send us via feedback@lesley.edu every few weeks with communications to the community.

    3. How did you notify faculty and students of changes?

    We reached out to everyone individually.

    4. I’ve heard rumors that liberal arts are going away?

    Let’s straighten that out! The liberal arts and the humanities will continue to be a foundation for students, a major for some students and a second major for those studying education.

    5. How are you going to operate various parts of the curriculum, such as GenEd, with the recent faculty changes?

    Our general education curriculum will have enough faculty and a diversity of disciplines to achieve its ambitious goal of developing a broad range of competencies. The same is true of other areas of the curriculum.

    6. I have questions about these changes; who should I speak to?

    If you’re a student, reach out to your advisor. If you’re faculty or staff, reach out directly to your Administrative or Academic Cabinet leader. Also, you can ask questions via feedback@lesley.edu.

    Prospective & Current Student FAQs

    1. Why are you making these changes? 

    Lesley plays a unique and important role in the higher education landscape, conferring the most degrees in New England for specialized education and mental health, and leading in graduating practicing artists. To continue to support these critically needed professions in a highly competitive marketplace, we are evolving. 

    2. What will improve? 

    As it relates to your education, we are seeking to create a more flexible, accessible, and vibrant experience with better functioning student support services and a more interdisciplinary approach toward learning. We are working to create greater ease of access to programs in modality, scheduling and ability to move among programs. Classes will have a more cross-disciplinary student body, enlivening the educational experience. Course schedules will be more predictable for easier planning. Support will be more coordinated across the community. 

    Work is also underway to invest in core programs and other ways to strengthen our support of students and graduates, through investment in key areas, deepening partnerships, building an effective online program and extending lifelong support to graduates, starting with the Threshold Program. 

    3. How are current programs being affected? 

    Several programs will be combined to offer more interdisciplinary learning opportunities. In four programs, where, for instance, there are three faculty for fifteen students, the decision will mean that students currently enrolled will graduate with those degrees but these programs will not be offered as majors in the future. ALL students currently enrolled will be able to finish their programs and advisors are reaching out to affected students to assure their continued advancement in their chosen program. 

    4. Will these changes affect any faculty? 

    Lesley is reaching out to faculty affected by these decisions to speak with them individually, and also to the core faculty union. Our focus now is on caring for these individuals. We’ll be doing that before releasing any other information. 

    5. Who should I talk with if have questions or concerns? 

    We’ll be reaching out to any student who is in a program where they will finish their degree, but we will no longer offer the program as a major area of study thereafter. Our aim is to work with these students to assure their continued advancement in their chosen program. Any student should reach out at any time to their advisor, the Support Hub or feedback@lesley.edu and we will be back to you promptly. 

    6. Is Lesley vulnerable to shutting down? 

    No. Lesley is fortunate to have a healthy endowment, and excess and valuable real estate that helps us to make this transformation, including investments in our campus plan. Putting in place the changes necessary to make our programs as effective as possible for today’s students will permit Lesley to continue to play a key role in educating teachers, mental health professionals, artists and the related professions that make Lesley-Lesley.

    Faculty & Staff FAQs (Updated Nov. 27, 2023)

    1. Why does Lesley need to make these changes?

    Lesley plays a unique and important role in the higher education landscape, conferring the most degrees in New England for specialized education and mental health, and leading in graduating practicing artists. To continue to support these critically needed professions in a highly competitive marketplace, we are evolving.

    2. What changes does Lesley need to make?

    We are refocusing on our core strengths in education, mental health, the arts, and the fields related to those strengths, we are bringing Lesley together, academically and administratively, as one dynamic university. To create a path toward a strong and thriving Lesley—now and for generations to come—we are improving our academic and administrative structures for more flexibility, accessibility and vibrancy in the student experience.

