Greetings from beautiful Bar Harbor! I’m writing to you after a cross-country drive from my old home in Utah to the Maine coast, during which I spent much time and many conversations thinking and talking about COA, including the college’s commitment to sustainability, practice of shared governance, and stories about the remarkable students and their projects.
As I begin this new position as president of COA, I’m looking forward to so many things. Of course, I’m excited about the COA Summer Institute in late July with its important focus on democracy. The lineup of speakers and participants is outstanding and promises lively conversations of consequence.
I plan to spend the summer months meeting staff, faculty, and community members on Mount Desert Island, but what I’m most excited about is welcoming students back to campus in the fall. During my on-campus interview in March, I met with students throughout the day, heard their ideas, their interests, and their concerns. The bright minds, creative thinkers, and engaged students who study at COA are remarkable because they understand the need for praxis—the marriage of theory with action in education, in personal development, and in problem solving. In the past months I’ve learned about a few more student projects and successes—everything from community agriculture work in Kenya to local engagement with Wabanaki people. I was thrilled to see a mathematician-artist student become a Barry Goldwater Scholar and to learn of two seniors who will embark on Watson Fellowships next year. And, I’ve read about the serious efforts by students to turn COA into a fossil-free and zero-waste campus. COA students are the future and I’m excited to meet them all, learn from them, and be part of their college years and future successes.
This last year, we’ve seen activism in the form of protest on many campuses across the country, sometimes with violent confrontations. COA students also have engaged in active protest but they’ve taken a different approach—dialogue. They, like me, believe it is our responsibility to be active participants in creating the world we hope to live in, knowing we must sometimes engage in difficult, uncomfortable conversations.
One of the things I appreciate the most about COA is how truly and deeply the school involves students in decisions about the direction of the college. The shared governance model at COA is unique and special and one of the reasons I was so keen to be a candidate for this position. The All College Meeting brings together a diversity of perspectives, thoughts and opinions and is a place where we will all work to understand each other, to make space for one another, and to actively solve complex problems. I look forward to listening deeply and generously and to participating in these conversations starting this fall.
Sincerely,
Dr. Sylvia Torti
President
College of the Atlantic
