Dear Unity College Community,
As you’ve heard me say many, many times by now, I am one proud president. I am proud to be president of an institution whose sustainability and educational mission could not be more relevant. I’m proud to be president of a school that is on the rise. Most of all, I am proud to be president of a college that invests everything in our students.
As America’s Environmental College, Unity College is positioned to play a unique role in this, the Environmental Century. Intensifying natural resource management crises, disputes over water rights, climate change conflicts, and energy market fluctuations can leave no doubt that global environmental, societal, and economic sustainability simply must be an international priority moving forward. Unity College is already preparing the next generation of global environmental citizens, and we are leaning harder into the challenges ahead.
Call it innovation, disruption, evolution, revolution, change, or emergence. Call it adaptation. Unity College is an organism in an environment that requires adaptation; and adaptation requires resilience of thought, resilience of commitment, and resilience of community. I am confident that Unity has the resilience required to meet the challenges ahead, but resilience without planning is not enough.
As you leaf through this magazine, you will notice references to the Unity College Strategic Plan throughout. This summer — just about half way through the plan term — we passed 50% complete. But completion of this particular plan will not mean that Unity College has achieved all our goals. It will not mean we are fully adapted. It will mean that Unity has highly functional operational systems, integrated living and learning experiences, and powerful and strategic means for telling the Unity story. It will mean that we are prepared and preadapted for the future. It will be from the platform we are now preparing that Unity College really begins to realize the mission of America’s Environmental College.
My pride in this institution grows with every student who makes Unity College her or his educational choice. It grows with every refreshed classroom, IT improvement, new hire, and improved fundraising year.
I am proud of what we’ve accomplished together so far, Unity College. But mostly I’m proud of this community’s ability and willingness to adapt in order to achieve America’s Environmental College.
In Unity,
Dr. Melik Peter Khoury
President, Unity College