    3. What has the process been for making these changes?

    The need for these changes became clear in the fall of 2022, when our enrollment did not return after the pandemic to the levels that were expected, as was true for many other colleges and universities. We responded quickly, and by early January 2023, we launched Better Lesley, engaging more than 100 management faculty and staff in determining how to reach our goals by creating the best educational experience and a future where with live within our means.

    Over the 2023 spring semester, this group identified many initiatives and approaches, which were presented to the Board of Trustees in June. The Board charged leadership with the following things:

    1) re-focus on Lesley’s core strengths, invest in its growth, and move away from low-enrolled programs; 2) operate as one university, academically and administratively; and 3) continue the work of the Strategic Framework and the Campus Plan.

    4. What changes are we making?

    Administrative Work Groups on enrollment, advising, registration, and the employee experience are developing uniform systems and procedures across the university, including:

    • focusing on 15 well-coordinated enrollment intakes instead of 45,
    • centralizing registration and scheduling,
    • moving to one coordinated advising model, and
    • implementing grounding orientation and periodic Foundation sessions to ensure all employees are aware of, and use, university resources.


    We are investing in key programs, deepening partnerships, building an effective online program strategy, and extending lifelong support to our graduates, starting with Threshold.

    Crucial to all this is the formation of an Academic Work Group (comprised of the president, interim Provost, the three Associate Deans and Heads of their academic areas and the Dean of the liberal arts school) with the charge of simplifying our academic structure for clearer, easier to navigate and more accessible offerings. Some examples of this complexity include:

    • 77 degrees, frequently without the sharing of common courses,
    • 2,242 courses posted for 2,200 FTE students, and
    • More than 25% of posted courses did not run this fall.
       

    5. Are academic programs being restructured?

    Yes, the Academic Work Group engaged the management faculty to determine the best way to structure academic programs going forward. Together, they are working to have a preliminary strategic plan in early October and a finalized plan by mid-Fall, which will allow us to post a much more accurate and student-responsive schedule.

    The centerpiece of this plan is investing in Lesley’s key programs and identifying and restructuring low-enrolled and non-core programs. In most cases, this will result in programmatic areas being combined to create more inter-disciplinary approaches to learning. In four programs, where, for instance, there are three faculty positions for 15 students, the decision will mean that students currently enrolled in those programs will graduate with those degrees, but these programs will no longer be offered as majors in the future. To be clear, ALL students currently enrolled will be able to finish their programs and advisors and support staff are reaching out to any affected student to assure their continued advancement in their chosen program.

    6. Will faculty be affected?

    These difficult decisions will unfortunately mean the loss of some valued faculty colleagues, and our focus now is on caring for these individuals. We will be reaching out directly to meet individually with affected employees, and we will engage in effects bargaining with the core faculty union. Fortunately, we have been able to lessen the impact by offering other work to affected faculty within the university and through the preservation of some low-enrolled programs that have growth opportunity. Each academic and administrative department will be either meeting and/or holding open office hours to address questions and concerns.

    7. Will administrative and academic staff be affected?

    As we move to a one university system, we are restructuring and will simply have too many people. We are focused on supporting these affected employees and offering them resources, including severance packages.

    8. I have questions about these changes and the process of Better Lesley; who should I speak to?

    We really tried to reach out to everyone individually, to let them know before any of this became known on campus or became public. When we learned, via feedback@lesley.com and other ways your communicated with us, that you needed more direct information, we put links on the front page of the website. We also want to make sure you see the new org chart.

    9. Are counseling services available?

    The Lesley Employee Assistance Program can be reached here.

    10. Is Lesley vulnerable to shutting down?

    No. Lesley is fortunate to have a healthy endowment, and excess and valuable real estate that helps us to make this transformation, including investments in our campus plan. Putting in place the changes necessary to make our programs as effective as possible for today’s students will allow Lesley to continue to play a key role in educating teachers, mental health professionals, artists and the related professions that make Lesley-Lesley.

