October 1, 2024
Dear Connecticut College alumni and families
Hello from New London! It is wonderful to be back in New England for this glorious fall season, especially on such a stunning campus. It still feels a bit surreal when I take my morning walk on Tempel Green; I enjoy the view and Koda enjoys soccer practice!
As I continue to acquaint myself with the Connecticut College community, I am finding ways to interact with students, faculty and staff to listen, learn and build relationships, and am consistently inspired by the dedication of our faculty and staff and the passion and talent of our impressive students.
I would like to share a few recent academic initiatives and accomplishments:
- Joined the Connecticut Space Grant Consortium, a NASA-funded program administered at the state level that sponsors faculty and student research and student internships across the U.S. Professor Alex Gianninas will lead this endeavor.
- RReceived ARPA funding from the Connecticut Department of Education to fortify the New London Scholars Program. Amy Dooling, VP for Strategic Initiatives and Special Advisor to the President, will lead this initiative.
- Connecticut College was awarded $251,418 from the National Science Foundation to acquire a scanning electron microscope for multidisciplinary research and research training. Funds will replace a defunct scanning electron microscope at Connecticut College, with shared use between the Coast Guard Academy and UConn Avery Point. Faculty members who led this application were principal investigator Stan Ching (Chemistry) and co-principal investigators Peter Siver (Botany), Rachel Spicer (Botany), Taegan McMahon (Biology) and Maria Rosa (Biology).
- Assistant Professor of History Matt Swagler was awarded a $30,000 stipend to be an AKP Visiting Faculty Fellow for the Fall 2025 semester.
I am in the process of convening a working group on Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Assembly to “develop institutional language that recommends to the president and senior team a College-wide policy and procedures applicable to students, staff, faculty and guests governing matters related to freedom of expression, including posting on campus, posting on social media and listservs, and freedom of assembly (e.g., protests or speakers/performers on campus).”
Given the central importance of these policies and processes to how we live our mission and values, I am committed to developing them through our shared governance process. Accordingly, I am reaching out to trustees, faculty, staff and student governing bodies to appoint members to the task force, and will request that the task force keep our community informed of their progress and provide opportunities for input from all campus constituencies.
Looking forward to the spring, the College has created a committee to oversee planning for my inauguration, which will take place Saturday, April 26. I have asked the committee to ensure that the event is a celebration of Conn’s academic excellence and other points of distinction. The committee includes representatives from all of Conn constituencies – students, faculty, staff, senior administration, trustees and alumni.
In the near future, I hope to see many of you at Fall Weekend, Oct. 18-19, or at one of our holiday gatherings in December. As always, please accept my gratitude for your commitment to the College as we move ahead together.
Sincerely,
Andrea E. Chapdelaine, Ph.D.
President