FALL 2016
President’s
INSIDER
FROM THE DESK OF CHRISTOPHER B. HOWARD, D.PHIL., PRESIDENT OF ROBERT MORRIS UNIVERSITY
In case you were not able to attend, here’s an excerpt from my inaugural address on October 7. It was a tremendous Homecoming weekend — not only my inauguration, but our celebration as a community of alumni, students, faculty, friends and supporters of Robert Morris University. Click here to see the full speech. “This a great American story for our time. What makes it an American story? It’s an improbable but not impossible story. It’s improbable to go from a for-profit school of accountancy to a national doctoral university. It’s improbable to go from the great-greatgrandson of a slave to being the president of one of the finest universities in America, Robert Morris University. Look at our keynote speaker: It’s improbable to go from being a young woman in Iowa shooting hoops to being the first woman to run the Air Force Academy. Our stories are improbable but not impossible, and that’s what makes America great. These are stories of the American dream. We can share that dream with the world, and it is a dream that will no longer be deferred…” “Opportunity and excellence — that’s the trade-off we’ve always faced in higher education. Do we serve students with potential, but who come from backgrounds with fewer resources, the first-generation college students, the students who have to work 20 hours or more a week to pay for school? The veteran who served his or her country and left pieces of themselves literally and figuratively on the battlefield? Or do we serve the merit scholars, the kids with perfect and near-perfect SATs, the kids admissions counselors fall all over themselves trying to enroll?” “That’s the point. We shouldn’t have to choose. And we won’t. That’s not to say we are going to be all things to all people at all times, which is a recipe for failure. We will always be Robert Morris University, however, and we will remain true to the values and character that
brought us here today. But we will strive to ensure that there is a place for the student who is the first in their family to go to college, a place for that student who has aced their AP tests, a place for that single mother who can only earn a degree if she can take classes online.” “We won’t do it alone. We will do it in partnership with the business world, government agencies, local communities, and professional organizations. RMU will be the preferred partner for corporations, organizations, and professionals in the Pittsburgh region. With organizations like UPMC and Peoples Natural Gas. Like ATI and PNC. Like the Pittsburgh Steelers and Fedex Ground. Like Covestro and the Urban League and the Allegheny Conference. And on and on. This is our story, ladies and gentlemen. This is Robert Morris University’s story. This is a great American story for our world. It is an improbable but not impossible story. But it is not finished, my friends. Where we will be in 2019, RMU’s 50th year as a four-year institution, and it’s president’s 50th birthday? Where will we be in 2021, when this grand institution begins its second century?” “My story began with a slave named Amos Howard on a dry patch of Texas land. The Robert Morris University story began in a few rented rooms in a smoky city. We will write the next chapter together. To quote one of my favorite authors, James Baldwin, who said, “America must be what America must be,” let Robert Morris be what Robert Morris must be — an institution with good people and a great future.”
Sincerely,
Christopher B. Howard, D.Phil.