Welcome back!

School has started-boy has it ever! Sunday was Convocation, where Reverend Carter Via gave us much to think about - "What kind of person do you want to be?" Reverend Via has worked with Wangari Maathai for many years had many "Mangari" stories. His stories helped to make the heroine of the book Unbowed come alive for me.m What a wonderful way to start off the semester!

I was lucky enough to hear Wangari Maathai preach at White Plains Presbyterian Church when Reverend Via was the senior minister there. I found her words inspiring then, as I did anew when I read her memoir.

A few quick highlights of the year ahead:

• We will begin the process of restructuring the academic departments in the School with the formation this fall of the Information Technology Departments on each of the campuses. Departments will be meeting next week and chair elections will be held before the week's end.

• We are working on the promotional materials for the new Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, with interdisciplinary tracks in cybersecurity, web and digital media, networking and information management.

• Within the next week I'll be circulating a review of the last year, highlighting the many recruiting and retention activities we conducted, the enhancements we've made in all areas of our curricula, and the awards and grants members of the School have received.

Tomorrow I'll be in Pleasantville. For those of us who were downtown, or for that matter anywhere in the metropolitan area, the events of September 11, 2001 might still seem very close-I know they are for me.

I'll be in Pleasantvillle on Monday and Friday, at One Martine Avenue on Tuesday, at Midtown on Wednesday morning for a meeting with our advisory board and then at 163 in the afternoon.
Thursday is still up in the air.

Enjoy the first week of school!