Academic Year 2017-18

Good morning on this beautiful and rain-free day! I am honored to welcome the Class of 2018 and our master's degree recipients to Bucknell's 168th Commencement ceremony. Welcome to the many families and friends who join us today to celebrate this milestone with our graduates.

You did it. You have gotten to an unimaginable place from just four ridiculously short years ago. You are graduating from one of our finest schools and I congratulate you and, of course, your parents for the teamwork it takes to get to the finish line.

What a joyous morning it is, Class of 2018. I'd like to extend a heartfelt and grateful greeting to the families, friends and University faculty here today. Your mentorship over the past four years has been truly invaluable and we would not be here without your help. Thank you for believing in us.

On Friday, we concluded our spring Board of Trustees meeting. You will find below a brief summary of the business that took place.

Dear Bucknellians,
I am excited to share with you the news that we have successfully concluded our search for our next director for athletics & recreation, and it is my pleasure to introduce to you Jermaine Truax.

Dear Colleagues,
Throughout this academic year, many of you have attended or viewed the recordings of a series of forums intended to assist us in gaining a shared situational understanding of certain broad topics critical to the success of strategic planning. I will be presenting the final forum on Tuesday, April 10, at 4 p.m. in Trout Auditorium. In advance of my remarks next week, I want to take this opportunity to share my thoughts on and priorities for strategic planning.

Find below the President's Message from Bucknell Magazine in the Spring 2018 issue.
Some think of Bucknell as being about three hours from New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. I prefer to think of those cities as being three hours from Bucknell. Without the fuss of gridlock traffic, here you can sample renowned performers and literary giants, from Toni Morrison to Judy Collins, as well as original, diverse artists such as the Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq and the Lakota Sioux Dance Co. At Bucknell you also can hear the art conservator Dianne Modestini talk about restoring the world’s most expensive painting — Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi.

Whether you’re holding this magazine in your hand, or reading these words on a screen, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that this edition of Bucknell Magazine is boldly different from what you’ve seen throughout the past decade. The changes reflect our desire — our need — to tell a more compelling, differentiating, defined and authentic story about what we as a community do and why we do it.

Dear Colleagues,
Below is my customary summary of our recent winter Board of Trustees meeting, which took place in Washington, D.C., from Wednesday, Jan. 24, through Friday, Jan. 26.

Dear Colleagues,
I am writing with a summary of our fall 2017 Board of Trustees meeting, which took place on campus last week. It was a productive meeting in many ways, highlighted by some significant and exciting announcements.

Find below the President's Message from Bucknell Magazine in the Fall 2017 issue.
Popular opinion has it that engineers don’t read much beyond C++ code. As I glance at the books lining the shelves in my office, with topics ranging from World War I history to photography to Shakespeare, I must beg to differ. In fact, when I moved into the President’s House nearly eight years ago, my sole request was to add shelves to contain what is now a 5,000-volume library.

Dear Bucknellians,
More than 30 years ago, a small group of visionary academic leaders began what is now known as Campus Compact, a national organization of nearly 1,100 higher education institutions dedicated to advancing campus-based civic engagement. This group has, with great success, inspired and guided efforts that support community-based teaching and research and develop students' capacity for active citizenship and democratic participation. 

Dear Faculty and Staff Colleagues,
In February 2014, I spoke candidly about the changing landscape and increased challenges facing higher education, including demographic disruptions, rising external scrutiny, financial constraints and the market’s increasing focus on a college education’s "return on investment." I posited that these issues will prove deeply problematic for many institutions and insurmountable for some.

Dear Bucknellians,
"We all have a part to play in standing up against sexual violence." I have said this many times when publicly discussing sexual misconduct on our campus, including in a September 2014 open letter to our student body published in the Bucknellian. An active, united front against such conduct is as critical today as it was then.

Dear Bucknellians,
A short time ago, the White House announced that it is terminating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. According to the administration, applications will no longer be accepted, effective immediately, and the program will fully expire in March 2018, giving Congress six months to replace it with new legislation. We will work to provide a more complete analysis of this action within the next 24 hours and post it to our webpage dedicated to updates on immigration-related information. 

Dear Faculty & Staff Colleagues,
It is great to be back with you for the start of a new academic year. I want to thank those of you who helped make our New Student Orientation program so successful. It is deeply gratifying to talk with new students and their families who are eager to recount stories of their early interactions with you, and how those encounters have reinforced their decision to attend Bucknell.

Visit this page to view the full Convocation address by John C. Bravman, President delivered Aug. 20, 2017, at Bucknell University.

Dear Bucknellians,
Each August, I am energized by the mounting excitement of the approaching academic year. Many of our students have already arrived on campus for pre-orientation, athletics and other activities, and on Wednesday we will welcome nearly 1,000 of our newest Bucknellians — the Class of 2021. In just a matter of days, the 2017-18 academic year will be underway with its opportunities for new experiences, new perspectives, and new friends and colleagues.