    Alumni FAQs

    1. Why are you making these changes? 

    Lesley plays a unique and important role in the higher education landscape, conferring the most degrees in New England for specialized education and mental health, and leading in graduating practicing artists. To continue to support these critically needed professions in a highly competitive marketplace, we are evolving. 

    2. What will improve? 

    As it relates to you, we are seeking to create a more flexible, accessible, and vibrant experience with better functioning support services and a more interdisciplinary approach. We are working to create greater ease of access to programs in modality, scheduling and ability to move among programs. Classes will have a more cross-disciplinary student body, enlivening the educational experience. Course schedules will be more predictable for easier planning. Support will be more coordinated across the community. 

    Work is also underway to invest in core programs and other ways to strengthen our support of students and graduates, through investment in key areas, deepening partnerships, building an effective online program, and extending lifelong support to graduates, starting with the Threshold Program. 

    3. How are current programs being affected? 

    Several programs will be combined to offer more interdisciplinary learning opportunities. In four programs, where, for instance, there are three faculty for fifteen students, the decision will mean that students currently enrolled will graduate with those degrees, but these programs will not be offered as majors in the future. ALL students currently enrolled will be able to finish their programs and advisors are reaching out to affected students to assure their continued advancement in their chosen program. 

    4. Will these changes affect any faculty? 

    Lesley is reaching out to faculty affected by these decisions to speak with them individually, and also to the core faculty union. Our focus now is on caring for these individuals. We’ll be doing that before releasing any other information. 

    5. What about alumni graduating from those programs? 

    We will continue to support alumni in all our programs. We will also be building lifelong support opportunities for our graduates, which is part of our growth strategy. 

    6. Is Lesley vulnerable to shutting down? 

    No. Lesley is fortunate to have a healthy endowment, and excess and valuable real estate that helps us to make this transformation, including investments in our campus plan. Putting in place the changes necessary to make our programs as effective as possible for today’s students will permit Lesley to continue to play a key role in educating teachers, mental health professionals, artists and the related professions that make Lesley-Lesley.

Communications since 2019

We update this page regularly, with newer communications appearing at the top of this list.

Speeches

  • Commencement 2022 Morning Ceremony Speech

    Welcome & Congratulations

    On behalf of Hans Strauch and the entire Board of Trustees, I welcome you all to this year’s Commencement ceremony and extend a jubilant congratulations to:

    • our multi-talented graduates
    • their proud families and guests,
    • our dedicated faculty and professional staff,
    • our distinguished honorary degree recipient: Geeta Pradhan

    Congregants

    This morning, we are celebrating students earning doctoral and master’s degrees and certificates of advanced study from our Graduate School of Education and our Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences.

    In the afternoon, we will celebrate students earning master’s bachelor’s and associate’s degrees

    To the Class of 2022, what a day of celebration for all you have achieved in these momentous times!

    And to the alumni from the Classes of 2020 and 2021 who have returned today to cross the stage, how wonderful to have you back so we can celebrate your achievements in person!

    Class of 2022, I hope that sharing the spotlight with members from the two other classes from the 2020s more than triples the pride and warmth you will feel as you cross the stage today.

    Reflection on the Times

    So, as we begin the ceremony today, let us pause to remember the loved ones that the pandemic has taken from us — family members and friends who might otherwise have been here today — as well the victims of wars and violent hate crimes, most recently the mass shooting in Buffalo.

    *Pause*

    There is no doubt that at school graduations and commencements across the globe, speakers will observe that we are living through extraordinary times.

    The shock waves keep coming, and the demands on us to adapt and to be flexible and resilient keep mounting.

    To survive and to thrive under such conditions,

    • we must collaborate with even greater compassion, courage, and creativity;
    • we must redouble our efforts to collaborate across differences of culture and perspective;
    • we must expand and deepen the ways we connect with each other as individual humans living in community.

     

    And, above all, we must restore and embrace our most human connections.

    Lesley’s “Secret Sauce”

    Fostering these vital human connections — preparing our students to be practitioners in these arts — is what sets a Lesley education apart.

