Dear Knox Community,
So much has happened during my first three months at Knox, but one thing has remained constant: My tremendous enthusiasm for leading this wonderful institution, and working with all of you to move Knox forward to an even brighter future. It has been terrific to hear ideas, insights, and stories about Knox from so many of you, and from our students and members of the Galesburg community. This information has inspired and energized the entire College leadership to consider and think carefully about our future work together in order to make a great institution better.
Earlier this month, we welcomed a new class of students to campus, and held a number of orientation events; a huge thanks to all of the staff for their dedication to ensuring these important moments were flawlessly executed. At our annual Welcome Event for new students and their parents, I had the pleasure of witnessing the warmth, pride, and spirit our Orientation Leaders showed to our new students and parents, and was amazed by the commitment of our students who assisted with new student move-in day.
I was also honored to participate in a Faculty Meeting and Fall Conversation to start the academic year, and witnessed firsthand the passion and dedication our faculty have for teaching and working with one another to deliver our one-of-a-kind student experience in and out of the classroom. I felt joy in the room as many faculty members saw one another in person for the first time in more than a year. I’d like to thank Provost and Dean of the College Mike Schneider for hosting the event, and also want to share my appreciation for our faculty, who engaged with one another in conversation focused on ideas to move the College forward.
COVID Precautions on Campus to Ensure Safety for All
Monday, September 13 was the official start of classes for the academic year. We know we are at our best when we are learning in-person -- the hallmark of a world-class liberal arts education. To safely and successfully return to the human-powered experience we are known for, we had to take a three pronged approach to protect the health and wellness of our campus community, informed by federal, state and local guidelines: Vaccinations, testing, and masking.
We required all students, faculty, and staff to be fully vaccinated before the academic year started, and are pleased to share with you that over 90% of our students, faculty and staff are fully vaccinated, with this percentage continuing to rise as we move further into the academic year. We are allowing for medical and religious exemptions; those with exemptions are getting tested twice weekly. In addition, we are requiring masks in indoor spaces, and have instituted structured and clear visitor policies.
Also, last week, we required all members of the campus community to get tested so that we can see if the virus is present on campus, and determine other potential safety measures that we must take to keep our community safe. The results of the campus-wide testing are available in our COVID-19 testing dashboard, which is reporting 5 cases from our testing last week. This low number of cases is an indicator that our current preventative measures are working. Health Services is following the safety protocols necessary for any COVID-19 cases to ensure our infection rate stays low, and we will be ready to pivot as needed, should there be changes in infection rates on campus.
We are also consulting with other leading liberal arts colleges on their policies and protocols for COVID-19. Thanks to Barbara Baird ‘73, Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees, Knox is now an active member in a small consortium of highly respected liberal arts colleges, including Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore, that regularly speak with one another about campus health and safety during these challenging times.
Campus Staff News
I want to share news with you about a number of our valued staff members, some of whom you may know, as they have provided excellent service to Knox College for many years.
Beverly Holmes, who has served in and led the Office of Advancement for almost 20 years, will become Senior Philanthropic Advisor to the President, effective October 1. I have asked Beverly to partner directly with me in this role, focusing primarily on providing strategic philanthropic advice, assisting with key projects, providing expert counsel that only she with her extensive donor relations experience could offer, and drafting of donor-centric fundraising options and profiles for some of our key prospects.
Sandra Gray, Director of Advancement Services, Eric Johnson, Associate Director of Alumni Engagement, and Mark Wilson, Associate Vice President, Major Gifts, will serve as interim leaders of the Advancement team. I am also pulling together a small team of outside advisors to assist with an Advancement review in the coming days, focused on the structural needs of the organization. The team will include former trustee Heather Kopec ‘10.
Steve Hall, Chief Information Officer, is retiring from Knox after 28 years of dedicated leadership in our Information Technology Services (ITS) department, effective October 1. Victor Davis ‘87, Associate Chief Information Officer, and Kevin Kogut, Director of Systems and Networks, will serve as interim leaders. Also, Debra DeCrane ‘98, Associate Director of Software Development and System Integration, has announced her retirement, effective January 2022, after 31 years of service to the College. We are fortunate that trustee Rick Veague ‘79 has agreed to lead a review of the ITS Department, and we will be sharing our new leadership plan for ITS in the coming weeks.
