To: The Wellesley Community
From: President Paula A. Johnson
Re: Welcome Back
Date: August 30, 2019
It is with joy and an invigorated sense of purpose that I welcome you back to campus, and extend a heartfelt greeting to those of you who are joining our community this year—new faculty and staff, Davis Scholars and transfer students, and of course the brilliant yellow class of 2023.
At the start of this academic year, I find myself returning to the idea of “practical dreaming,” the theme of my 2018 commencement remarks. As we envision the world in which we want to live, we also must take concrete steps to build that world.
In that spirit, I want to share some updates on projects, people, and initiatives at the College, with a focus on what they will mean for each of you.
Setting the stage for vibrant campus conversations
Some of our most profound learning comes from living alongside each other and being open to a multitude of viewpoints and experiences.
With this reality in mind, our Task Force on Speech and Inclusion has submitted to me a set of recommendations in accordance with its charge to create “a campus environment that supports freedom of speech and intellectual challenge through thoughtful and respectful engagement.”
I shared these recommendations at the close of our last academic year and am now doing so again. I invite you to review the task force’s full report, and use our response form to provide your thoughts and feedback.
I am deeply grateful to the task force for exploring ways we can better engage in the sometimes messy but essential work of building a better community, and I look forward to our next steps.
Building our powerful vision for STEM education
Science Hill has three new additions. Let me start by thanking the faculty and staff who have remained patient and flexible in making the transition to temporary spaces as we push forward to complete the project.
The newly renovated L-wing has reopened, which will allow both cutting-edge research and teaching across all STEM fields at Wellesley. The space has dramatically transformed the former science library into a new computational and data sciences lab that houses classrooms, teaching labs, and a makerspace, as well as research labs and computer labs for computer science students and faculty. There are new classrooms on the second floor of the L-wing; teaching labs on levels 2 and 3 have been renovated to provide sound separation between the labs; and we’ve installed new fume hoods and other equipment throughout the facility. Overall, you’ll find it brighter and more open than before. We are excited for research and teaching to begin again in this transformed space.
The Global Flora Conservatory, which will be open to the campus community in September with limited hours, builds on the rich history of a century of botanical education and research at Wellesley. This award-winning space will offer students year-round opportunities to study the mysteries and inner workings of the natural world, examine the systems-thinking that is the bedrock of progress in sustainability, and engage in a wide range of interdisciplinary research.
At the Whitin Observatory, we replaced our old 24-inch telescope with a new 0.7-meter Planewave reflector telescope and renovated the dome that houses this state-of-the-art instrument. This telescope, along with our historic, late 1800s-model 6- and 12-inch telescopes, will be available to faculty and students alike to support teaching and research.
This is just the most recent progress we’ve made on Science Hill, where we are creating not only a space but an entire approach that builds upon Wellesley’s historic legacy of leading-edge undergraduate lab work and will become the gold standard for teaching women in STEM.
Charting a sustainable path forward
We are continuing our work to ensure sustainability across Wellesley.
One specific step we are taking is exploring geothermal opportunities for heating and cooling on campus, which could help us significantly as we strive to reach our goal of achieving carbon neutrality.
The crucial, ongoing work of the Sustainability Office, the Sustainability Committee, and E2040—our working group composed of members of the Board of Trustees, which is currently developing a master energy plan—are all critical components of our overall effort to put the College on a path to sustainability. We have also engaged MEP Associates as consultants to aid us in the development of a long-term energy plan.
Coupled with the ongoing efforts to locate and curb additional uses of carbon, such as transportation and other individually small, collectively significant sources of energy use, this work will help us develop a comprehensive plan, which we expect to complete later this spring. Once we have the facts necessary to see our way to achieving our sustainability goals, we will commit ourselves to a time frame. A website is being developed to keep the entire community abreast of the sustainability initiatives on campus.
In October, E2040 will be hosting an event to share its progress with the community, answer questions about its ongoing work, and provide ways for all of us to get involved. More details about this event will be shared in the coming weeks.
Looking ahead: A strategic plan for Wellesley
This fall, we move forward with a project that will shape the College in the years leading up to our sesquicentennial in 2025, and beyond: the development of a five-year strategic plan and long-term vision for Wellesley.
I first announced this effort in a recent message to the Wellesley community. The process will be led by a steering committee that will develop the key questions that will guide our work, and to help answer these questions, we will establish work groups that will include faculty, staff, and students and will provide engines for ideas, forums for exploring questions and considerations in depth, and spaces for sharing and discussing recommendations. We expect the planning process to unfold over the course of 15 months, with the Board of Trustees approving a plan by the fall of 2020.
Community engagement and transparency will be cornerstones of the strategic planning effort. Throughout, we will seek out opportunities for dialogue and feedback from all members of our community.
By harnessing our individual talents and ideas alongside our sustained connection to one another and this campus, we will develop a shared vision and path to the future that allows us to embrace change, and to thrive. I invite you to visit the new Strategic Planning section on the website to contribute your thoughts and feedback and to see updates as the work progresses.
Introducing a new approach to Health Services
On November 1, 2019, Newton-Wellesley Medical Group, the physician group of Newton-Wellesley Hospital, will become the provider of on-campus medical care at Wellesley.
As further detailed in my announcement of last week, the College will be providing students with enhanced, expanded services and bringing to Wellesley’s campus the world-class health care for which Boston is known. Among the benefits:
- Expanded Health Services hours and appointments
- High-quality sports medicine capabilities
- Greater access to specialized care
- Easier access to after-hours care
- Continued close integration with the Stone Center Counseling Service
With these changes, we seek to strengthen and broaden health and wellness resources in ways that address a number of concerns expressed in student feedback. We are also welcoming a new team of physicians many of you may have already gotten to know. As always, our goal is a healthy and flourishing community. I want to thank those staff who will be leaving Wellesley for their dedication and outstanding care of our students over the years.
Introducing new Wellesley leaders
This summer, I was pleased to welcome three new colleagues to my senior leadership team. They are:
Mary Casey, vice president for development, who will serve as our lead fund-raiser, responsible for the College’s comprehensive development efforts as well as the management of our centralized development operation.
Tara Murphy, chief communications officer, who will serve as our principal advisor on all communications-related matters.
Megan Núñez, dean of faculty affairs, who will serve as an advocate and leader for the College’s faculty within the Office of the Provost. While new to this role, Professor Núñez is far from new to Wellesley. She is the Nan Walsh Schow ’54 and Howard B. Schow Professor in the Physical and Natural Sciences and professor of chemistry, and she previously served as chair of Wellesley’s Department of Chemistry.
In addition, I am delighted to introduce three new colleagues who recently assumed critical campus roles:
Kathryn Mackintosh ’03 is our new executive director of the Wellesley College Alumnae Association. She will represent Wellesley to alumnae and steward the interests of the alumnae body within the campus community.
Bethany Ellis joins us as our new director of athletics and chair of the Department of Physical Education, Recreation, and Athletics.
Rev. Jacquelina Marquez, an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), joins us to serve as dean of religious and spiritual life.
Please make all of them feel welcome when you see them on campus!
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I hope this letter has given you a clearer sense of how we are working to build the world we want to live in—to dream both expansively and practically. I am so excited to see what this year will bring, and I look forward to seeing you on campus.
