A Message from Dean Barrett
Amid a tumultuous time, globally, nationally and locally, we embark on a new academic year that may not assuage anxiety about current events but will, I hope, remind us that our jobs as educators, mentors, advisers, and facilitators in higher education have never been more important.
The next few months present real challenges, including ongoing global conflicts, a contentious U.S. election season, and the increasing repercussions of climate change, all of which will be exacerbated by 24-hour news, social media, and tense discourse with family, friends, and colleagues. Let us, then, focus some of our attention on a campus reinvigorated by new students, faculty, staff, programs, and events that reinforce why the Liberal Arts and Sciences remain critical to our well-being and our future.
For starters, we are thrilled to recognize nine new faculty members, two long-term lecturers who have progressed into recurring positions, and a handful of new staffers within LA&S. These dedicated colleagues will continue to provide steadfast support for our departments including Anthropology, Communication, Communication Disorders, Counselor Education, Economics, English, and Language, Literatures, & Cultures, as well as the Dean’s Office. Please stop by and say ‘hello’ to them as they begin their time here with us.
Along with new faculty, the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences now offers a Master’s in Strategic Communication aimed at molding graduate students into professional communicators whose toolbelts will carry the latest trends and strategies for conveying content and information in a clear and purposeful way. For more information on this new “low residency” program, please reach out to Jason Wrench.
It is also an exciting time for Asian Studies in Language, Literatures, & Cultures (LLC), as we pilot Korean as an additional language of study, along with Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Kiswahili, Spanish, and Japanese.
As many of you have heard, the abrupt closure of The College of Saint Rose in Albany left many of its students without a collegial home to continue their studies. Fortunately, many departments, especially Counselor Education and Communication, have integrated displaced students into their respective programs. This is welcome news for all involved and bolsters one of the largest incoming classes we have seen in recent years.
Looking ahead, we are gearing up for our second annual LA&S Alumni Panelist Event—part of New Paltz’s 2024 Alumni Weekend—and look forward to welcoming alumni back to campus for a series of engaging discussions. This year, we will be highlighting graduates from our Communication Disorders, History, and Philosophy departments, and we thank our department chairs for their ongoing support.
Please stay tuned for more event details as we progress through the semester and into October, including our Without Limits speaker series, which strives to connect the various disciplines of a Liberal Arts education with many of the real-world issues we face together, collectively, in the 21st century. Development for our annual 2024-25 Without Limits series is ongoing and a theme will be announced later this semester. For a look at Without Limits from years past, visit our webpage and explore the many videos and writeups.
With all that is happening around the globe and here at home—including the many stressors of our own daily lives—it can be easy to lose sight of the simple things: who we are, what we do, and why we are here. Thankfully, our focus on the Liberal Arts & Sciences here at SUNY New Paltz remains abundantly clear.
Welcome back!