Great Expectations
Thomas D. Varberg
Professor and Chair of Chemistry
Macalester College

It is my honor to address you as a representative of the Macalester faculty on this occasion of the inauguration of our 16th President. I have been asked to speak about academic excellence at Macalester, and I have chosen to title my address, "Great Expectations," after that great novel by the Victorian author Charles Dickens.

As in Dickens' tale, where Pip's expectations get raised by the support of his benefactor Abel Magwitch, so too we at Macalester have raised expectations because of the generosity of our own benefactors-including many in this audience-and we hope to make the most of the resources with which we have been generously provided.

The question I would ask today is, "How do we continue to foster academic excellence at this institution?" Part of the answer lies in the expectations we set for ourselves.

First, academic excellence means that we have Great Expectations of our students. Macalester students are a capable and impressive group. Like young Pip, they are preparing for a life and career that lies ahead of them, with the hope of achieving their own great expectations. We want to challenge our students in every class they take at Macalester to push themselves beyond what they once thought they were capable of, while providing support for them to thrive in an environment where much is expected of them. It is by stretching their intellectual limits to the fullest that our students develop to their maximum potential.

We place the academic experience at the center of our students' four-year journey at Macalester College, where it forms the foundation upon which they build the other dimensions of their lives-the social, athletic, spiritual, civic and cultural contributions our students make during their time here. For I believe the degree to which we value their academic life at Macalester will largely determine the value of the degree we give them at Commencement.

Second, we have Great Expectations for our faculty. Contemporary, relevant and stimulating education requires faculty that are actively engaged in making advances at the forefronts of their disciplines. Faculty scholarship enhances academic quality in several ways. Our work in the classroom is directly impacted, because we remain connected to recent developments in our fields and can incorporate that new knowledge into our teaching. Our students benefit by seeing the dedication and the enthusiasm, even the sheer joy we have for being lifelong learners ourselves. And increasingly, scholarship on this campus is carried out in close collaboration with our students, for we recognize that students learn best by applying the ideas they are studying in our courses to real questions in the field, the lab or the city.

May I add that academic excellence flourishes to its fullest when all of us who are stakeholders of the college work together in advancing its educational mission, so that the whole of our collective labor is greater than the sum of our individual parts. We physical chemists use the term constructive interference to describe this added value: the positive overlap we have with each other enhances our overall amplitude. At Macalester, we see many fruitful collaborations across disciplines and departments, and these add immeasurably to our level of academic excellence.

Finally, dare I say it, we have Great Expectations for our new President. In his short time here, we have seen that he is a man of great intellect, inspiring optimism, and infectious passion. Already he has begun to refine our sense of what it means to be an outstanding, urban liberal arts college in this new century.

We know that he will seek to continue to raise the value of Macalester's contribution to the liberal arts, that he will continue to raise the standard of excellence we place on ourselves as an institution, that he will continue to raise the visibility of our shared values and our historic mission. While I suspect those are not the only things he will be expected to raise during his time here, I trust that we will value him as much for the leadership he provides as for the dollars he raises.

We pledge to work alongside him in furthering the great academic traditions of the college we love and hold dear. May we go forward from this moment with renewed devotion to pursuing our common vision with uncommon vigor.

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I knew it was a bit of a risk for a chemist such as myself to make allusions to a Charles Dickens novel, when one of our nation's foremost scholars of Dickens is the very man whose inauguration we celebrate today. And somewhat sheepishly, I must confess to you, Professor Rosenberg, that I haven't read the novel since high school-though I have seen the movie, does that count?-and so I hope I have not misappropriated its theme, or done any injustice to Pip and Miss Havisham and Estella and the others. And I will also admit that I am secretly hoping the President in his remarks will return the favor, and will make some sort of reference to my chosen research specialty…high-resolution laser spectroscopy.

Brian, we are pleased to welcome you formally to our campus today. We welcome you as a President who is already demonstrating an understanding of our past history as an institution, we welcome you as a leader who will help us to capitalize on our present resources and strengths, and we welcome you as a colleague who will inspire us to continue to set great aspirations for our future.

And finally, Brian, may I extend on a more personal level-though it pains me somewhat to say this-a special welcome to you as a friend and fellow fan of baseball, who despite having lived in Minnesota for most of the last season, still seems to think that Bernie Williams is a better center fielder than Torii Hunter!

President Rosenberg, I am bullish on Macalester. We have a dedicated staff, an engaged faculty, and wonderful students and alumni. I know you will make this great place even greater by your leadership here. Indeed, we do have Great Expectations.