    The depth and breadth of these connections flavors the Lesley experience.

    Lesley’s “secret sauce” is blended in the myriad ways you have learned to collaborate across disciplines and differences to produce a richer and more satisfying “meal.”

    Whether your studies focused on education, psychology and counseling, social work, mindfulness, the expressive therapies, or some combination of these, you have learned the value of making and strengthening human connections. And you are ready to share this bountiful feast with your community.

    With national shortages of teachers, mental health counselors and social workers, and with our collective yearning for the expressive and healing powers of the arts, a Lesley education has never been more in demand or more satisfying to share.

    You are the first responders to our most fundamental human needs:

    • the need to be inspired by wise and caring teachers;
    • the need to be supported by skilled and empathic counselors;
    • the need to be moved and uplifted by creative expression.

     

    The future of our communities depends more than ever on the skills and perspectives you have developed during your time at Lesley.

    Our bruised and imperfect world is hungry for what you can, and will, bring to the table.

    Lifelong Support

    But we know that the essential work you each will do to feed your community is likely to be draining, and to leave you hungry, too.

    Practitioners in the critically needed and demanding fields that you’re entering will need a lifetime of learning and development, regular opportunities for renewal, and new sources of inspiration.

    Fortunately, opportunities to continue your education and to deepen your connection to Lesley will not end once you cross the stage today.

    As alumna-trustee Lynda-Lee Sheridan, a past president of the Alumni Association, will soon note, the value of your Lesley education will continue to grow as you make connections and discover inspiration from within our diverse network of over 90,000 talented alumni.

    Our focused commitment to growing community partnerships, like the one we are launching with Riverside Community Care, to open a behavioral health center on our Doble Campus, will create reciprocal links between the university and employers and enable our students and alumni to forge lasting and lifelong connections.

    Partnerships will provide students with accessible pathways to meaningful careers while helping employers train and recruit the skilled and caring professionals their communities need and create new avenues for research to share with future Lesley students.

    Whether you stay in one field or change occupations, as many people do over their working lives — we will build programs not only to launch you in your career, but to create a banquet that will sustain you through your entire professional arc.

    Finding Inspiration

    By now you have noticed the culinary language that is sprinkled through these remarks. So, I will end with a brief note about five chefs who were honored in 2014 with a United States stamp series: Joyce Chen, Julia Child, Edna Lewis, James Beard and Felipe Rojas-Lombardi.

    Each of them is now credited with revolutionizing American cuisine through their championship of using fresh, seasonal ingredients at a time when many women wanted to spend less time in the kitchen and were enthralled with the modern convenience of the compartmentalized frozen “TV Dinner”:

    Joyce Chen, a fellow Cantabridgean, for popularizing authentic Chinese cuisine.

    Julia Child, also famously from Cambridge, for bringing French cooking to the American kitchen

    Edna Lewis, as the grand dame of southern cooking.

    James Beard, for being the Dean of American cuisine based on his championing of native American ingredients.

    And Felipe Rojas-Lombardi, a founder of ground-breaking gourmet store Dean & Deluca, for master-minding South American cooking and bringing tapas to America.

    Yet each of them overcame fiercely-set cultural barriers to achieve what they did:

    Joyce Chen, as an emigree from Communist China and single mother.

    Julia Child as an unlikely female TV star with her mature age and unusual height.

    Edna Lewis, as the daughter of emancipated slaves and the first African American to use her own name, race and gender in publishing a cookbook.

    And James Beard and Felipe Rojas-Lombardi, in being gay at a time when it, for instance, was reason for Beard to be expelled from Reed College.

    But they succeeded, each of them. because they persisted, just like the Lesley motto: Perissem Ni Perstitissem (“I would have perished had I not persisted”).

    There is a poignant moment in a recent HBO series about Julia Child when her husband sums up what was making her TV show, “The French Chef” such an unexpected hit. He says, “You are teaching them how to taste life, and they are listening.”

