Dear Campus Learning Communities, Individuals, and Persons who choose not to identify,

As I settle into my first day at Willard College, I want to share my reflections on this vibrant and loving community that we call Willard College! In the midst of Covid-19, many Thought Leaders, of which I humbly count myself, see only opportunity in the plunging enrollments, endowments, and faculty employment and the skyrocketing student debt, unemployment futures, and low morale (isn’t that funny that low morale is skyrocketing?). We have a unique opportunity to reimagine and reawaken Willard College. But we have to ask tough but loving questions. Do we need as many faculty? Do we need to have a brick and mortar campus? Which departments do not align with the Strategic Planning Process Committee? We are in the midst of a forest fire but the trees that survive, some only as saplings, will make a new and beautiful forest! We all have a role to play but need faculty participation.

Feel free to write me directly and I’d love to hear your dreams for where we can go together, or as individuals, or however you want to position yourself, or however you are positioned as we move forward, together and some of us apart.

Please also feel free to address me as Dr. Provost Shames.

Sincerely, Dr. Provost Shames