Our Finance and Administrative Services team, led by Vice President Paul Eisenmenger, has promoted Sara King to Director of Finance and Controller. Sara was formerly financial controller, and has worked at Knox for almost two years. Also, Vicky Jones has been promoted from Finance Compliance Coordinator to Assistant Director of Auxiliary Services and External Events. Vicky has served Knox for almost nine years. Scott Maust, Director of Facilities, will be retiring at the end of December, after 25 years of committed service to the College.
I also wanted to let you know about some reporting shifts from the President’s Office to other offices at the College: Our Sustainability function has moved from the President’s Office to Finance and Administrative Services; Anna Clark, Director of Institutional Research, is now reporting to Heather Bumps, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives; and Daniella Irle, Director of Athletics, will continue to report directly to Provost and Dean of the College Mike Schneider. Kim Schrader, Title IX Coordinator, continues to report to me.
Homecoming Moved to Spring 2022
After a number of weeks of monitoring COVID trends and hoping for a positive outcome, our campus senior leadership team concluded that a Homecoming Weekend event on campus this fall is not possible, nor safe for our community. In consultation with Board of Trustees leadership, I made the difficult decision to postpone the Homecoming Weekend planned for next month. At this time, Homecoming 2021 is postponed to Spring 2022. Please save the date for the weekend of May 12-15; there will be more details to come. Should you have any questions about Homecoming, you can contact Megan Clayton in Advancement at pclayton@knox.edu.
Our Homecoming football game, scheduled for Saturday, October 9 at 1:00 p.m. versus Beloit College is still on, and so is our volleyball game, scheduled at the same time, versus Illinois College. Our programs follow the Midwest Conference Standards for Competition, with the health and safety of the student-athletes, coaches, and administrators as the top priority. If you plan to attend any upcoming athletic events, please review our spectator policies on the Prairie Fire website.
Save the Date: Inauguration Scheduled for May 5 and 6, 2022
I am pleased to share with you that the presidential inauguration ceremony and related events are now scheduled for Thursday, May 5 and Friday, May 6, 2022. Please save the date; as plans for the two day celebration come together, we will share details with the community. I am looking forward to seeing you there.
Commencement for the Class of 2020
The Commencement ceremony for the Class of 2020 and related activities will take place on Sunday October 10, 2021. We are pleased to welcome back more than 120 members of the class of 2020 and their families for the outdoor events only on this day. If you have any questions about the schedule of events, please visit the event web page, or email commencement@knox.edu.
Friends and Family Saturday Scheduled
On Saturday, October 16, we will hold our 2021 Friends and Family day. In order to preserve the safety and health of our campus, we will host families on campus for activities on one day, with all activities occurring outside. No visitors will be permitted in the residential halls. Stay tuned for more news about the plans for this special day.
Convocation Ceremony and Awarding of Faculty, Staff, and Student Prizes
We started the academic year with our annual convocation ceremony, during which we honored deserving members of our campus community with prizes for their extraordinary work at Knox. Please join me in congratulating the following faculty, staff and students:
- Jennifer McCarthy Foubert, Assistant Professor of Educational Studies, and Antonio Prado, Professor of Modern Languages, who received the Philip Green Wright/Lombard College Prizes for Distinguished Teaching. Foubert was awarded the prize for non-tenured faculty, and Prado received the prize designated for tenured faculty.
- Students Charles Washington Broomfield ‘22, Rebecca Gadiel ‘22, Rosaline Zucker ‘22, and Sophia Bowley ‘22, who were recognized as being inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s most prestigious academic honor society, as juniors last spring.
- Student Sophia Bowley ‘22, who also received the Faculty Scholarship Prize, the highest honor that Knox faculty can accord to a student. It is awarded to the senior who has exhibited exceptional academic ability while also significantly participating in extracurricular activities. Bowley is a Public Policy major.
- Student Daniel Rodriguez ‘22, a Psychology major, received the Elbridge Pierce Prize for scholastic improvement, awarded to the senior who has made the greatest scholastic improvement since the end of the student’s first year at Knox.
- Staff members Abby Putnam, Director of Health Services, and Ed Anderson, General Maintenance Worker, who each received a Janet C. Hunter prize for outstanding accomplishments and service to Knox. The prizes, nominated by staff members and chosen by a selection committee, are based upon how the nominees interact with members of the Knox community, and their contributions to make the College a better place to live, work, and learn.
Abby is the lead health professional on our campus, and she and her team have built a professional, well-respected health center that provides excellent care to our students. Abby’s expertise and tireless work during the COVID-19 pandemic benefited every member of our campus community, and she worked closely with Athletic leadership to ensure that Athletics met the NCAA health and safety requirements to practice and compete.
