Messages offered to first-year students during Convocation on August 26 focused on helping them find a place within the campus community and encouraging them to take advantage of new opportunities.
President Thomas J. Haas’ opening address to faculty and staff members focused on his vision for the university’s next 50 years.
“For the first 50 years, Grand Valley was a West Michigan success story, driven by its outcomes and results,” Haas said during his address in the Performing Arts Center. “We are an entrepreneurial university and we will continue to plan, prepare and perform.”
Haas said Grand Valley established its core values during the first 50 years — liberal education, scholarship and research, inclusion, commitment to communities and sustainability — and those characteristics will carry the institution to the year 2060 and beyond. He said the Grand Valley of the future will “be grander yet.” Haas’ speech, 'Grand Valley 2.0: Grander Yet,’ and the Convocation address are available online at www.gvsu.edu/president.
He added that the two current construction projects, a new Allendale Campus library and center for the Seidman College of Business, already establish the university as one that is adaptable to change and ready to anticipate future needs.
Haas said at Grand Valley’s 100th anniversary, the university will “be a distinctive niche among Michigan’s higher education institutions, it will be a change agent that serves our students and serves our communities.”
Speaking to students at Convocation, Haas told them that their job is to take advantage of Grand Valley’s resources and opportunities. “Set goals for yourself and start down this path with enthusiasm and optimism,” he said.
Student Senate President Natalie Cleary told first-year students to leave their doors open, literally and figuratively. She said leaving the door of living center rooms open helps students meet new people; leaving the door to new experiences open will encourage students to expand their knowledge and enjoy new opportunities.
Figen Mekik, chair of Faculty Senate and associate professor of geology, encouraged audience members to think of their heroes. “No matter who your heroes are, they did not get where they are by chance,” she said. “You have the talents to exceed their successes.”
Provost Gayle R. Davis took time to explain the academic regalia to
new students. She said the academic robes are a departure from
everyday dress, just as Convocation is a special departure from daily
campus activities.
