President’s Message

I am so honored to be part of the Centre College community and want to celebrate both our history and our hope for the future as we continue to build a community that champions inclusive excellence.

MILTON C. MORELAND

Championing Inclusive Excellence

Dina and I appreciate the outpouring of support that our entire family received during my recent inauguration festivities. They were part of a very busy week, chronicled in this issue of Centrepiece, that also included a Board of Trustees meeting, groundbreaking for our new $50 million Initiative for Wellness and Athletic Excellence, and a Homecoming that observed the centennial of C6H0, Centre’s amazing win over Harvard.

As I suggested in my inaugural address, reflecting on my first 16 months in office, I am so honored to be part of the Centre College community and want to celebrate both our history and our hope for the future as we continue to build a community that champions inclusive excellence. Constantly exploring and integrating our past as we think together about how to envision a better future will help build deep resilience when taking on the challenges ahead.

I was struck by a recent Gallup Poll that revealed a deep preference right now in much of the world for a “calm life” over one that is “exciting.” Admittedly, it makes perfect sense that people across the planet increasingly value calmness during this pandemic. Yet we know that our lives are richer, more purposeful, and healthier when we seek to balance that calm with an appreciation for adventure, innovation, and curiosity born out of a humbleness that drives us to learn from people who are different than us.

Our residential liberal arts college, established in central Kentucky over 200 years ago and reestablished by us all each day as a purposeful community, will thrive now and into the future because of the value we place on contrasting ideas and the juxtapositions and differences of our philosophies, habits, and identities, especially if they are held in common community and tested in the arena of critical inquiry.

My hope for Centre’s future is built on the beautiful confluence of intercultural and interdisciplinary ideas and practices. In our mutual search for truth and purpose, this residential liberal arts college is the perfect setting to bring people together in a shared space to grapple with difficult questions that help us appreciate our differences and promote respect for our shared humanity. And I am excited for us to expand opportunities for all our students to be involved in applying their knowledge through experiential learning, community engagement, internships, and living and working in even more study abroad and away locations as they prepare for their future careers.

By working to achieve these goals, Centre will increasingly be known for curricular and cocurricular programming that provides a global perspective, enhances communication skills, refines leadership abilities, and prepares our graduates for a lifetime of meaningful work and civic impact.

I am dedicated to ensuring that we continue the great tradition of challenging our students to have lofty goals and high expectations for their lives, that every student here at Centre knows that they belong, and that this challenging and rigorous learning environment is always a supportive community.

As I was honored to celebrate with you this new chapter in the distinguished history of Centre College during the inauguration ceremony, I want to thank you for allowing me to join you on this amazing educational adventure. Let us capture this moment together and excel into the future.

Sincerely,

Milton C. Moreland President