    Call to Action

    So, as you close this chapter of your Lesley experience, these are my wishes for you:

    I wish that having learned from our wonderful faculty, staff and community to taste life, that you will continue to savor life in all its complex flavors.

    I wish that you will use your knowledge and zest for life to enhance and improve the lives of others.

    I wish that you will persist, as Julia did, to bring your vision to life.

    And I wish that you will make every day count.

    Great Day Closing

    As one of the speakers in this year’s Thought Leadership series, author and artist Ekua Holmes, said, quoting a character in one of her books, “Don’t wait to have a great day, create one.”

    I think we can all agree that today is a great day for the Lesley community.

    I hope we each will commit to making tomorrow a great day too, in whatever ways we can, for as many people as we can.

    Congratulations again to the Lesley Classes of 2022, 2021 and 2020!

    Graduates, I’ll see you shortly when you cross the stage.

  • Commencement 2022 Afternoon Ceremony Speech

    Welcome & Congratulations

    On behalf of Hans Strauch and the entire Board of Trustees, I welcome you all to this year’s Commencement ceremony and extend a jubilant congratulations to:

    • our multi-talented graduates
    • their proud families and guests,
    • our dedicated faculty and professional staff, and
    • our distinguished honorary degree recipients: Shelly Lowe and Olivia Parker.

    Congregants

    This afternoon, we celebrate students earning master’s bachelor’s and associate’s degrees from our College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and our College of Art and Design and our students earning certificates of completion from the Threshold Program.

    To the Class of 2022, what a day of celebration for all you have achieved in these momentous times!

    And to the alumni from the Classes of 2020 and 2021 who have returned today to cross the stage, how wonderful to have you back so we can celebrate your achievements in person!

    And as a mother of an alumnus of the Threshold Program, seeing our Threshold students cross the stage at Commencement for the very first time in the university’s history brings tears to my eyes each time I say that.

    Class of 2022, I hope that sharing the spotlight with members from the two other classes from the 2020s and Threshold more than triples the pride and warmth you will feel as you cross the stage today.

    Let’s give all the exceptional students that we will celebrate today a round of applause. Congratulations!

    Reflection on the Times

    So, as we begin the ceremony today, let us pause to remember the loved ones that the pandemic has taken from us — family members and friends who might otherwise have been here today — as well the victims of wars and violent hate crimes, most recently the mass shooting in Buffalo.

    *Pause*

    There is no doubt that at school graduations and commencements across the globe, speakers will observe that we are living through extraordinary times.

    The shock waves keep coming, and the demands on us to adapt and to be flexible and resilient keep mounting.

    To survive and to thrive under such conditions,

    • we must collaborate with even greater compassion, courage, and creativity;
    • we must redouble our efforts to collaborate across differences of culture and perspective; and
    • we must expand and deepen the ways we connect with each other as individual humans living in community.

     

    And, above all, we must restore and embrace our most human connections.

    Lesley’s “Secret Sauce”

    Fostering these vital human connections — preparing our students to be practitioners in these arts — is what sets a Lesley education apart.

    The depth and breadth of these connections flavors the Lesley experience.

    Lesley’s “secret sauce” is blended in the myriad ways you have learned to collaborate across disciplines and differences to produce a richer and more satisfying “meal.”

    Whether your studies focused on the liberal or visual arts, education, psychology, social work, creative writing, business, or some combination of these, you have learned the value of making and strengthening human connections. And you are ready to share this bountiful feast with your community.

    With national shortages of teachers, mental health counselors and social workers, and with our collective yearning for the expressive and healing powers of the arts, a Lesley education has never been more in demand or more satisfying to share.

    You are the first responders to our most fundamental human needs:

    • the need to be inspired by wise and caring teachers;
    • the need to be supported by skilled and empathic counselors;
    • the need to be moved and uplifted by creative expression.

     

    The future of our communities depends more than ever on the skills and perspectives you have developed during your time at Lesley.

