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Category: Letters
Beginning the Year with a Grateful Heart
Dear Colleagues: It is hard to believe the fall semester is less than a month away and that soon campus will once again be buzzing with activity, albeit with new health and safety protocols in place. Many changes have occurred in a short period of time. The University community has suffered pain and uncertainty, and […]
End of Year — Faculty and Staff
“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” — Helen Keller Dear Colleagues, As our academic year comes to an unusual close, it is important that we remind one another of the many accomplishments the Valparaiso University community achieved this year. It is undeniable that we faced an unimaginable set of […]
End of Year — Class of 2020
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” — Eleanor Roosevelt Dear Class of 2020: You’ve made it. The journey that you began at Valparaiso University is coming to a close, and while none of us could have anticipated it ending the way it has, you have all faced the […]
Spring Break
“One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.” — John F. Kennedy Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff, Spring Break is hours away! This mid-semester break gives us all a chance to reflect on our early semester accomplishments and prepare for the weeks to come. No exams, no presentations, no classes, and no lectures […]
Christmas
I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. John 8:12 Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff: For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, now is the darkest time of year. But it is also — here and all around the world — the […]
Now Is The Time For Our Light
“God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does.” — Martin Luther Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff: As a Christian university imbued with a Lutheran ethos, we believe that we are saved not by works but through the undeserved grace of God. Yet, we also know this does not mean good works are […]
Terra Nova
Dear Valpo Community, There is a theme that runs through the soundtrack of the musical, “Hamilton:” the world turned upside-down. As I listen to that musical motif, I wonder what it might have been like in those early days during and immediately after the American Revolution, when everyone found themselves in unchartered territory, making the […]
Christmas
Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff: On that first Christmas night, the shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem settled into their normal evening routine, watching over their sheep. Then, unexpectedly, they were overwhelmed and surprised by a host of angels who proclaimed the birth of Christ. In the gospel of Luke, the author writes, “Do not […]
Thanksgiving
Giving is, first and every time, hand to hand, Mine to yours, yours to mine. You gave me blue and I gave you yellow. Together we are simple green. You gave me What you did not have, and I gave you What I had to give—together, we made Something greater from the difference. From “When […]