Ed is appreciated across campus as someone who brightens everyone’s day and goes above and beyond to help others. This past year, when Dining Services was short-staffed, Ed, who worked in Dining Services for 20 years prior to moving to his maintenance role, would finish his maintenance job shift and without any prompting, assist the Dining Services staff with their work.
August Board of Trustees Retreat
The Knox Board of Trustees usually holds a summer retreat to plan their priorities for the coming year. This year’s retreat was held virtually, with a focus on determining strategic priorities for moving Knox forward. I would like to express my gratitude to Tony Etz ‘83, our board chair, for his partnership in organizing and leading the board retreat.
During the retreat, we reviewed trends in admission and fundraising, and heard from admission leaders from Colby College, whose innovative work in changing how their operation recruits students resulted in exponential growth in applications. We also heard from Kristina Dooley, Founder and President of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA), who shared ideas about how to best engage with college counselors. Members of the board of trustees were also asked to share what they believe the priorities for Knox need to be during the coming years.
The insights and ideas from our board members and retreat speakers are informing the development of our strategic planning framework over the coming months. As our priorities and plans are formed, we will share them, and hope you will provide thoughts and feedback.
Task Force on Trustee Nominations to Address Trustee Diversity
This past summer, the Board of Trustees formed a Task Force on Trustee Nominations to ensure that the board reflects the full and rich diversity of the Knox community. This task force was formed as a result of feedback received from a number of our alumni about board diversity. The task force will carefully review and evaluate our nominating processes, and recommend changes. Members of the task force are: Laura Rosene '90, Former Vice Chair of the Board and Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee; Joseph C. Bastian '67, Chair of the Committee on Trustees; Nyerere Billups, Sr. '99, General Trustee; Helen Lin '94, General Trustee; Deborah S. DeGraff ’80, Trustee Emerita; Gwen Lexow ‘90, Alumni Trustee; Robert Long '75, General Trustee; Tony Etz '83, Chair of the Board, ex-officio; and me (I am also ex-officio).
The task force is moving forward quickly, and expects to share results of their work with you in early 2022. Should any of you want to provide thoughts or feedback about trustee nominating processes, please contact Heather Bumps, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and senior staff member to the Task Force on Trustee Nominations, at hsbumps@knox.edu.
Vice President for Student Development Search
In July, I announced that we were embarking on a search for a new vice president for student development, following the departure of Anne Ehrlich on June 30, 2021. The search is progressing; during the late summer, members of the student development division provided advice and counsel on the qualities, skills, and experience to consider in a future leader of the Division of Student Development. This information was provided to the search committee, who is working closely with Chuck O’Boyle, our consultant leading the search. The search committee members are:
- Search Chair: Mary Crawford ‘89, Philip Sidney Post Professor of Chemistry
- Sophia Bowley ‘22, Secretary of the Knox College Honor Board
- Tianna Cervantez ‘06, Executive Director, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- Amy Chambers, Assistant Vice President, Human Resources
- Mujtaba Hassan ’22, Student Senate President
- Daniella Irle, Director of Athletics
- Chad Simpson, Associate Professor and Chair of the English Department
- Paul Steenis ‘85, Vice President for Enrollment and Dean of Admission
The committee has met several times, and reviewed a number of applications, narrowing the field to a few semifinalists. As the search continues, we have put a short-term interim leadership structure in place to ensure the division continues to effectively serve our students. Mike Schneider, Provost and Dean of the College, has graciously agreed to serve as interim student development lead, overseeing a coordinating team that is managing the day to day operational management of the Division. The three members of the coordinating team are Deb Southern, Assistant Vice President and Dean of Students; Abby Putnam, Director, Health Services; and Stacia Mattan, Executive Assistant for the Office of Student Development.
Please join me in thanking the search committee, Mike Schneider, and the coordinating team for their excellent work to date.
To conclude, I’d like to share a quote from Ismat Kittani ‘51, former President of the United Nations General Assembly: “Success requires patience and a keen sense of knowing when the moment is ripe… recognizing that moment and acting on it quickly and decisively...” I hope you can all agree that we have been recognizing and acting when crucial moments present themselves, such as doing all we can to ensure a safe community during the pandemic; searching for the best candidate to fill a critical role for the College; ensuring our board reflects the rich diversity in our Knox community; and moving on the creation of a strategic framework for the College that’s grounded in your valuable feedback. These moments, and many more to come, will lead to even greater successes for our college and community.
With warmest regards and best wishes for a successful fall.
Sincerely,
C. Andrew McGadney President
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