Restoring the Red
Dear Faculty and Staff,
This last weekend was Homecoming, Reunion, and Family Weekend, a wonderful celebration of Wittenberg's past and present. The opportunity to meet with alumni from as far back as the mid-1960s and as recent as just one year ago was a joy to me, as I hope it was for you.
The weather was perfect fall; even the leaves began to change at precisely the right time! Our sports teams were competing all weekend long, including our first home openers for both Wittenberg Men's and Women's Ice Hockey, and while we did not have a win in football, the new program is showing tremendous progress. Academic departments held alumni panels, and students presented their research in poster sessions. All the usual events of tailgates and special celebrations for the 25th, 50th, and even 60th reunions, along with our Athletics Hall of Honor Dinner and Induction Ceremony and our Alumni Achievement Awards, were well received. We also had a special re-dedication and blessing of Myers Hall after our successful campaign and completion of work to "Restore the Red."
This "micro campaign" was launched in the summer and finished in less than four months, raising more than our $250,000 goal needed to repair and repaint the exterior of Myers Hall and return the structure's iconic cupola to prominence. More than 550 alumni contributed, including over a third who either had not given to Wittenberg in three or more years or at all. There is much more work to be done on the interior of our first historic home of Wittenberg; recovery, restoration, and rebuilding is a process. Yet the beacon on the hill shines brightly once again. We are restoring the red of Wittenberg.
All of this serves as a beautiful analogy for where we are in Wittenberg's history. We reflect back on times of great achievement and success, even as we build for a new future. We are restoring the red. We build upon the past as we embrace the present and look to the future. We are restoring the red. We marvel as our students engage in new and exciting collaborative research, as our alumni continue to find success. We are restoring the red. Our field hockey and soccer teams rack up wins, while our ice hockey teams are just getting started, which the scores reflect. We are restoring the red. We see a football program rebuilding under new leadership as BJ Coad '08 and his coaching staff continue to do an excellent job of constructing a strong culture and a winning program, confident that the actual W's will come. We are restoring the red.
A simple phrase has become the mantra for our forward momentum, and I am excited to see where our mission, vision, and strategic plan take us in the future. We are restoring the red and restoring it well because we all wear the W. Thank you for engaging in this important work together.
Yours,
Christian M. M. Brady, DPhil (Oxon.)
President