While it appears to me that the ground has already been broken for the new College of Education and Human Services building, it is still a good idea to pause for a moment to think a bit about why this building is important. The Diaspora of this faculty, staff, and student body will end soon. The wandering is about to end.

With all of the current emphasis on STEM disciplines these days it is important to remember that the quality of education received by our students long before they become our students is likely to determine, in the longer run, the health of the STEM disciplines in America. I can think of little of more importance than the educating of teachers and others who prepare our future students in all of the disciplines. It is good and proper that a warm and inviting home be given to those who are to become those teachers and to their professors. The design of this building is intended to make the spirit soar, to provoke a sense of pride in profession, to bring students together with other students and with the faculty both in formal and informal settings. It is a design that is intended to prod the faculty and students alike to work toward the day when we will understand how ALL children learn. It is a code that has to be cracked. The new leadership of education will be educated here as well. To put it plainly, something very important is happening on our campus and soon it will be visible to all. More than anything else, we will be housing the work that is necessary to maintaining a democracy. Jefferson would approve: ignorance and freedom cannot co-exist. This is much more than a college of education and human services building. It is the house of liberty, and let there be no misunderstanding about that.

This building also speaks to our esteem for our nursing students and for their professors as well. It is an important common home for learning and healing. I will be at the ribbon cutting and hope you will join me there.

Dr. Michael Schwartz
President