    Our bruised and imperfect world is hungry for what you can, and will, bring to the table.

    Lifelong Support

    But we know that the essential work you each will do to feed your community is likely to be draining, and to leave you hungry, too.

    Practitioners in the critically needed and demanding fields that you’re entering will need a lifetime of learning and development, regular opportunities for renewal, and new sources of inspiration.

    Fortunately, opportunities to continue your education and to deepen your connection to Lesley will not end once you cross the stage today.

    As alumna-trustee Lynda-Lee Sheridan, a past president of the Alumni Association, will soon note, the value of your Lesley education will continue to grow as you make connections and discover inspiration from within our diverse network of over 90,000 talented alumni.

    Our focused commitment to growing community partnerships, like the one we are launching with Riverside Community Care, to open a behavioral health center on our Doble Campus, will create reciprocal links between the university and employers and enable our students and alumni to forge lasting and lifelong connections.

    Partnerships will provide students with accessible pathways to meaningful careers while helping employers train and recruit the skilled and caring professionals their communities need and create new avenues for research to share with future Lesley students.

    Whether you stay in one field or change occupations, as many people do over their working lives — we will build programs not only to launch you in your career, but to create a banquet that will sustain you through your entire professional arc.

    Finding Inspiration

    By now you have noticed the culinary language that is sprinkled through these remarks. So, I will end with a brief note about five chefs who were honored in 2014 with a United States stamp series: Joyce Chen, Julia Child, Edna Lewis, James Beard and Felipe Rojas-Lombardi.

    Each of them is now credited with revolutionizing American cuisine through their championship of using fresh, seasonal ingredients at a time when many women wanted to spend less time in the kitchen and were enthralled with the modern convenience of the compartmentalized frozen “TV Dinner”:

    Joyce Chen, a fellow Cantabridgean, for popularizing authentic Chinese cuisine.

    Julia Child, also famously from Cambridge, for bringing French cooking to the American kitchen.

    Edna Lewis, as the grand dame of southern cooking.

    James Beard, for being the Dean of American cuisine based on his championing of native American ingredients.

    And Felipe Rojas-Lombardi, a founder of ground-breaking gourmet store Dean & Deluca, for master-minding South American cooking and bringing tapas to America.

    Yet each of them overcame fiercely-set cultural barriers to achieve what they did:

    Joyce Chen, as an emigree from Communist China and single mother.

    Julia Child as an unlikely female TV star with her mature age and unusual height.

    Edna Lewis, as the daughter of emancipated slaves and the first African American to use her own name, race and gender in publishing a cookbook.

    And James Beard and Felipe Rojas-Lombardi, in being gay at a time when it, for instance, was reason for Beard to be expelled from Reed College.

    But they succeeded, each of them. because they persisted, just like the Lesley motto: Perissem Ni Perstitissem (“I would have perished had I not persisted”).

    There is a poignant moment in a recent HBO series about Julia Child when her husband sums up what was making her TV show, “The French Chef” such an unexpected hit. He says, “You are teaching them how to taste life, and they are listening.”

    Call to Action

    So, as you close this chapter of your Lesley experience, these are my wishes for you:

    I wish that having learned from our wonderful faculty, staff and community to taste life, that you will continue to savor life in all its complex flavors.

    I wish that you will use your knowledge and zest for life to enhance and improve the lives of others.

    I wish that you will persist, as Julia did, to bring your vision to life.

    And I wish that you will make every day count.

    Great Day Closing

    As one of the speakers in this year’s Thought Leadership series, author and artist Ekua Holmes, said, quoting a character in one of her books, “Don’t wait to have a great day, create one.”

    I think we can all agree that today is a great day for the Lesley community.

    I hope we each will commit to making tomorrow a great day too, in whatever ways we can, for as many people as we can.

    Congratulations again to the Lesley Classes of 2022, 2021 and 2020!

    Graduates, I’ll see you shortly when you cross the stage.

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