Dean Emeritus Michael Lykoudis Letters to the Students of the Notre Dame School of Architecture Dear Students, The editors of the new publication, Stoa, have asked me to say a few words to the students of our School. As I reflect on the past 18 years as head of the School and many more as a member of its faculty and administration, it seems that as things seem to change, many things--namely issues of character--remain the same through time and place. No matter what our challenges, no matter what our new horizons, the basics remain simple. Courage, persistence, hard work and goodness towards all, will make the world a better place, and provide the best chance for your individual and collective success. The current culture of selfishness, intolerance, consumption and waste has imprisoned our world in a multitude of conflicts where resolution seems ever more distant and the stakes are ever so much higher than in any other time. To break out of this cycle, perhaps it is better that we think of our careers as campaigns to make the world habitable, meaningful, just, peaceful and beautiful through our daily lives and our vocations. Perhaps through these struggles we may return to being, once again, a truly free people. This is the subject of my talk, delivered to the class of 2020 during this year’s graduating student award and recognition event. While it was written for them, I hope that all of you might find it useful as you begin to chart the course of your lives: These are historical times. During spring break the world turned on its head and we were all faced with tremendous uncertainty. Most of you were away from your projects and the logistics of returning to campus and taking on finishing your thesis were daunting. The faculty were also faced with a tremendous shift in how they were going to teach their classes and finish the semester. The University extended the spring break, our IT team developed a virtual desktop and despite a few bumps and scrapes, the School was online within a few days of classes beginning.
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