President's Message
Dear Friends,
As a new year dawns it is natural to reflect on the year just concluded. My attention
is drawn to the recent past in our region and the national attention given to the
unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, and specifically the impact it is having on the educational
opportunities on our campus.
The fall offered our community the chance to do the very thing I think higher education
should be all about. An event of global importance happened in a neighboring state
and allowed us to develop several educational opportunities around these important
issues.
Perhaps at no other time in our history has it been more important than it is now
for higher education to stay current with our world and all of the many challenges
and opportunities we face as a society. At McKendree an excellent education today
must certainly be rooted in the classic foundation of the liberal arts, and it must
also be relevant to the issues of the day.
In this issue of The Magazine for McKendree, it is our pleasure to share with you some of the provocative programming that developed
this fall from current events in our region; a look at the global focus being brought
to our community by an ever more diverse group of recently hired faculty members;
and some of the ways members of our community are impacting our greater world.
As you read the magazine I hope you will agree that McKendree University continues
to provide our students with a vital, well-rounded, and multi-faceted college experience,
critical to the development of tomorrow’s leaders.
Sincerely,
James M. Dennis
President
